Saturday 4th April

Sometimes you just stumble upon a gem, completely unexpected and unplanned and all the better for that.  We have guests staying for a few days and we decided to go south to Sainte Livrade Sur Lot where there was a market on.  Many of the markets near Eymet are quite geared towards tourists, although the French do still use them.  The market at Saint Livrade is mostly for the French who live there, you do not hear so many English voices here.  Anyway we had a nice morning walking round the stalls and buying a few treats; we especially like a dried fruit stall there where you can get dried ginger which is sensational and figs and even today wasabi peas.  We bought some jalousies and sought a café to eat them in.  One of the stall holders had mentioned to my wife that Pujol was worth a visit and so as it was quite nearby we gave it a look.  We had never heard of the place before but thought it was worth a try.

The town is another hilltop Bastide, an obvious advantage in the middle ages and has quite stunning views in all directions.  The town is perfect, almost pristine, and is almost traffic free, as there are signs saying that only local traffic or deliveries are allowed inside the still intact town walls.  For once there are hardly any derelict or unimproved houses, every house is beautifully kept and picture postcard pretty.  It was almost sterile in a funny way, beautiful but we hardly saw a soul.  Nothing was open though there were a few restaurants which though closed looked very smart.  It is obviously a very touristic town and in the summer could well be a popular destination.  We will definitely come back and see it in midsummer.  We never cease to be amazed just how many beautiful towns there are, in fact we have never really been disappointed.