Sunday, March 9, 2008

Aire sur Adour, Condom and Fources


I've had my camera out while staying in South West France. I've done a few visits to nearby towns including Condom, Fources, and Aire sur Adour (all inland) and Saint Jean de Luz on the coast, just below Biaritz. The link to other photos is below (all taken with the new Pentax K10)
St Jean is a delightful town, very picturesque, right on the coast. I've always loved Biaritz, but I really recommend St Jean as well. It's probably a little more "down market" that Biaritz, with some great shops and restaurants.

We also visited Condom, north of where the house is located. The place Condom apparently has no connection with the contraceptive device ("french letters") - they just happen to have the same name. As you could imagine, there have been many photos taken by the sign bearing the town name - I didn't bother... Armangac, a type of brandy, is produced in this general region. Another little town worth a visit in this region is Fources, a real delight. It's got loads of medieval buildings, and works on a circle design with the town "square" actually being a circle.
I didn't get to investigate Pau at all. As they have a four star horse trials here, I'm sure I will be back at some stage soon!

The food - well a lot of it revolves around ducks. This is the area where they make "foie gras", "magret de canard", "cassoulet", and all products using "fat ducks". Apparently the people who live in this area have a higher life expectancy than any other areas of France, despite their high fat and salt diet (the "French Paradox").

The wine of the trip so far has been Domaine de Fortunet which is made just down the road from the house. It's a sweet and fruity wine, goes well as a pre-dinner wine, or with chicken and very very quaffable!!!

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