Day 17 - Aix marche, L'occitane and Arles

Aix-en-Provence marche
Aix's food markets are available 3 times a week - Tue/Thu/Sat and it's only a 15min drive from our cottage. We were lucky to find a street parking spot.




Strawberries are in full swing at the moment






MARACONS!!!! we bought 5, and we finished them in no time. I think we had these flavours: Earl Grey tea, dark choc, salted caramel, raspberry, coconut.

L'occitane factory tour
When we called Manosque's (the town where L'Occitane is located) tourism office this morning, they said the next English tour would be next week. Good that they have a French tour in the afternoon, and we went along. Better than no tour.




Lots of Lavender plants... yet to flower.

Of course we couldn't understand a thing during the 1-hour tour, but it was impressive to see that they manage the production and despatch for the entire globe's supply in 1 centralised location. My hands and face have never felt so soft and supple after the application of at least 10 coatings of cream/oil products.

Arles


Very old and narrow streets. My little Benz was NEARLY scratched in a tight 90-deg corner.



It was getting late and we checked out some places for dinner.


Entree - Baby clams - tossed with carrot julienne, mustard, parsley, cream (i think). There were about 100-150 on the plate, so it was a bit tiring to eat them 1 by 1. It was very tasty though.


Main - Grilled duck breast with red wine jus, served with potato gratin and veges

Dessert - Half cooked chocolate cake with cream Anglais and fruit coulis. Very "Mr Chan" dessert :)

We loved all 3 courses and were reasonable @21E per person.

We needed a stroll after dinner. Just like Nimes, Arles is known for its Roman history (or remains). The arena (Les Arenes) is one of them: