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Our typical day on vacation was to head out in the morning to a local town or attraction and then come home in the late afternoon for dinner and a swim in the pool. The first day we were quite ambitious and decided to drive to Spain. According to the map, the town of Bossost was only 1. 5 hrs. away from where we were staying. However, the GPS took us on very winding drive up and over the Pyrenees mountains so it felt (and was) much longer. Finally we arrived at a very charming hillside town and we had a nice lunch of tapas. After lunch we explored the church which dates from the 12th century and walked around the town a bit.
A surprise bonus for the day was the town of Boulonge-Sur-Gesse. It just happened to be market day when we drove through so we decided to make a short stop to check it out. In additional to the typical farmer's market stalls, there were clothing & leather stalls, some vendors selling live chickens & rabbits, even one stall selling lawnmowers. The market was quite big and sprawled across the pedestrian side streets and through the town square.
On another day, we drove to Tour de Termes. The Tour was a big tower, the best preserved castle keep in the region.
Unfortunately we timed it wrong so it was closed for lunch but we waited it out and then climbed to the top.
On each floor there was a life size diorama depicting what life was like hundeds of years ago in the Gascony region.
Once we arrived at the top we were treated to amazing views of the countryside. Our professional pouter was on full display.
On our drive back home we stopped in Bassoues, an old medieval town.
The small town is a Bastide, a fortified village from the Middle Ages with a central square with covered market in the middle, and stone walls and tower for protection.
We stopped for a drink and snack at a cafe on the square.
On our next to last day in France, we drove to Auch, a relatively large town in the region. We walked through St. Mary's cathedral, marveling at the large stained glass windows and the carved wooden choir stalls in the center of the cathedral. There are 113 different seats each one carved from oak over 50 years, and each choir stall is ornately decorated with angels, religious figures and various animals.
After the cathedral, we explored the narrow and winding cobblestone streets and then had a lovely lunch at Cafe Daroles, sitting outside to enjoy the sunshine. Unfortunately the menu was all in french but luckily one of the waiters spoke english so he helped us decipher the menu. I had an amazing cheese salad with a type of ricotta spread under the greens and goat cheese on slices of baguette drizzled with honey.
Before heading back to the farmhouse, we found a playground for the kids across the river at the Jardin Ortholan.
The Gascony (Gers) region is very agricultural so the drives themselves were quite picturesque. There were lots of farms growing corn and sunflowers, we saw cows, goats, horse and we even passed a few foie gras farms. The area is dotted with rolling hills and fortified medieval towns and is also home to the three musketeers - "All for one, and one for all!"
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