Provence: Part Trois - Saturday Market in Fayence

Saturday, February 25th, was the day that Dick and Evelyne had to fly back to New York. They had an afternoon flight from the Nice airport, which left a little time in the morning to check-out the market in the hillside town of Fayence.

By now, I'm sure, you're tired of hearing about hillside towns. Sorry, but that is about all there is in this part of Provence.

Fayence is a small village about 2o minutes from the hotel. Like every city and village in France, it has a street market on Saturday mornings. This was a nice opportunity to stroll the booths of the street vendors and to enjoy the vistas at the same time.

At some point I'm going to have one beer too many and do a long post on street markets as an indicator of the difference between the French economy and the US economy. The US used to have the equivalent of the French street market in the form of farmers' markets... but they have died out (in any form other than a curiosity). Too inefficient. In France, however, the markets thrive because, for the most part, people are willing to pay for the inefficiency in order to get fresher, locally produced items. The French, by American standards it seems to me, are willing to pay for all kinds of inefficiency in trade for quality, local-loyalties, or job protection.

Or it may have nothing to do with economics. Maybe they just want to have an excuse to promenade and check each other out on the week-end.

In the markets, Theresa scored some really nice table items made out of olive-wood. The implication is that some local paysanne carved them out of the wood from a dead olive tree in his back yard. Truth told, they were probably made in China somewhere and imported as authentic local stuff. Doesn't matter though, we like them.

Ok, there was stunning scenery as well. The intro photo was taken looking out toward the northwest - toward habitable France. You can see the newer parts of the village on the lower slopes. (The oldest parts of the village are on top of the hill. Newer construction had to move progressively downhill based on the available land.) In the valley below, you can just make out the remains of an stretch of aqueduct from Roman times. Provence was essentially a suburb of Rome back in the day.

The picture below is looking toward the northeast - toward the Maritime Alps. Behind the clouds, the mountains gradually get taller and taller as they progress into the Swiss and Italian Alps.