Читать книгу Cycle Touring in France. Eight tours in Brittany, Picardy, Alsace, Auvergne/Languedoc, Provence, Dordogne/Lot, the Alps and the Pyrenees онлайн

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Violet Provençal garlic

If you want to sample and buy some local produce the best place to go is the local market (marché) which usually happens on one particular morning each week. Local traders set up their stalls and sell anything from cheese and meat and fruit to cooking utensils and clothing, but look out for the local speciality foods. There will usually be a van or stall offering hot food, often a regional dish.

Along the Route des Vins d'Alsace (Route 3)

If you are not fortunate enough to be in a village or town on market day, then head for the boulangerie, the baker's shop. Every sizeable village has one selling bread rolls and baguettes, long thin loaves that the French buy daily to accompany their meals. You can also buy sweet breakfast rolls like croissants, brioches and pains au chocolat, as well as cakes, flans, pizza slices and quiches in some boulangerie shops. On Mondays this may well be the only shop open in a village. Buy a baguette or two and then pop over to the charcuterie, which sells cooked meats, pâtés and sausages. Follow this with a visit to the alimentation or épicerie for cheeses and salad (there may even be a fromagerie, a cheese shop, if you are in a larger settlement), and you have all the ingredients for a cheap, delicious picnic at a roadside aire (a grassy or wooded area with picnic tables) after your morning's cycling. Otherwise, lunch can be taken in a village café or brasserie fairly cheaply; the croque monsieur (toasted cheese and ham sandwich) is nearly always on the menu, as is steak haché avec frites (steak and chips), served with salad or vegetables. There is usually a vegetarian dish or two, and crêpes (rolled pancakes with a choice of fillings) may also be on offer. A buckwheat variety of crêpe called galette is very tasty and is particularly popular in Brittany. The plat du jour (dish of the day) or menu touristique are set meals that can be tasty or bland depending on the establishment or the chef's imagination, and usually appear on a restaurant's menu too. If you decide to eat lunch at a restaurant why not be a little more adventurous and choose something with a local twist. Restaurants are only open for lunch or dinner, whereas cafés, brasseries and bars are open all day and will normally serve food throughout the afternoon. If you are running low on water and the shops are shut you can buy bottled water here too, but it won't be cheap.