Rest Day in Conques

Bonjour! We are enjoying a leisurely day here in Conques, and felt a tad guilty this morning not to be hitting the trail! Yesterday we had a nice walk from Espeyrac, and took it slow on the steep rocky path down to Conques. Fortunately it hadn't rained, as I imagine it could be slippery when wet. This town is perched on a steep hillside, and with its impressive Romanesque style church surrounded by perfectly preserved slate roofed buildings, it has a very magical feel to it. Our host recommended a walk which we did this morning that gives you a fabulous view of the entire village, including some of the remaining walls that surround it. Tonight we will go to the church at 9:30, when you can climb stairs (groan!) to reach the higher levels normally inaccessible, and there is organ music and special lighting that accompanies you. We have heard that it's well worth it.

Our room in this B&B is like a taste of Morocco....the owner lives there part time, and our room is festooned with accessories from there...and the bathroom is entirely done with beautiful Moroccan tiles. We have really enjoyed the last few places we have stayed, partly due to the hosts speaking English, so we were able to get acquainted and also learn a bit about life in these small villages. The couple we stayed with in the last town (Espeyrac) have a rock and mineral shop here in Conques, so we visited their shop yesterday and bought a small (lightweight) souvenir to bring home. He is a geologist...Jim, you would love this shop!!

Our hostess in Espeyrac

The food continues to be magnificent. Last night we had dinner at our hotel, with our hosts doing the cooking. The starter was a phyllo wrapped package that was delectable, but other than minced mushrooms and cashews, not sure what was in it! It was served on fresh salad greens. Main course was a pork cheek, a small pork chop, and a skewer of pork tenderloin, all cooked in different ways, accompanied by basmati rice which had finely chopped kiwi, ginger, cashews and apple in it - spectacularly good. The basmati was sitting on a bed of very thinly sliced zucchini. Following that came the cheese platter, but this time there were 6 or 7 to choose from! I had two different types of blue cheese, and they were both excellent. Dessert was a choice of 5 items, including my fave, creme brûlée. Since I could only have one (!!) I went for the dark chocolate cake with apple ice cream on the side, and Russ had an attractive concoction of paper thin apple slices arranged in a circle on the plate, with vanilla ice cream in the middle, and a drizzle of raspberry sauce over the apples. It amazed me that our hostess would have that many desserts ready to go.

Tomorrow we will be staying in Livinhac-le-Haut, but will be getting transportation for the first bit to make our distance more manageable for Russ's feet. They seem to be ok with 15 km for now.

Will get this posted now. Bon nuit!

Refreshment stand on the trail!

 

Posted with Blogsy