Art and Food in Aix-en-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France

Part of the reason for coming to beautiful Aix en Provence was to be able to wake up in the morning and know that it would be hot, the sky blue and the sun would be shining. I wasn’t disappointed. A little bit of cloud covered the sky briefly in the middle of the day but in the main it’s been a glorious day; hot and sunny but not uncomfortably hot. Just perfect.

I breakfasted in the hotel. It seemed easy on my first morning, though in general I’m not fond of hotel breakfasts. I like just some cereal, yogurt and fruit so a huge array of food isn’t my thing and, in this case, a waste of €16. For me, coffee and pastry comes a little later.

There are lots of things I want to do here but a gourmet traveller’s priority has to be seeking out the local food market. In Aix there’s a daily market in Place Richelme. I’m starting to know my way round. I walked through a quiet Place Cardeurs - a complete contrast to the liveliness there last night - and first found a flower market in Place de l’Hotel de Ville.

Here there was a magnificent array of local produce. What is so lovely for the food lover is the sight of luscious ripe fruit, some much larger than you’d ever see in UK but packed with flavour. At home now you pay extra in the supermarket for fruit ‘ready to eat’. Just how ridiculous is that! It’s almost impossible to buy an avocado or peach that really is beautifully ripe and truly ready to eat. Worse, picked before ripeness, they never really acquire their full taste potential. Here is Provence taste is all. The fruit might not look perfect but it sure tastes it! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).