Tabitha and Dave's European Adventures: Southern France: Lagrasse and Castle Quéribus

Today we headed to the small town of Lagrasse where we were "hit in the head with the cute sledgehammer." Lagrasse is a picture-perfect, charming little town, complete with a medieval Abbey. We walked around the town, ate some breakfast, and visited the abbey and market.

While in the south of France, it is only appropriate to do a wine tasting. On the way to finding the tasting we got lost in the groves and wild orchid forest. We finally found our way to the small town of Talairan where we got to taste some delicious wine. The winery had been owned by one family for eight generations, and all the wines were named after family members. We bought wines named after our host's sister and his mother, which of course was the most-aged, best, and most expensive.

Although we enjoyed our wine tasting and our host Damian, we found him to be acting a little odd. As we walked around Talairan after our tasting, we figured out why our host was acting a little funny. He was drunk! As were all 368 of its' inhabitants. It was the local fiesta where they ?fight? and then roast an entire bull.

We found our lodgings for the night just outside of Lagrasse at a wonderful little bed & breakfast where we experienced "quaint overload" ate a delicious dinner, and played Mille Borne (a weird French card game about driving, screwing over your friends, and eventually giving up).

The following day we had to head back to Spain. On the way we stopped at Chateaux Quéribus, an absolutely amazing castle perched "a thimble on a finger," and were on top of the world!

Breakfast: Petit dejeuner complet

Lunch: Sandwiches in Talairan

Dinner: gazpacho-like soup, duck with balsamic sauce, cheese, cherry desert with basil cream and wafer crisp

Breakfast: Petit dejeuner complet with home-made jams

Lunch: Pizza on the way to the train station