The best markets

The streets of Saumur fill with the market every Saturday morning

Outdoor markets are one of the joys of living in France. They are the weekly community gathering and a way of life. There is a market every day near Le Puy Notre Dame.  The two big local markets are in Saumur and Thouars, each twenty minutes from our Loire Petite Chateau.

The Saumur market fills the streets of the city every Saturday morning.  After a little shopping we have  coffee and croissants at one of the cafés in Place St. Pierre.  Away from the main square, the Butterfly has a friendly and authentic atmosphere. We

smile at some who enjoy fresh oysters with a bottle of Saumur white at 10 am, something we never have been able to do so early in the morning, with or without the oysters.  There is excellent chocolate at Maison du Chocolate on rue du Temp just south of Place St. Pierre.  Have a sumptuous

Bob having a café au lait and croissant at Le Butterfly in the Saumur market on Saturday morning

cup of hot chocolate at one of the small tables outside.

We fill our baskets with food for the week.  We might stop at the farm stall near Auberge St. Pierre where there is a large offering of freshly dressed local chicken, pintade, and rabbit, often sold out by late morning. We are partial to pintade and rabbit, which are quite difficult to buy fresh in the States.  (See my rabbit recipe.)  We buy a loaf of organic whole wheat bread (“pain complet”) from the Richelieu baker.  We frequent several organic vegetable stalls, the large one in the center of Place St. Pierre, and a small one on the northwest corner of rue du Marché and rue du Puits Neuf.  Then we might buy cows milk cheese or organic apples from farm stalls, and some organic wine from Jackie Ripoche from Les Noades.

The Thouars market is different.  Saumur is bourgeois with elegant white limestone architecture while Thouars is old world, supported by local French.  Held every Friday morning, Thouars has a larger food hall than Saumur, and is said to be the best markets in the department of Deux-Sèvres.  We find certain produce only in Thouars, like one of our favorites, fresh watercress (“cresson”), which is more intense and flavorful than in the States.  Thouars is best for seafood.  We buy a wide variety

Some of the seafood stalls at the Thouars market on Friday morning

including tiny clams, coquille St. Jacque, fresh sardines, live crab, and whole sea bass.  We continue to find surprises at this market. Lately there has been a new shop with exceptional artisan cheese.

Doué la Fontaine has a medium-size market on Monday mornings, much less intense, but very convenient when we miss the large markets on Friday and Saturday. There are several organic vegetable stalls. We have coffee outside on Place Jean Begault up by the vegetable stalls.  The best bakery, although not organic, is on Place de Justice de Paix.

Explore the other markets nearby in Montrueil-Bellay (Tuesday, which is small), Fontevraud (Wednesday, small), Chinon (Thursday, large), Angers (Saturday, large), Cholet (Saturday, large) and many others.  See French market days here.

Pictured to the right is a whole shark at the Thouars market.  Whole fish of all kinds is plentiful here.  And it is exceptionally fresh.