Bonjour, Aix-en-Provence!
After having another yummy breakfast of crusty bread, butter, jam, cheese, egg and sausage.. and two cups of Espresso, we were ready to make our way to Aix-en-Provence.. a charming town about half an hour from Marseille. Before we knew it, we were in the middle of this little town facing a big fountain and behind it a big market filled with clothes and shoes. We walked around and soon they were ready to close it up as it was lunch time and all the restaurants were setting up chairs outside as the weather was sunny and glorious. Aix is a very old, charming and lined with cafes and honestly the most number of bakeries I have ever seen- who has so much dessert?? Well, it was yummy to look at.. we stopped somewhere to have a quick macaroon as we didn’t want to spoil our appetite for lunch. Speaking of lunch, we started to look around.. there were so many choices.. a bit overwhelming, really… We finally decided we wanted something Italian- loads of Italian places here… we sat down and ordered a bottle of Rose- I would like to know why we can’t order half and three quarter bottles in the US?? They are so much more convenient to drink between two people than a whole, huge bottle!!.. although twist my arm and I will oblige!!
While I was in Rome last summer I had my fill of spaghetti with clams (my favorite) and have been looking for a yummy substitute in my area- have not been able to find any. I didn’t realize I would have to come to Provence to have something as good.
Spaghetti with Clams
I was so excited to see it on the menu.. I had to have it… and I was not disappointed! It was garlicky and yummy .. and the clams were delicious! Of course sipping the Rose helped my taste buds! My husband ordered a risotto marinara which was laced with all sorts of seafood and was yum!
Risotto Marinara
One thing is for certain- if one wants to enjoy the French way of living in Provence, one can not be in a rush. I think our food must have taken at least an hour to arrive- but it was okay… we were slowly sipping our wine and enjoying the glorious day….
Afterwards we walked on to other areas and looked for a highly rated cafe, called coffee to go AS opened by a young guy two years ago who trained in Australia. We had a delicious cappuccino as we chatted with him. He told us French people are not into coffee at all- just espresso… but they don’t like to sip and enjoy their coffee… that was new to me! I assumed, like the Italians, the French love their coffee… With the cappuccino we enjoyed a cronut. What is a cronut you ask?? It is a mix of a donut and a croissant and it is a craze in NYC where people apparently stand in line for hours to get this sweet delight- only a few hundred are made everyday and once they are sold out- thats it!
Well, this guy was selling them and we had one. It was good- not too sweet and it had the yummy layers of pastry like a croissant.
Cappuccino and Cronut
We walked around a bit more and made our way back to Marseilles. It was a lovely visit!
