After spending the morning in La Cité and having lunch at Adelaide we realized that we still had an entire afternoon (and evening) left. So, what to do now? We decided to head into Ville Basse and take a look around. So we headed down the hill and crossed the Aude at the lovely Pont Vieux.
The view of La Cité from here is quite nice.
And we ended up walking down what I believe is one of the main streets in Ville Basse, Boulevard Barbes. Which is named after Armand Barbès, whose statue is found along the street.
What caught our attention was a bit past the monument.
It was a Christmas Fair going on.
We wandered about for a bit, then decided to walk on over to the train station to see how far it was. In the end, we decided to make the 30 minute walk to the train station the next morning.
We were also looking for possible places to have dinner, but of course we were too early for the typical French dinner time and decided to head on back to the apartment. On the way back, we crossed the larger, more modern Pont Neuf. And the view of La Cité was amazing.
Once crossing over we headed to Rue Trivalle to see if we could find somewhere to have a meal….if not, we would just head back to Le Passage. Well, there was another place open, named FloridaBlanca.
By now, there was a steady drizzle going on, so we went on in. The place was buzzing….and guess what? It was another tapas restaurant!
We managed to get a high-top for two. And along with the standard menu, the menu del-dia was presented. There was a nice, easy going, yet joyous vibe here. Folks were having fun. There was a group of folks, it seemed like employees from a company having a "very" happy hour. They asked me to take a photo of them. Of course, being American, I told them to say "cheese"….perhaps I should have had them say "fromage"?
And so we placed our order and soon enough our stuffs arrived.
This was nicely prepared simple dishes made in that tiny kitchen, prep was the key. The Aubergene Frite, was nicely fried slices of eggplant, nicely done, crisp with a creamy interior. The padrons were simply charred, just like you'd have in Spain.
And you'd play you're game of "pepper roulette" as well.
I saw the Jambon D'Agneau and just had to try it. The Server made sure to tell me; "it is lamb" twice! I just wanted to try this.
My goodness, this was so delici-yoso! Think of all the high points of lamb, good fat, mild sweet-gaminess, that "flavor of the pasture". Man, this was so good, I ordered another plate!
The Champignons Farcis, stuffed mushrooms were fine, but nothing special.
I just wanted more lamb. Look at the little leg compared to a jambon!
We got some Patatas Bravas, but it was served with the sauce on the side and wasn't as good as the frites we had the previous night.
And the Missus even got some dessert.
During our meal, the Missus and I wondered why there isn't something like this in our 'hood. It ain't hard, there are places that "claim" to do tapas, but we're not impressed. Perhaps folks here aren't really interested in these type of simple dishes? And then, we also wondered; what's up with Carcassonne and these tapas places? I know that Carcassonne is one of the stops along the route to Spain, could this be the reason?
Anyway, we had a fun time and enjoyed this meal.
FloridaBlanca
22 Rue Trivalle
11000 Carcassonne, France
As we were finishing our meal, I went and checked our train timetable using the SNCF app and found that all trains out of Carcassonne were canceled. Sigh…so here go again! So once we got back to the flat, I found out that there was a train derailment and all trains had been cancelled. And even though it said it would be for a day or two….heck, this is France….. So, I went and reviewed options and eventually booked us a bus from Carcassonne to our next stop; Toulouse.
The next morning, we cleaned up a bit and headed on out. We'd be walking to the train station where we'd (hopefully) be catching our bus to Toulouse.
We happened to come across this Boulangerie and decided to pick up some sandwiches for the trip and a croissant.
Really nice folks working here! So friendly, patient, and helpful.
Aux Croissants des Lices
4 Rue Georges Clemenceau
11000 Carcassonne, France
Getting to the train station we could see the tracks were taped off. I could also see our bus on the schedule board and confirmed with the very helpful station staff.
It was now time to have my croissant.
Decently flakey, it was a bit too doughy for my taste. I also thought it needed more butter, but it suited me fine.
We watched as a news crew arrived to interview the delayed and stranded.
Soon enough a bus arrived at the front of the station. And we started queuing up. The news team actually came over to me for an interview, but I told them I don't speak French. To bad, it might have been funny having my face on the newscast, huh? Maybe I need to work harder and learn more French?
We stowed our luggage and boarded the bus and were on our way to Toulouse. And while we would take twice as long to get there; the Missus and I were just happy to be on our way!
We had enjoyed Carassonne. Two nights and one full day was the perfect amount of time for us.
Next stop, Toulouse!