Our long, long lunch

Can you imagine walking up a hill on a very hot day and looking over a railing, down through the leafy plane trees, into a small square and seeing a beautiful fountain surrounded by tables set up for lunch. It looked so cool and inviting. It was irresistible. Adding to the atmosphere were the 3 storey peach coloured French houses with their blue shutters enclosing the square on 2 sides. Waiters in red shirts and black trousers were moving about preparing for the lunch and so we had a decision to make – should we stop at the restaurant now (12 noon) or explore this delightful village of Seillans a bit and then have lunch. Lunch won!

So we settled down for a long, long lunch with the most beautiful food we have had so far. For €26 ($35) I had the 3 course meal, but Barry stayed with his diet of salads (smoked salmon this time). I had gazpacho with roasted prawns on the side for entrée, then roast pork loin with beans and potatoes for main and stewed fresh peaches with a chocolate chip mini muffinfor dessert. Jim kept buying bottles of Var d’Iris Rose which was declared to be top rate. So we sat and sat and soaked up the atmosphere. We studied the beautiful people at the next table with their beautiful blonde children (Germans) and pondered on what sort of work they did. We settled for photographer (girl) and male model (man).

We sat for over 3 hours and then we 3 girls dragged ourselves off to an interesting art and craft shop where the lady allowed us to watch her putting her designs on T-shirts. One small gallery near the restaurant had a downstairs section in part of an old Roman aqueduct lit with a blue light, which was interesting. We did manage to have a little explore of this ancient village though, up and down the narrow cobbled streets. Picturesque stuff. The delightful 13th century church with a statue of Joan of Arc inside was worth mentioning.

This was a wonderful day and is what France is all about – long lingering lunches in beautiful settings with delicious food and wine. Bring it on!