Malves

Welcome to Malves en Minervois. As its official Web site says, it’s “a charming village of about 825 inhabitants nestled in a green setting.” True.

It has a fabulous renaissance château from the 16th century, with 300 square meters per floor (think of the heat bill!). There are some pretty wonderful painted ceilings and frescoes. And a big park behind the château, where they sometimes have arts or food fairs.

These photos were taken around 9 p.m. on a Friday night. Just sayin’.

Stone houses….

Sharply shorn trees….

Odd little houses with entries like afterthoughts. There was an elderly lady sitting in the garden around the corner whom I startled as I went by. Clearly unusual to have strangers wandering about. Birds, yes. Photographers, no.

There ARE some things to do, besides stroll. There’s a café next to the château that’s sometimes open. And a little grocery. I was just passing through and couldn’t resist the light. And the flowers in unexpected places.

Of course, there’s a winery. Don’t be silly! Château Malves-Bousquet, next to the big château. It’s good, too–Minervois has some excellent wines. We’ll go into that another time.

 

Tractorama

The other day we decided to play tourist and went to a village fête in Belpech. As we wandered through the festivities, we picked up a dish for lasagne. By Revol, made in France.

The baskets also were made in France, by the father of the guy selling the dishes. I love that people know how to make such beautiful things.

There was music.

Sorry, his wooden sabots aren’t shown

And plenty to eat, of course.

And there was a défilé of old tractors. In our village, one vigneron drives a very, very, very old Lambourghini …. tractor. Who knew?

Well, here, we saw a Porsche.

And lots of other wonders.

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For a schedule of local festivities, check out flanerbouger.fr …. flâner means stroll about for the pleasure of it, not so much to walk as to look; bouger means to move.