La Voulte sur Rhone

I’m a strictly Thursday market day gal. But when my friend Vicky came to stay last weekend I knew she would miss out on the shopping fest that is Vernoux market.

So I asked about and found that La Voulte sur Rhone about 20 minutes away down on the Rhone river (you can probably guess that by the name) has a bustling Friday market.

I rarely go to La Voulte. It is out of the way and not on my rather endless trek to the Valence train station.  But I was looking forward to it.  Especially as the same soap ladies who work Vernoux also do this market and that was Vicky’s main reason for venturing marketwards.

The market is large and we did our requisite laps. I fell for two pots of basil for the ridiculous price of one euro each (and proper ones mind you, sown and potted on properly, not crammed with seedlings that you find in supermarkets). Plus soap, plus sausages, plus chops.  Your standard market fare.

Well here was something I haven’t seen before. And what a joy to fall upon a real haberdashery stall. The woman had tables and tables of goodies. I’ll definitely be coming back here for ribbon and cotton thread.

After the hard slog of wandering around looking like tourists we decided to go off in search of a cafe and a pain au chocolat.

Now La Voulte is one of those baffling little towns where you just can’t find the ubiquitous central square with cafes lining the south side of the street.

We walked, we asked, we were directed. We got lost.

But what a way to get lost. High up above the town is the most curious collection of ancient buildings – a palace no less.  The usual fifteenth century Ardèche treasure most people would actually pay to go and see.

But this one is closed up and shows the sorry sight of breeze blocks filling in the windows and doors.  I guess it was just one grand palace too many in this country adrip with chateaux and fortified mansions and history.

This one is called La Chapelle des Princes. And was built in 1485.

We peered through the locked gates and then made our way down the very steep winding streets back to civilization, a slightly grotty cafe, and a sublime pain au chocolat.