Narbonne travel guide

Press your own olive oil, skin eels and cook petit-gris snails from the scrublands: three regional specialties from the Languedoc.

First of all, go to the market of Narbonne , one of the most beautiful market halls in France, an olive stone’s throw from the Robine. The market dates back to 1905, in a style reminiscent of Baltard. The specialties, however, are really local! If you had only three products to choose from, they would have to be Lucque olives for the aperitif, and, as a main dish, either the bourride, an eel stew with garlic croutons, or the roasted cargolade of snails. Before you leave the market, on your way to look for other ingredients, have lunch in one of the four cafés - Chez Bébelle - where the owner, Gilles Belzon, a former rugby player, directly orders the meat you are going to relish from one of the butchers in the market hall. Lucques olives Head northwards to Bize-Minervois . The Lucques olive, oblong, firm and crunchy, is the queen of olives, and Bize is her kingdom. L’Oulibo , an olive-growers’ cooperative, organises courses where you can learn all about cultivating olives. If you feel like pressing your own olive oil, it can be done from November 1st to mid-January. Before that, you will have to buy a crate of olives weighing over 350 kg (about 770lb), at the market on Wednesday or directly at the cooperative. You can also watch malaxation and pressing, but be warned: your oil will be delivered to you in a cask! You can choose a more modest option, on one of the open days during the last fortnight in December, when you can exchange 10 kg (about 22lb) of olives for a litre of olive oil from the mill. Fresh eels for the bourride The eels are fished from March to November, in the Bages-Sigean lagoon, where you can buy them from an authentic fisherman, Patrice Bronori. You will find him every day from 10.30 to 11.30 a.m., close to the port on the road that runs along the lagoon, near the restaurant Le Portanel. Cargolade of petits gris snails Collecting the snails is not all that complicated. On nights with light rainfall, you will see them strolling along slender fennel or rosemary stalks… But you will need to start preparation three days before B-day, when they are roasted on the barbecue. The secret is to put the snails on an exclusive diet of thyme. * Lucques: olives** Bourride: eels specialty * Cargolade: snails specialty

Narbonne travel guide by EU-Latitude is this text outdated?

Latest Reviews for Narbonne

ninette

Bonjour a tous!habitante de narbonne je trouve la presantation améliorée bien sur mais surtout un... more

2009-10-29 / follow ninette / report abuse

Have you been here? Write a quick review:

 You are currently not logged in. Login or register to write a review.