We segue to Séguret again!

The kitchen at our rental house is wonderful, and stocked with not only all manner of pots and pans, but also a nice selection of cookbooks in English. Food is a priority here!

Rick made a great breakfast of local sausage and an omelet, and, as usual, fresh bread from the bakery. We're still in the process of doing laundry after staying in B&Bs for a week while we were on the road. We should have taken advantage of a laundry service in one of those towns. We've done this on some previous travels, where a local laundromat will wash, dry and fold your laundry, and in some cases deliver it to you at your B&B. In other places, they have it ready for you to pick up at the end of the day. The cost is usually nominal, and allows you to spend your valuable vacation time seeing the sights, rather than watching your clothes spin in the machines.

So, we're still doing laundry. The French machine at the house is no less confusing than the Italian ones were, except that there doesn't seem to be a water reservoir to empty out after each load.  And, since our host is American, there are step-by-step instructions written in English for us to follow. There's no dryer here, so a day or two is needed for that part of the process.

We decided to visit the hill town next door, Séguret. (See my previous post about Séguret.) Ricardo and I had been there on a previous visit, and remembered it to be a charming jumble of cobblestone streets, most too narrow for a car. We saw the ancient archway at one end of town, and the remnants of a heavy wooden gate at the other end of town. The name Séguret comes from the Latin word securitas, and the village was truly a fortress for hundreds of years. Today it's listed as one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France - the most beautiful villages of France! In between the two entrances we saw the community bread oven and the ancient clock tower. The communal washbasins are located just outside of the gate, and were in use up until World War II. Walking up the streets to the top of the village you can see the 12th-century church, at least from the outside. From the wall near the church there is a great territorial view, and nice view of our little village of Sablet next door.

A view past the old washing area to the ancient gate to Séguret from the parking lot under a canopy of trees

A close-up of one of the ancient gates, still hanging at the entrance to Séguret

The communal washbasins, just outside the gate, were still in use well into the 20th century

The community bread oven, open to the street, is still in use

The single-handed clock dating from 1680

I'd love to see the inside of this holiday rental!

That's me going down one of the many cute lanes through town

We ate a late lunch outside at the Côté Terrasse. Every main dish included a generous dessert. I opted for the lemon meringue, which was very good.

Salad with sliced duck breast and foie gras with walnuts for lunch at Côté Terrasse

A little lemon meringue cup for dessert

Lunch was very good, and quite filling. Dinner must have been something light. I can't remember.

Looking out over the valley from Séguret