farmer's markets- abroad

It's the most fun thing when you arrive at a town in France and their farmer's market falls on that day. I remember my first encounter, it was in Aix en Provence. It had everything; produse, household linens, mattresses, brocante, olives, cheeses and sausages. Then there's that ubiquitous paella. I had paella for breakfast at the market in Sarlat. The saturday market in Sarlat is pretty well known. It's walnuts and goose country. There's walnut everything for sale- walnut cookies, walnut cakes, candied walnuts and walnut wine. I remember a purveyor of walnut wine handing me a sample; he must have been sipping a lot of his own stuff. He was a little tipsy. It was sweet and good. We went round every stall sampling everything walnut. There was duck and goose foie gras as well. We had roast chicken for lunch and we fed the bones and leftovers to a stray dog who followed us around. Sarlat is very pretty. Isle sur la Sorgue has a very big and renown brocante and farmer's market. In fact they have it every sunday but twice a year in April (Easter) and August, they're exceptionally huge. I made it to the Easter market 2 years ago. I've read so much about it. It was fun to actually see it in person. I've been reading about christmas markets in Europe and would love to attend one in the near future. I remember eating the most delicious home made sausage once. It was fat and juicy. I bought some home made rasin walnut bread from a vendor. That was my lunch. I found a park bench and ate them. This was in Aix en Provence. I've had lots of picnic lunches since then while traveling in Europe. I remember the Arancini I had in Naples. Arancini are fried risotto balls. In Siena, my sister and I ate salami, bread and pickles at the famous piazza. Sophie, my sister in law and I went into a Salumeria and loaded up with cheese, Mortadella and Calamari salad. We always pack food when we're on the train evn though most trains have a dining car or they have people puching a cart down the train aisle.