"Our" Marché

There are a wide variety of marchés, or open air markets, throughout Lyon.  In fact there is a list of all of them online with information about their locations, days and times they are open, and the type of merchandise that is their specialty. 

We have a great marché not far away from our apartment. It specializes in food, flowers, and plants.  And, by food I mean everything from fresh vegetables and fruit to a butcher with a large, well-stocked, refrigerator case to multiple cheese vendors to folks with a large variety of jams, jellies, and honey.  And, there are folks selling flowering plants, fresh-cut flowers, and a variety of herbs and decorative plants.  (I’m sure I must be missing something.)  Anyway, "our" marché is open Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

"Our" Marché

Today we purchased some lovely strawberries, a huge, very fresh, head of leaf lettuce, a jar of jam made with mixed red fruit, two jars of honey for David to try, and some peonies for me. 

The strawberries - you can almost smell them!

The jars of honey (miel) and jam.

The lovely peonies.

In the past we’ve purchased parsley and rosemary plants, potatoes, artichokes, and other vegetables, a jar of honey to take home as a gift, and a bouquet of roses.  (Again, I’m sure I’m missing something!)

But, there is another amazing thing about all these marchés.  After, the vendors close up, load all their remaining merchandise and tables and display paraphernalia into their vans and leave, a city cleanup crew arrives.  And, magically every single bit of leaf, paper, and any other debris vanishes, spills are cleaned up, and then the crew leaves!  You would never know that just a few minutes earlier there was a large marché with lots of things for sale and folks wandering around.  I remember the first time we witnessed this transformation on an earlier visit to Lyon.  We were fascinated and just stood there watching the cleanup ballet.  Our marché returns to its parking lot identity, other marchés become city squares, sidewalks, parts of streets, etc. until it’s marché time again.