Learning about the Camino de Santiago at Parthenay (France) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
On the way to participate in our cousin’s marriage in Limoge, my daughter Florence and I went through the town of Cholet, the shoe capital of France. Many of Cholet’s interesting sites were destroyed during the French Revolution. The town’s fame came from the white handkerchiefs that the Chouans (residents of Cholet) used to rally themselves against Republican forces during the Vendéen War.
We stopped in a picturesque town called Parthenay for lunch. Off in the distance stood an old city gate. Pilgrims going to the church of Santiago de Compostella in Spain passed through this town during the Middle Ages right up to modern times. The pilgrims are called “Jacquots.” The medieval bridge passes over the Thouet River.
There were many churches along the pilgrimage route in the Middle Ages. It was quite profitable for a town to have pilgrims pass through. Parthenay was mentioned in one of the earliest guides written for Jacquots by Amery Picot in the twelfth century.
One day I wanted to do the Camino de Santiago as it was called in Spanish, but until then I would be happy with eating in this pilgrimage route town.
We went to a bistro called the Challenge Rallye in the town’s main square and ate I had a delicious salad – warm chicken gizzards with cheese on lettuce. Florence had a ham and cheese salad. The cheese on Florence’s salad came in little cubes.
“This is not gouda,” Florence said when she ate the cheese.
It’s the gouda of Parthenay,” I joked with her.
“It doesn’t taste like gouda,” Florence insisted. The cheese was emmenthal, but Florence would have none of it. I had a little connoisseur on my hands, who was connecting with her French heritage.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
On the way to participate in our cousin’s marriage in Limoge, my daughter Florence and I went through the town of Cholet, the shoe capital of France. Many of Cholet’s interesting sites were destroyed during the French Revolution. The town’s fame came from the white handkerchiefs that the Chouans (residents of Cholet) used to rally themselves against Republican forces during the Vendéen War.
We stopped in a picturesque town called Parthenay for lunch. Off in the distance stood an old city gate. Pilgrims going to the church of Santiago de Compostella in Spain passed through this town during the Middle Ages right up to modern times. The pilgrims are called “Jacquots.” The medieval bridge passes over the Thouet River.
There were many churches along the pilgrimage route in the Middle Ages. It was quite profitable for a town to have pilgrims pass through. Parthenay was mentioned in one of the earliest guides written for Jacquots by Amery Picot in the twelfth century.
One day I wanted to do the Camino de Santiago as it was called in Spanish, but until then I would be happy with eating in this pilgrimage route town.
We went to a bistro called the Challenge Rallye in the town’s main square and ate I had a delicious salad – warm chicken gizzards with cheese on lettuce. Florence had a ham and cheese salad. The cheese on Florence’s salad came in little cubes.
“This is not gouda,” Florence said when she ate the cheese.
It’s the gouda of Parthenay,” I joked with her.
“It doesn’t taste like gouda,” Florence insisted. The cheese was emmenthal, but Florence would have none of it. I had a little connoisseur on my hands, who was connecting with her French heritage.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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