The Garlic and Basil Festival
Ironically, garlic nor basil was the highlight.
Where else would you begin your day by being mistaken for an Italian and end it having whiskey shots with your new Irish friend? A garlic and basil festival in France, of course.
Sunday, that day of leisurely family lunches in France, dawned, and we left our apartment in search of a suitable restaurant...only to find the streets and places near us chock full of vendors and customers. Earlier in the week we had seen posters advertising it, but we could not fathom how on earth a fair solely devoted to garlic and basil could possibly last from 8 a.m. until midnight. Maybe our translation was bad.
If we hadn't been leaving for a 17-day vacation, we’d have bough a plant.
But no. Crowds swarmed the Place du Monstre, people pushing and shoving to get to the best garlic and basil. This is when we realized this wasn't just your ordinary garlic and basil festival (although, what is an ordinary garlic and basil festival?). It was, in a nutshell, quintessentially French.
As we meandered, killing time, we ran into a stand selling a dozen hot escargots with a piece of bread and glass of wine for 6.30 euros. This is possibly the best use of garlic and basil we could imagine, and we had never seen snails served at a fair before (after all, in America, fair food tends to run toward corn dogs and turkey legs). We decided to have a dozen as a start to a progressive Sunday lunch - the whole boring restaurant idea was quickly tossed out the window.
As we ate our snails, a French couple at the picnic tables beside us asked me if I were Italian. While I wished like hell I could've said yes (inwardly basking in the inadvertent compliment they had just given me), my husband overheard them talking and saying they couldn't believe an American liked snails.
Our next stop was a wine tent that boasted 1.50 euro glasses of wine, followed by a mediocre sausage sandwich and two amazing samosas. We then went to get another glass of wine, because at this point we were taking Sunday Funday very seriously.
After that, more escargots. When we sat at the picnic tables near the escargots stand this time, we sat across from three dudes - who happened to work at the bar about 100 yards (or less) from our apartment, Les 3 Rois. One of whom was Irish and spoke perfect English. They were hilarious, and invited us to their bar for a drink after we finished our snails.
Well...we're never ones to turn down that kind of invitation, especially after the Irish guy, Mark, gave us all sorts of tips for our upcoming trip to Dublin. So we went to Les 3 Rois, and in the spirit of Irishness everywhere, we each had a Guinness. Mark took a liking to us (he recognized fellow boozers, no doubt), and brought us a little taste of some kind of Irish whiskey that was ridiculously smooth.
What started out as a way to kill time before lunch turned into a 5-hour party, making all kinds of new friends. It was crazy and fun and rainy and delightful, and generally whimsical. The fact that we didn't purchase any garlic or basil? Irrelevant.
Want to attend this year's garlic and basil festival? It's on Thursday, July 26, and you can find out more information here: https://www.touraineloirevalley.co.uk/events-calendar/garlic-basil-fair-tours/
Bread was also plentiful at the festival