Markets are an integral part of French life; and how we love them! They are the best place to buy fresh local produce and, just as importantly, a place to meet, to chat with stall-holders and catch up with all the week's gossip. It matters that the lettuce we can buy from a local small-holder was picked that morning, wasn't grown without earth under a plastic cloche and then dipped into a chemical bath; that the chicken or guinea fowl has been raised outside and fed naturally, and actually tastes of something. We agree with Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall: it is worth paying more and eating chicken less often, which is what the French do. Everyone has their favourite stall holder, but we have learnt to avoid the larger stalls, who buy in the produce from wholesalers selling produce from all over Europe, as well as the cheese stalls with large rounds who induce you to taste, and then sell you cheese for 40 Euros a kilo ( twice the farm price). Better to look up the local goat farmer and take home that little Cabecou if you're in the South West, Ste-Maure in the Loire , or Broussin from the Var, all the regional delights of France.

Only 56 kilometres from Bordeaux: oysters, sail-boats, gentle waters, golden sand, fragrant pine forests. No wonder the Bordelais love the bay of Arcachon, and particularly Cap Ferret. This haven of childhood dreams comforts like hot chocolate, which by the way can be found at Frédélion, Avenue de la Plage, where you can sit, dunk your croissant and watch the world cycle by.

On our way west we stopped here, drawn by the oldest university in Spain. This rash of learning that swept through Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries left behind more than weighty volumes. Architecture that truly inspires, streets hot with heretical thoughts. All this still exists today in Salamanca, particularly at night, when the Spanish come out to play, and the lights enliven the architecture that needs no enlivening, and the warmth encourages this cauldron of activity. Truly a beautiful city that you to should visit or to which you could send your student offspring on an Erasmus year.

Saturday seems to be wedding day at the stunning cathedral, and couples literally line up for their turn. We found ourselves in the midst of all this colour, elegantly dressed wedding parties, confetti cannons going off, brides in Ferraris.

Onwards to have some tapas at a very good modern wine bar, Vinodiario where we were introduced to a prosciutto-style ham made from goat, called cecina, which comes from nearby Leon and is astonishingly good. There was also a dish of salt cod with a conserve of peppers and olives, an Iberian hot dog, a nice traditional sausage, with a red fruit ketchup and excellent wine by the glass.

We stayed at the Melia las Claras Hotel, opposite our wine bar, but would probably have preferred the NH Hotel by the cathedral.

Vinodiario

Plaza Basilios no.1

Tel.: ++34/923 614 0438