A chance to see an opera while seeing Limoges for the first time
I had hoped we’d get to Limoges, which we’d never been to, and see what the surrounding region was like as well. It was just a last-minute bonus to find that we could make our dates coincide with a matinee performance at the opera house on Sunday, March 19. I found YouTube videos that let Kristian hear the singers slated to perform, and he was convinced. We decided to spend three nights in Limoges, to make it a restful pause as well.
Lodging were the tricky part, but we lucked out, last minute
We had a hard time finding a place to stay, though, as we wanted to keep lodging costs at a minimum, yet were hoping to cook for ourselves. The first couple of apartment-hotels we drove up to seemed dreadful – actually, the second one, we couldn’t actually locate, though we seemed to be at the right address. Very discouraging. Then suddenly, as I re-checked booking.com, a listing appeared that hadn’t turned up an hour before. Will never know why, but it was a godsend. We ended up in a tiny ground-floor self-catering unit, walking distance (about 30 minutes) to the center of town and the opera, and with a very friendly host to boot.
Getting a look at the city center, everything reachable on foot
On Saturday we walked to the city center to see the market (Halles) and have a look around downtown. The market wasn’t the largest, nor were all vendors exhibiting when we got there, but we found good things for our next two dinners. First, rouget (red mullet), and then – we gave into the temptation of foie gras and bought a nice lobe to sauté. Our tiny flat had but two burners, and some sort of oven we got little use of, but we were extremely happy with our meals there and felt privileged to enjoy such good things.
Of course we looked around the city a while that afternoon. One of the delights we found was an exquisite Liberty / Art Nouveau style building that houses an art exhibition.
