Forcalquier

Over the weekend I was talking with a friend who will be visiting us this summer and whose daughter may be settling in Forcalquier, so I promised I would get some of my photos up.
Forcalquier is in the Haute Provence (once its capital, in fact, during the middle ages), a thriving town popular with publishers, booksellers, graphic designers, typographers, bookbinders, illuminators, calligraphers, etchers, papermakers.
We were there on a Monday when Forcalquier's enormous market is spread out through the town's streets.

On market days this melodramatic sculpture ends up plunked in the middle of everyday commerce

Elaborate wrought iron balconies are characteristic and lovely

The town is built on a steep slope, climbing to what was once the fortified site of a citadel, destroyed in the 16th century, and now occupied by a small, octagonal chapel crowned with stone angel musicians. There are also the carillon bells, played in concert every Sunday during the summer months.

360 panoramic view on top

In Forcalquier, also, the Couvent des Cordeliers which was built in the 13th century by the Franciscans (named cordeliers because of their rope belts). We could wander around the outside grounds but because of renovations (conceiveable ongoing since 1963...this is France after all) could not visit the interior.

very old, very pollarded trees