Le Puy Camino – via Podiensis: Eauze to Nogaro and Arzacq-Arraziguet

May 4, 2023

With the decision to take a rest day, Susan and I spent the morning exploring the town center of Eauze. We were fortunate that this was farm market day! It was such a relaxing and delightful time perusing the various market stands.

I found a booth that specialized in locally produced and crafted knives and decided to purchase a folding pocket knife for Jim. The Occitan region of France has an historical tradition of knife-making dating back to the 1800’s. The price range for the many knives on display was quite varied – from inexpensive to very costly. I settled on a cost somewhere in the middle with a knife I felt handled well and looked well-made – for a price of 70 euros.

(The adventure began when I realized I would not be able to take this back home in my carry-on backpack! I found a local post office and attemped to package this up and send it off. The postal clerk I encountered spoke no English and I was escorted to an automated postage machine to print out the label and pay for the postage. The directions were in French and not intuitive and I spent a very frustrating amount of time trying to get the whole thing to work. Once I thought I successfully completed the transaction (after many futile attempts), I approached the counter and the clerk asked for the receipt that showed I had paid the postage. Unfortunately, the machine never spit out a receipt so I was stymied as to how to proceed. There was a long line of patrons behind me and I had nothing to show payment. I pulled up my credit card acccount where it showed a pending amount for the postage. The clerk and I went back and forth with whether this was adequate. Finally, in exasperation, she just took my package and indicated she was moving on to the next patron. I left the post office thinking that I had probably seen the last of that knife! 70 euros down the drain!

It was a few weeks after I was home from France that I received notice of a package at the post office in my home town. Much to my surprise, it was the knife! What makes that even more amazing is that the pending charge on my credit card account for the postage disappeared and it never posted. I realized the post office in France had sent the package even without payment for the postage. I’m not sure who paid the postage but I was very grateful and humbled! Maybe the clerk took pity on me?? Or maybe the patron behind me in line picked up the tab as a kind gesture?? I will never know…)

After the farm market, we wandered around the center of town and visited the local cathedral – Cathédrale Saint-Luperc d’Eauze.

After wandering around the beautiful cathedral, we grabbed a bite to eat at a small cafe before getting back to the lodging to catch our ride to Nogaro. I so miss the coffee and pastries of France!!

We arrived in Nogaro and checked into our accommodations – the Gîte du Pied Levé. We were hungry at this point and went in search of a restaurant for lunch. We ordered a tapas plate and some wine and it was delicious!

After lunch, I wandered around Nogaro and came upon a garden center. I had fun immersing myself in the greenery of plants and flowers!

Nogaro is an important part of the bullfighting culture in southwest France and famous for the Landes-style of bullfighting. This style of bullfighting is considered to be an art and is not harmful to the animal. The Arènes in Nogaro was built in the early 20th century and hosts shows that are strictly managed by a federation. This link provides an overview of the extreme sport. The arena in Nogaro is also used for other cultural and musical events throughout the season.

Because my toe was still bothering me, we decided to take another day off and bypass the next section of the camino. We arranged for transport to our next lodging spot in Arzacq-Arraziguet the next day and spent a quiet evening.

May 5, 2023

I’m combining the next day here on this post since it is basically a travel day and I have very few photos or comments. On a bitter sweet note, we said good-bye to a couple of women who we have been intersecting with for much of our walk so far. The two French women proved to be good company and we shared a few accommodations together. Sadly, I never wrote down their names in my journal.

I understood that they were best friends and doing sections of the camino as time permits. Today was their final day on the camino for this trip. With infectious smiles on their faces, they thoroughly enjoyed each others companionship each day. One very sweet memory I have of them is in regard to a nighttime ritual they performed. Before bed each night, they would massage each others feet with a special foot cream. I can only imagine how good that must have felt! And I don’t believe I ever heard them complain about blisters or sore feet. Bon voyage camino friends!!

Somehow, our ride and luggage transfer got a little mixed up and we ended up waiting longer than expected in Nogaro. We had to vacate the lodging but our host was kind enough to let us hang out in the yard. We arrived in Arzacq around 2:30pm at the Chambres d’hôtes Dulucq. Our accommodation was a beautiful stucco building with pale blue shutters and we had our own nicely appointed room. Our hosts were a very nice elderly couple and I believe that Susan remembered staying here on her last camino.

At our lodging for dinner, we were offered homemade pâté for an appetizer and an egg and sausage main dish. I copied a photograph of the front of the lodging from a tourism website since I was negligent in securing any photographs!

With two days of rest, my toe seemed okay to travel! So, tomorrow we would be back on the trail walking to Pomps!!