On the eastern edge of the Minervois appellation in the southwest of France, there is a small village – a hamlet really – named Le Somail. There are no vineyards immediately surrounding it, the nearest ones being only a few kilometers away. When you are visiting wineries in the general area, leave yourself some time to visit this charming spot.
It has a certain Brigadoon quality, as though time had slowed down, if not stopped, in the 17th century. That’s because Somail exists solely because it was at a convenient point between Toulouse and the Mediterranean Sea on the Canal du Midi. It provided a stopping-off point for the boatmen and a harbor for their ships.
And so there were inns built, a bridge over the canal, a chapel, a few cafés. They are all there today, some of them updated for the 21st century of course, with the enhancements done with a dash of French élan. There are many boats, called péniches along the canal, and vacationers with rentals continue to steer their way (a bit shakily in some cases) under the ancient bridge.
The bridge is festooned with pots of flowers and offers a view of the hamlet and its boats. One near to the bridge is quite a sight. It’s a floating grocery store, good for a few provisions for the boaters and croissants for the locals in the morning. It, too, hearkens back to another era.
The Epicerie Flottante, or the Floating Grocery Store
A good idea is to save your visit to Le Somail for lunchtime. There is a row of outdoor cafés stretched along the southern bank of the canal, several of which have quite a reputation in the region. Steve had one of the specialties, frog legs in a garlic cream sauce. It was particularly delicious and would surely have been enough for two, except that Lucie doesn’t eat the little hopper sand could not even look at him eating them.
The southern bank also has all the requisite craft shops and galleries that seem to pop up wherever tourists gather. They’re fine, but really no better than all the other sun dappled villages in the south of France.
On the other side of the bridge from the restaurants are several small hotel/guest houses and restaurants that offer fancier fare than the previously mentioned cafés. The old chapel is worth a glance as well. And there is a truly unique attraction: the Librairie Ancienne (the Old Bookstore) which claims to have 50,000 books, surely an undercount. Of course, most of them are in French but there are plenty in all languages. There are marvelous picture books to thumb, rare books to stare at under glass, comics, kids’ books, lithographs, engravings, antique maps and more. If you are a bibliophile, you could get lost in there forever.
A partial view of the interior of the Librairie Ancienne
You can see all there is to see in Le Somail in an afternoon, lunch included, or you can stay for the night and really get the feel of the place. It does come down to a choice, wine tasting or soaking up the atmosphere. We chose the former, but not without a little twinge of regret as we pulled away.