Not Available Online
Sometimes the internet takes all the fun out of travelling. Happily, the best stuff is still not, and probably never will be, available online.
You can Google-streetview your hotel before arriving and surf down the narrowest backstreets of the smallest village atop the ghastly google car. Read endless blogs to find out what the hottest local restaurant is, what to order when you get there, and which table to demand. It’s fantastic—when you arrive, nothing is left to chance. View pictures taken by the web-obsessed tourist who ate there last night. Geolocate a local craftsman with your iPhone app. Never eat anything the New York Times hasn’t already described to you. You’re so in the know, you’ll never make an error, and likely not ever make a discovery.
Thankfully for the sake of our sanity, most of the world is still not on the internet. Yup, athough it sounds terribly inefficient, there are places I’m afraid you actually have to go and see for yourself. Case in point: La Poterie de la Hulotte in Caylus. A third generation potter who throws traditional-shaped pots, jugs, utensils and decorative items from fine clay sourced in Burgundy and thrown in his small workshop. I asked young Mr. Carriquiry whether he had an online store. His pottery is so lovely and so unreasonably cheap I had visions of him making millions selling over the internet to every corner of the world.
“No, it wouldn’t work,” comes the reply. Each pot and plate is too different. People would order from the picture, get something a shade lighter or rougher, and you can imagine the complaints. And he can’t produce it fast enough. In fact, he doesn’t even sell in the local markets. You have to go to Caylus, on the two mornings a week when he’s open, hope that he actually is open, and meet the man himself. How inefficient. That’ll never work.
But it seems to. He makes beautiful stuff. Caylus is worth the visit. It also has one of the best traiteursin the region, who not only has a real website, but with whom I am friends on Facebook. Call me a luddite, but although it’s great fun to read his status updates (“… is making 150kg of Toulouse sausage”) it’s still even more fun to actually eat the stuff.
Jack loves Steve Jobs as much as the next Macworld subscriber, but there’s still a special place in his heart reserved for the good old ways of doing things. Contact him to get a little more authenticity out of your trip to Europe, and take a look at our trip planning site while you’re at it.
