Today Toulouse

 April 30, 2024

The weather is still cold, grey, with a chance of rain. So Dave has put together a walking tour of Toulouse, only a bit more than an hour from Le Cazal.

Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France, with a population of over 500,000. It is known for its aerospace engineering, home of the Airbus. It has a reputation as a young and vibrant city, mostly due to the University of Toulouse (founded in 1229). The city center sits between the Garonne River and the Canal du Midi, both hubs of transport from the middle ages to modern times. It is known as the "pink city" because of the brick used in building much of the early town. (There's no limestone in the area for building, but there is lots of clay.) 

the Capitole

The very center of the city is Place du Capitol, a large square in front of the city hall, le Capitol. While there is a market every day on this square, today's is small. Inside the Capitol, one can visit the "Salle des Illustres," a highly decorated hall leading to government meeting rooms. 

Clark and Dale - an illustrious duo for sure

But first Dave leads us to Place Victor Hugo where there is an indoor market with permanent vendor stalls. The six of us split up to wander the market as interested. It is a marvel of good food from local vendors, although the presentation is not what you'd see in the US.

splitting up

one of several butchers

There are 4 aisles with vendors on each side.

cheese stall  yum

one of several butcher shops

whole rabbit

whole chickens often come with heads and feet still attached

It's not all shopping. There's time to hang out with friends and have a beer, or wine, or aperitif.

fruits and vegetables

spices

On our way to the basilica. Notice all the rental bikes. Using a car in the city center is not to be recommended! Motorcycles or bikes are the way to go and much used.

Our next stop is St Sernin Basilica, built to honor Saturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse, martyred in 250 AD after being dragged through the streets by a sacrificial bull. . (Sernin is Occitan for Saturnin.) While a basilica had been built over his grave around 500 AD, his martyrdom made the basilica a popular visit for pilgrims. In the 11th century, the present basilica was built and soon became a stop on the route of Saint Jacques of Compostela. It is rich in relics and continues to welcome pilgrims on the road to Compostela. We were treated to someone playing the organ while we visited, adding to the drama of the basilica, the largest Romanesque church left in the world.

St Sernin basilica, from the side

the nave has wide aisles on either side of the main nave

the organ loft and main entrance to the church

the ambulatory (aisle around and behind the chancel) is full of reliquaries for various saints

chapel in the ambulatory

high altar in the chancel

A walk down Rue du Taur (street of the bull - guess what that refers to) where we found the église (church) du Taur closed for renovation. We ate lunch on a stone bench at the Capitole, Dave and Dale bought t-shirts, then we made our way to the Convent of the Jacobins. 

In 1215, in Toulouse, Dominic of Osma founded the Order of Preachers, now known as the Dominican Order. It was they who began the University of Toulouse in 1229. They are known as teachers and educators. In the 14th century, the relics of St Thomas Aquinas were given to the this church, creating a pilgrimage site. One can visit the brothers living quarters for 12 Euros each, but we only visited the church, large and impressive; I expect the cloister and living quarters of the monks would be worth a visit, but not today. My battery is dangerously near to running out, so it's time to head back to the car. 

Back to the parking ramp, located under the Capitole square. A good feature was the public toilets. Not so good was the need to take 2 elevators - both with impossible exits for the scooter and bad signage - to get to and from our car. But we made it. Which was easier than finding the parking ramp entrance in the first place. We missed the small entrance sign on arriving this morning and ended up driving on various one way and pedestrian streets for half an hour before getting back to the entrance to the underground parking. Every day is an adventure and something new learned. 

As we drove home, the skies became lighter. We hope tomorrow brings nicer weather, but we plan to visit local small villages, so we should be ok.

It's raining, it's pouring April 29, 2024

Today is 100% chance of rain, meaning it was raining when we got up, it's raining now, and it's supposed to rain all day. We still got our croissants and Janis scrambled eggs and fried up our leftover duck fat potatoes. A satisfying breakfast. 

bakery in Mirepoix

We're all on our iPads and computers. Kim managed to get in a walk between showers and is now working the morning crossword. Janis has done Wordle, Quordle and Connections and has posted to Facebook. She also did 3 loads of laundry. (Before you are too effusive in congratulations, you should know that this is a European washer with a much smaller capacity than our big washers.) Clark is researching wineries near here. And I finished yesterday's blog post. It's embarrassing to be 2 days behind when you've only been here 4 days.

The mountains have disappeared today and its grey and foggy, so our activité du jour is a trip to the grocery store, the "hyper Intermarché," in Pamiers. 

HyperIntermarché in Pamiers

Plaza entrance

It's one of those mega stores that sells everything. Small specialty stores (like a chocolatier) line the outside of the entrance corridor with the store checkouts across the wide opening of the Intermarché.

The checkouts at the front of the store. Dave and Lynn are waiting in the large atrium.

Lists in hand, we split up for efficiency, although we spend a lot of time searching aisles for each other. 

the mustard aisle

In the deli department

the meat department with the fish monger (le poissonnier) behind

Once finished at Intermarché, we stopped next door at Mr Bricolage which is like a Home Depot. We bought a chair for Lynn. Our green dining chairs make Lynn's legs fall asleep because she isn't tall enough. 

Shopping finished, we returned home and Dave got out apéros and a bottle of Tavel. Dinner will be late tonight. No plans for tomorrow yet. It's still supposed to be rainy.

LaGrasse - A Plus Beau Village April 28, 2024

The day is cold again (although the thermometer reads 60 degrees in the car) and threatening rain. The plan is to visit a Plus Beau Village (LaGrasse), have a picnic lunch, and then do some wine tasting on the way home. So we pack lunches, pack up our raincoats, and head out for LaGrasse, 115 km away (a bit over an hour driving time). 

What's a Plus Beau Village? Glad you asked. To promote tourism in small communities across France, an independent association, Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (the most beautiful villages in France) judges small towns for inclusion on their list of about 160 villages across France. It is a boon to small villages for whom modern life has left them behind. 

To be considered, a village must have less than 2000 people, have well preserved streets and some kind of historic monument - church, abbey, Roman remains, houses, etc. Once on the list, the village is virtually guaranteed tourist traffic which encourages local business. We have found these villages to be really interesting both historically and culturally. 

LaGrasse - a "Plus Beau Village"

LaGrasse can claim a 14th century bridge over the river Orbieu, a covered market (La Halle), and narrow cobbled streets lined with medieval houses. Most impressive, however, is the abbey that sits on the opposite bank of the Orbieu river. 

LaGrasse Abbey

We first explored the village including the parish church, Saint Michel. 

rather impressive for a parish church!

This church is completely surrounded by village buildings such that it was even difficult to find the entrance.

main entrance to the narthex

We wandered to the covered market, where there was a used clothing market going on.

Then along the cobblestone streets to the 14th century bridge. (The cobbles nearly rattled out my teeth and my chariot wasn't happy either!)

Dave helping me up the cobblestones to the top of the bridge

14th century bridge

Across the bridge, along the road to the abbey, we passed a cemetery - always an interesting place to visit. 

Dale opening the cemetery gate for me

A fairly recent monument

In France, you lease your grave, you don't own it. If your descendants don't renew the lease, the city offers that property (called a concession) for lease. If a lease is purchased by someone else, the bones interred in the grave are moved to the cemetery's ossuary (a place to collect the bones of people). The stone is removed and can be resold or simply discarded (ground for gravel, for example).

This family's concession had expired.

We found one such grave where a notice was posted that this concession was available. 

On to the abbey. One enters the book store and purchases a ticket (7 Euros 50 per person) to visit the public side of the abbey. There is still a private side of the abbey where monks continue to live. That side is not visited. 

Originally a Benedictine abbey, Lagrasse was founded by the Abbot of Narbonne in the 7th century. It was the richest and most powerful abbey in the middle ages, whose monks were wealthy, often children of nobility, with their own servants. Thus, the abbey is palatial in its size and adornment. Since the French Revolution, about 1/4 of the abbey belongs to the town and since 2004, the remainder is privately held by a canon community and is not visited. 

the private side of the abbey

Courtyard of the abbot's palace

upper balcony of courtyard

monk's dormitory

After touring the abbey, we made our way back to the parking lot where we found some big rocks to sit on while we ate. You can see how grey and cold it was, so we ate quickly and headed off to our wine tasting stop in Villamagne (Latin for Villa Magna - Big House). 

Villemagne

Roger Carbonneau, 5th generation winemaker at Villemagne, met us at the door and brought us into his wine cellar. The winery and vineyards surrounding it were originally a Gallo-Roman villa. Since 1750, it has been producing an eclectic variety of wines. Today, the winery has 30 hectares of vineyards (Carbonneau says one hectare is the size of a football field. Janis asks, reasonably, American football of European football which is soccer.) M. Carbonneau was quite the character, telling jokes as he walked us to the tasting room in back, explaining to us how their wines were produced. Everything is done by hand - picking the grapes, corking, and even labeling are time-intensive jobs. 

Roger Carbonneau greets us at the door to the wine cellar

Our tour and tasting lasted 2 hours as we tried each of his 8 wines + a grape juice (delicious). Of course, we bought some. 

beginning the tour

the tasting room

Home in a hurry via the highway, Janis made duck breast and duck fat potatoes for dinner. 

dinner

The day may have been grey and cold, but it was filled with interesting and historic places and a fun wine tasting. What's not to like?