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Surrounding
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Toulouse
The old capital of Languedoc and France's fourth-largest
city, Toulouse is known as la ville en rose, or the
city in pink because of its distinctive red-brick
buildings that change from pale pink in the morning
to deep purple at dusk and today is cosmopolitan in
flavor.
The major city of the southwest, it is the gateway
to the Pyrénées mountain range. Toulouse
might be a city with a distinguished historical past,
but it is also a city of the future and the high-tech
center of the aerospace industry in France. |
Toulouse
- The City in Pink |
An ancient city filled with gardens and squares it has
a stormy history. It has played many roles: Once it was
the capital of the Visigoths and later the center of the
comtes de Toulouse. The city has 20 historic pipe organs,
more than any other city in France, and hosts an annual
international organ festival.
Its proximity to Spain may account for the city's laid-back
vibe, but it's the students who give the city its happening
edge. As a university hotspot, the second biggest in France,
it has a vibrant cultural life, and there's always something
going on.
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The
Cité de l'Espace
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The Cité de l'Espace
on Avenue Jean-Gonord (www.cite-espace.com) is an
excellent theme park on the outskirts of Toulouse.
Packed with hands-on exhibits and genuine space artefacts,
the science park is a fascinating insight into the
universe and our attempts to explore it.
There's a life-size model of the Mir space station,
complete with gravity-defying space toilets, and you
can test your astronaut abilities with a range of
interactive exhibits.
The is also an Airbus factory it is a plane spotter's
heaven, guided tour parties are a bombarded with facts
and figures. This vast site is a working factory so
visitors are restricted to looking at partly assembled
planes from a distance as workers move around the
massive carriers on golf-style buggies and bicycles.
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Like any big town there are churches in Toulouse. Basilique
St-Sernin is one of the biggest and most beautiful Romanesque
in southern Europe, but the lesser-known Eglise des Jacobins
is also worth a visit. Founded in 1215, the church suffered
under Napoleon, who used is to stable 300 of his horses,
but the ceiling is still a riot of ribbed red and green
bricks. The artist Salvador Dalí was so taken with
the ceiling that he used the pattern in his Santiago El
Grande painting. Outside in the courtyard and restored cloister,
you can hear concerts from July to September.
A walk, run or cycle along the peaceful canal and riverside
paths is especially romantic when the city is lit up at
night. There are plenty of operators running sightseeing
trips on the canal and the Garonne. Most leave from the
Quai de la Daurade or Ponts Jumeaux. Prices start from €8
for a 75-minute cruise.
Rue de Rome is Toulouse's main shopping drag, and the area
is rife with cheap and cheerful shoe, handbag and faddy
fashion shops as well as a sprinkling of designer boutiques,
kitsch speciality shops and second-hand jewellery shops
where the exchange rates can mean discounts of up to 20%.
Rue de Rome and the other roads that run parallel to the
river have yellow street signs, while all streets perpendicular
to the river have white street signs, all of which makes
navigation simple.
For a real flavour of the city visit the covered market
at Place Victor Hugo, which locals will tell you is no ordinary
market but a religion. You senses will be bombarded by the
smell of ripe cheese, freshly-caught fish, fruit, veg and
garlic.
The region is famous for woad which yields a fabulous blue/indigo
dye. There are woad shops dotted around the city selling
everything from chiffon scarves to baby boots in a range
of beautiful blue hues. Keeping in with the purple theme
is the city's other trademark souvenir - violette liqueur.
Castres
Just 30 minutes from La-Charmante and located close to the
Sidobre, an astonishing 12000 hectares granite massif. During
the ninth century, a Benedictine Abbey settled on the banks
of the river Agout and later on, Castres was enriched by
numerous influences. As a result, the charming aspect of
the town attracts the passer-by.
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river Agout, you can find old coloured houses which
used to be ancient tanneries.
In a way, they give the town a Toscan atmosphere.
The medieval alleys will lead those who enjoy strolling
from the Garden of the Bishopric, a masterpiece by
Le Nôtre, to Villegoudou St Jacques's Church.
These alleys show many architectural details from
the past.
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River
Agout |
The town also hosts the Goya Museum in the town hall, which
is an archbishop's palace designed by Mansart in 1669. The
paintings of Francisco Goya y Lucientes were donated to
the town in 1894 by Pierre Briguiboul, son of the Castres-born
artist Marcel Briguiboul. Les Caprices, created in 1799
after the illness that left Goya deaf, fills nearly an entire
room. A satire on Spanish society, the work is composed
of symbolic images of demons and monsters.
The town also has public swimming pools and the Archipel
centre it also houses an ice skating rink. The site has
a lovely shaded and grassed area for sitting out in the
summer sun. There is even a badminton / volley ball net
set-up for the more energetic amongst you. You can be sure
that this place is a great hit with children, with inside
and outside pools, both with slides and swirling currents.
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Carcassonne
Consisting of two towns: La Bastide St-Louis and the
older, more evocative medieval Cité. The former
has little interest, but the latter is a major attraction,
the goal of many a pilgrim.
Evoking bold knights, fair damsels, and troubadours,
the greatest fortress city of Europe rises against
a background of the snow-capped Pyrénées.
Back in its heyday in the Middle Ages it was the target
of assault by battering rams, grapnels, a mobile tower
(inspired by the Trojan horse), catapults, flaming
arrows, and the mangonel.
The city was used as a backdrop for the 1991 movie
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves and the real charm of
Carcassonne comes out in the evening, when floodlights
bathe the ancient monuments.
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Carcassonne
Fortress by Day
and by Night
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The fortifications of La Cité consist of a double
line of ramparts, with inner and outer walls. The inner
rampart was built by the Visigoths in the 5th century. Clovis,
king of the Franks, attacked in 506 but failed. The Saracens
overcame the city in 728 and held it until 752, when Pepin
the Short (father of Charlemagne) drove them out.
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During a long siege by Charlemagne,
when the populace of the walled city was starving
and near surrender, Dame Carcas came up with an idea.
According to legend, she gathered up the last remaining
bit of grain, fed it to a sow, and then tossed the
pig over the ramparts. It's said to have burst, scattering
the grain. The Franks concluded that Carcassonne must
have unlimited food supplies and ended their siege.
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Walks along the outer ramparts are free and are possible
year-round without restriction. Walks along the inner ramparts,
however, are possible only as part of guided tours as a
small populace still resides within the walls.
It’s also a great place to take children as their
imaginations can run wild, joust like knights, dress in
valiant armor and revel in the magic of the fortress setting.
Also, don’t forget The Canal du Midi. It is one of
the architectural wonders of the medieval era. The tree-lined
canal was built in the 1600s and is now one of the region’s
leading tourist attractions, with pleasure boats plying
its calm waters. Take a boat ride for an hour or two from
Carcassonne canal harbour and you get to pass through one
of the canal’s many locks.
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Rocamadour
This town reached the zenith of its fame and prosperity
in the 13th century. Make an effort to see it even
if it's out of your way. The setting is one of the
most unusual in Europe: Towers, old buildings, and
oratories rise in stages up the side of a cliff on
the slope of the usually dry gorge of Alzou. The population
has held steady at around 5,000 for many years.
The faithful continue to arrive today as they did
more than 8 centuries ago. As a pilgrimage site, Rocamadour
is billed as "the second site of France,"
with Mont-St-Michel ranking first, of course. Summer
visitors descend in droves, and vehicles are prohibited.
Park in one of the big lots and make your way on foot.
As you can see by the photograph it is especially
enchanting at nightime.
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Rocamadour
at Night |
Where
Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary |
Lourdes
Home to the world's most evocative catholic shrine.
Nestled in a valley in the southwestern part of the
Hautes-Pyrénées, pilgrims journey here
from all over the world.
Many Roman Catholics believe that on February 11,
1858, the Virgin revealed herself to a shepherd girl,
Bernadette Soubirous. Eighteen such apparitions were
reported. Bernadette, subject of the film Song of
Bernadette, died in a convent in 1879. She was beatified
in 1925, and canonized in 1933.
Her apparitions put Lourdes on the map. The town has
subsequently attracted millions of visitors, from
the illustrious to the poverty-stricken many of whom
go there looking for a miracle cure for a disease.
Although we can’t promise you a miracle, it
certainly is an interesting day out. |
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