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Albi - Tarn
Inventors of labels have seized upon Albi: "upturned hull of brick" "fortress of the faith" "Italian city", amongst others. It has three main attractions: the cathedral of Ste. Cécile, the Palais de la Berbie (Toulouse Lautrec museum) and the Pont Vieux, but also the charm of its old streets. Bright pink in the morning light, deep red in the evening, and almost empty in the midday heat. Half-timbering, projecting upper floors, passages, paving stones… a mediaeval litany with a Southern accent. You have to wander around, risking a glance into any open doorway: the hôtel Reynes, with its extraordinary loggia, built by a fabulously rich pastel merchant in 1530, St. Salvi cloister, (13th century) with its green triangle and double columns…
Albi favours the surprise factor - not well-known, famous things: unhurried visitors do best. From the Pont Vieux (one of the oldest bridges in France), you should watch the sunset: the shadows creep down from the tower-cumkeep to the nave, from the nave to the ramparts and on to the river.
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Cordes sur Ciel - Tarn
Cordes sur Ciel, massed on its hilltop, looks out from behind its ramparts. A bastide founded in 1222, it lived through a century of strife. Cordes is first perceived as a cliché of mediaeval military architecture: solid, austere, with stone piled high for protection. You have to get past the first curtain of walls (there are five altogether !) and the Horloge, Jane or Ormeaux gates in order to find the hanging gardens, the fig and almond trees hidden like secretive oriental gardens.
Higher up , on the covered market place, the Middle Ages acquire a Renaissance air with elegant façades (the Grand Fauconnier, Grand Ecuyer and Grand Veneur houses), wide mullioned windows and appropriate scenes carved in stone. This part of Cordes is rich, and makes no secret of its taste for life. At the end of summer, the people of Cordes get together on this square for the "Fête de la Bonne Vie" (the Good Life). A very local feast before the first chill sets in.
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Castres - Tarn
If you’re looking for comparisons, Florence and the Arno come to mind first: like their Tuscan counterparts, the Carder, Weaver and Dyer families of Castres needed water. L’Agout was the textile thoroughfare: the houses of brightly-painted wood - past which the Coche d’Eau tourist boat cruises today - were real factories, up to the soleilhou (open gallery) under the roof, where cloth or leather was dried. Castres was both industrious and warlike. The bridgehead of Protestantism in the Tarn, it took part in, and suffered from, the Wars of Religion. Don’t bother looking for mediaeval Castres: it’s gone. Mansart and Le Nôtre rebuilt it, and family fortunes did the rest: viz. the Leroy, de Viviers and de Lacger town houses. Castres has its great families, for whom cloth was gold, its Spanish collections (Goya, Murillo, Pacheco, Velasquez, Zurbarna): fortunes robed in stone and canvases. It has the Jaurès Museum too, Jaurès the defender of working people, who are the real builders of prosperity. |
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Conques - Aveyron
In my turn, I fell under the spell of Conques… the romantic vestiges of the cloister, the statue of Ste. Foy, dripping with gold and precious intaglios, the valiant old walls, the lovely houses bowed beneath cascades of roses, trumpet flowers and wisteria, the fascinating harmony of red sandstone, schist and golden-pink limestone… Everyone succumbs to the charm of this wild valley shaped like a cockle-shell: first was the hermit Dadon, founder of a simple hermitage in the 8th century, then the monks who, at the dawn of the year 1000, built the fantastic abbey church (a real earth-force !), then Ariviscus, who didn’t stop at stealing the relics of Ste. Foy from the abbey of Agen to bring them to Conques. From that moment on, miracles began to happen. Crowds of pilgrims arrived, drawn as by a magnet. The aura of Conques irradiated the 11th and 12th centuries. As if under enchantment, emperors, kings and ordinary folk gave gifts and jewels to the abbey. Thus was constituted the Treasure of Ste. Foy , a supreme example of the mediaeval goldsmith’s art in the service of religion. And that’s not all. Down the centuries, some power seems to have incited the people of Conques to take all kinds of risks to protect their priceless treasure from the greed of others, hiding it deep in their cellars or in the woods whenever danger threatened. |
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Cités templières du Larzac - Aveyron
Believe it or no, I met the Templars. The vast emptiness of the Larzac remembers the year 1152 very well, when the Templars, and then the Knights Hospitallers installed themselves for 6 centuries of occupation. 6 times 100 years ! Plenty of time to create a myth which still feeds the wildest rumours even today. The Commanderie de Sainte Eulalie, the Templars’ mother house, and the annexes of la Cavalerie, la Couvertoirade and le Viala du Pas de Jaux have remained miraculously intact. Even the scenery, not as uncultivated as it seems, and wreathed in sumptuous solitude, is as the Templars modelled it. Fields of cereals, dolines, watering holes, drove roads… all these bear the hallmark of the Templars. Such was the nature of the Templars of the Larzac, and I felt that they were extraordinary. Of course, I was told how much they were feared, to what extent they could be argumentative and determined to achieve their ends, picking quarrels with local lords to further their own interests. In spite of all this, I was sad when I heard how King Philippe le Bel had them violently arrested and abolished their order in 1312 (Were they too rich ? Too powerful ? Was it because they had failed to keep possession of the tomb of Christ ?) Their domains, their wealth… everything passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitallers, an order "cousin" to theirs, which faithfully perpetuated the Templars’ work in the Larzac until 1792. |
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Villefranche de Rouergue - Aveyron
Even if it isn’t the only bastide founded by Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint Louis, Villefranche de Rouergue plays on its prestige with characteristic Southern volubility, and lets it be known that its history is far from ordinary. The urban development of the bastide is original in a subtle and clever way. Instead of forming square or rectangular blocks, the main and secondary streets cross like supple strips of material. The little streets are straight, but not rigorously parallel. Now I can sense the gentle rise of the the streets and also of the arcades surrounding the market place, irrigated by a constant mercantile flow, and appreciate the Renaissance façades and the sculpted doorways. Even the church is distinctive. The tower-cum-porch invades the market square like an enormous Trojan horse, without in the least perturbing the convivial frenzy of the Thursday morning market. |
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Rodez - Aveyron
Capital of the Aveyron, Rodez raises itself aloft by the power of its cathedral, thrusting skywards since 1277 in a paroxysm of Gothic art. Around Notre Dame, the old quarters of Rodez offer various views of the rose-red décor of the tower. I snap the best one in the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace, swathed in an atmosphere of luxury inherited from the 17th century. The city, once divided between count and bishop, is gradually restoring its heritage: Tour Corbières, Hôtel Delauro, Place de la Cité, Tour des Anglais, Maison de Benoît, Chapelle des Jésuites, pedestrian streets where little shops are squeezed in cheek by jowl… I love strolling around on a Saturday morning, market day on the Place du Bourg where small producers offer their locally-grown produce and talk lovingly about it.
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Figeac - Lot
We stand perplexed on the Place des Ecritures. At our feet lies a vast, opaque and mysterious slab of black granite covered with hieroglyphs. This is a reproduction of the Rosetta Stone, that fragment of an Egyptian stela which enabled Champollion (who was born here) to decipher in 1822 one of the world’s most ancient scripts. After a visit to Jean François Champollion’s birthplace - the house is now a museum - we set off for a stroll through Figeac, “Ville d’Art et d’Histoire”. Its exceptional architectural heritage, which is continuously being brought to light, restored or returned to its original state, forms a different visual code to crack. Past the Hôtel de la Monnaie, the Hôtel de Balène, the Place de la Raison, the Maison du Griffon, the Espace du Patrimoine…: we are walking through a huge, richly illustrated, animated book, which is wonderfully alive. Figeac is still continuing to write its story with enthusiasm and verve. |
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St Cirq Lapopie - Lot
André Breton, a Surrealist poet, called this village (now listed in its entirety as a Historic Monument) an “impossible rose in the night” and said he had “ceased wishing to be elsewhere”. In his wake, other Surrealists discovered the beauty of St. Cirq Lapopie: fine houses hang suspended on the very edge of the precipice. A cascade of warm red-brown tiles, a fortified gate, half-timbered houses, lanes where tanners, cauldron-makers and woodturners once plied their trade, the boatmen’s inn, the Maison de la Fourdonne, the Musée Rignault all demand your attention… At the top of the hill, the Lords of St. Cirq Lapopie’s castles are now almost gone, although the village still dominates the Lot valley. |
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Cahors - Lot
From river level or from up on the Mont Saint Cyr viewpoint overlooking the browntiled roofs, the old city of the Cadurci has retained traces of the Gallo-Roman era: an arch from the baths, foundations of the temple… A mediaeval atmosphere pervades the maze of streets in the Badernes old quarter. The cathedral, built from the "deposits of the ages" between the 11th and 17th centuries has a Romanesque doorway and cupolas, and is flanked by a Flamboyant Gothic cloister. Close by, the Archidiaconé and the Chantrerie, where the clergy stored their vats and barrels, combine brick and stone with Renaissance windows in the Italian style. The city has kept its barbican and Pope John XXII’s Tower, and is proud of the Valentré Bridge, begun in 1308. This venerable edifice, the city’s third stone bridge at a time when Paris didn’t even possess one, has carried thousands of pilgrims bound for Santiago de Compostela. |
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Rocamadour - Lot
We came upon Rocamadour as did the pilgrims of old,who, from the 12th to the 15th century, used to make a detour from the Santiago de Compostela roads in order to pray to the Black Virgin and venerate the relics of St. Amadour here. Like them, coming by the little road from Cahors, we had a sudden, breathtaking view of Rocamadour clinging to the cliffs on the other side of the Alzou canyon, close to l’Hospitalet. We entered by the Porte du Figuier, followed the only street, and found ourselves before the monumental staircase leading up to the Parvis des Eglises. Hesitantly, we pushed open the door of the Notre Dame chapel, the main pilgrimage sanctuary. Facing us, Our Lady of Rocamadour, a little, almost childlike, silhouette of black wood. Her fragility is merely apparent. The thousands of prayers she has heard, the thousands of requests she has granted confer upon her a noble authority that leaves us speechless. Rocamadour: as the famous author and poet, Victor Hugo, described it: « Irréelle splendeur au détour de la côte… Mirage mauve et brun, Rocamadour la haute… ». |
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Millau - Aveyron
This bridge sets world records for height, with masts reaching 340 meters (higher than the Eiffel Tower). The Millau Viaduct is multi-span, cablestayed, 2,460 meters long, and provides 2 driving lanes in each direction, skipping over the Tarn Valley touching down at only 9 points. It fits very nicely into the surrounding countryside, thus meeting the requirements of the architect. To meet these requirements, however, highly advanced technologies were employed, including a streamlined steel bridge-deck supported by cable-stays and resting upon 7 very slim piers constructed with high-grade concrete. It climbs a gentle slope of 3% from north to south, and has a slight curve on-plan. |
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Albi - Tarn
Cathédrale Sainte Cécile
Musée Toulouse Lautrec
Musée Lapérouse
Maison du viel Alby
Jardin de la Berbie
Marché tous les jours sauf le lundi.
 00 33 (5) 63 49 48 80
Cordes sur Ciel - Tarn
La Bastide
Le jardin des Paradis
Le Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain
Musée L’Art du Sucre
Musée d’Art et d’histoire Charles Portal
Marché le samedi matin.
00 33 (5) 63 56 00 52
Castres - Tarn
Musée Goya
Centre National Jean Jaurés
Jardin de l’Evêché
Marché tous les jours sauf le lundi.
00 33 (5) 63 62 63 62
Les cités templières
visites guidées
• La Cavalerie
00 33 (5) 65 62 78 73
• La Couvertoirade :
00 33 (5) 65 58 55 59
et Musée « calèches et remparts »
00 33 (5) 65 62 26 85
• Sainte Eulalie de Cernon :
00 33 (5) 65 62 79 98
• Le Viala du Pas de Jaux :
00 33 (5) 65 58 91 89
• Saint Jean d’Alcas :
00 33 (5) 65 49 09 74
Conques
Visite du Trésor.
00 33 (5) 65 72 85 00
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Sauclières
• Domaine de Gaillac : collection unique de voitures d'élevage
 00 33 (6) 65 62 26 85
• Musée d'automates
00 33 (5) 65 62 11 81
St Jean du Bruel
Noria, l’espace de l’eau :
00 33 (5) 65 62 20 32
Sylvanès
Abbaye : festival de musique sacrée
00 33 (5) 65 98 20 20
Rodez
Cathédrale (XIIIe-XVIe). Clocher et cathédrale illuminés l’été. Visite du clocher de la cathédrale. Chapelle de l’ancien Collège des Jésuites (XVIIe), chef d’œuvre du baroque rouergat. Circuit du vieux Rodez.
• Musée des Beaux-Arts Denys-Puech.
• Musée Fenaille : collection unique de statues-menhirs.
00 33 (5) 65 75 76 77
Villefranche de Rouergue
Visite de la bastide royale, la Chapelle baroque des Pénitents noirs, de la Chartreuse Saint-Sauveur. Marché typique le jeudi matin.
00 33 (5) 65 45 13 18
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Cahors
• Bibliothèque Patrimoniale et de Recherche du Pays de Cahors.
00 33 (5) 65 35 10 80
• Cathédrale St Etienne, cloitre, chapelle St Gausbert
00 33 (5) 65 53 20 65
00 33 (5) 65 20 87 88
Figeac
• Musée Champollion.
00 33 (5) 65 50 31 08
00 33 (5) 05 65 50 05 40
• Espace du Patrimoine.
00 33 (5) 65 50 05 40
• Musée du Vieux Figeac.
00 33 (5) 65 34 06 25
Rocamadour
• Les Remparts.
00 33 (5) 65 33 23 23
• Le Rocher des Aigles.
00 33 (5) 65 33 65 45
• Les Sanctuaires
00 33 (5) 65 33 23 23
• A proximité : Le Gouffre de Padirac
00 33 (5) 65 33 64 56
St Cirq Lapopie
• Musée Rignault
00 33 (5) 65 31 23 22
• Musée de la mémoire du village
00 33 (5) 65 31 21 51
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Albi - Tarn
• Hôtel Chiffre***
Logis de France
50 rue Sérè de Rivière
81000 ALBI
00 33 (5) 63 48 58 48
 00 33 (5) 63 38 11 15
 
• Hôtel Le St Antoine****
Châteaux Hôtel de France
17, rue Saint Antoine
00 33 (5) 63 54 04 04
00 33 (5) 63 47 10 47
• Grand Hôtel d’Orléans***
Restaurant Le Goulu
Best Western
Place stalingrad
00 33 (5) 63 54 16 56
00 33 (5) 63 54 43 41
• Hôtel restaurant Hostellerie du Vigan ***
Logis de France
16 Place du Vigan
00 33 (5) 63 43 31 31
00 33 (5) 63 47 05 42
• Hôtel Les Pasteliers **
Logis de France
3, rue Balzac
00 33 (5) 63 54 26 51
00 33 (5) 63 54 91 12
Cordes sur Ciel - Tarn
• Hôtel Restaurant Le Grand Ecuyer****
Châteaux et Hôtels de France
00 33 (5) 63 53 79 50
00 33 (5) 63 53 79 51
• Hôtel restaurant Hostellerie du Parc **
Logis de France
00 33 (5) 63 56 02 59
00 33 (5) 63 56 18 03
• Hôtel restaurant Hostellerie du Vieux Cordes***
Logis de France
00 33 (5) 63 53 79 20
00 33 (5) 63 56 02 47
Castres - Tarn
• Hôtel restaurant l’Occitan***
201 avenue Charles de Gaulle
00 33 (5) 63 35 34 20
00 33 (5) 63 35 70 32
• Le Miredames**
Logis de France
17 rue Roger Salengro
00 33 (5) 63 71 38 18
00 33 (5) 71 38 19
Conques
• Grand Hotel Ste Foy****
00 33 (5) 65 69 84 03
00 33 (5) 65 72 81 04
• Hôtel-restaurant Le Moulin de Cambelong***
00 33 (5) 65 72 84 77
00 33 (5) 65 72 83 91
• Auberge Saint Jacques**
Logis de France.
00 33 (5) 65 72 86 36
00 33 (5) 65 72 82 47
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Saint Avit
• Les Saveurs de Saint Avit
La Barraque
00 33 (5) 63 50 11 45
00 33 (5) 63 50 11 45
St Jean du Bruel
Larzac
• Hôtel-restaurant du midi**
Place du Manège
00 33 (5) 65 62 26 04
00 33 (5) 65 62 12 97
• L’Oustal
Chambres et restaurant
00 33 (5) 65 62 29 87
Sainte Eulalie de Cernon
• Auberge La Cardabelle.
00 33 (5) 65 62 74 64
Rodez
• Hostellerie de Fontanges***
00 33 (5) 65 77 76 00
• Hôtel Le Biney***
00 33 (5) 65 68 01 24
00 33 (5) 65 75 22 98
Ouvert toute l ‘année.
• Goûts et Couleurs
Restaurant - 38 rue Bonald
00 33 (5) 65 42 75 10
Bozouls
• Domaine des Brunes
Chambres d’hôtes 3 épis
00 33 (5) 65 48 50 11
00 33 (5) 65 48 82 62
Villefranche de Rouergue
• Hôtel-restaurant le Relais de Farrou***
Logis de France
00 33 (5) 65 45 18 11
00 33 (5) 65 45 32 59
• Chambres d’hôtes du Mas de Comte 3 épis
Chez Mme Jayr
00 33 (5) 65 81 16 48
00 33 (5) 65 81 16 48
• Chambres d’hôtes du Mas de Jouas à St Rémy 3 épis
00 33 (5) 65 81 64 72
00 33 (5) 65 81 50 70
Monteils
• Le Clos Gourmand
Restaurant et chambres
00 33 (5) 65 29 63 15
00 33 (5) 65 29 64 98
Cahors
• Inter Hôtel de France***
252, avenue Jean-Jaurès.
00 33 (5) 65 35 16 76
00 33 (5) 65 22 01 08
• Hôtel Restaurant La Chartreuse***
St-Georges
00 33 (5) 65 35 17 37
00 33 (5) 65 22 30 03
• Hôtel de la Paix
30 place St Maurice
00 33 (5) 65 35 03 40
00 33 (5) 65 35 40 88
Cahuzac sur Vère
• Hôtel restaurant Château de Salettes****
Châteaux et Hôtels de France
Lieu-dit Salettes
00 33 (5) 63 33 60 60
00 33 (5) 63 33 60 61
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Lacaune - Tarn
• Hôtel Restaurant Le Relais de Fusies***
Logis de France
2 rue de la République
00 33 (5) 63 37 02 03
00 33 (5) 63 37 10 98
• Hôtel Restaurant Calas**
Table et Auberge de France
4 Place de la Vierge
00 33 (5) 63 37 03 28
00 33 (5) 63 37 09 19
Figeac
• Hôtel du Pont d’Or***
2 Av. Jean Jaurès
00 33 (5) 65 50 95 00
00 33 (5) 65 50 95 39
• Hôtel Champollion**
3 Place Champollion
00 33 (5) 65 34 04 37
00 33 (5) 65 34 61 69
Fons
• Domaine de la Piale
Chambres d'hôtes 3 épis
00 33 (5) 65 40 19 52
00 33 (5) 65 40 19 52
00 33 (6) 87 39 84 73
Rocamadour
• Hôtel restaurant Beau Site***
La Cité
00 33 (5) 65 33 63 08
00 33 (5) 65 33 65 23
• Hôtel restaurant du Château***
Route du Château
00 33 (5) 65 33 62 22
00 33 (5) 65 33 69 00
• Hôtel restaurant Les Vieilles Tours***
Lafage
00 33 (5) 65 33 68 01
00 33 (5) 65 33 68 59
• Hôtel restaurant le Troubadour***
Belveyre
00 33 (5) 65 33 70 27
00 33 (5) 65 33 71 99
• Hôtel Les Esclargies***
Route de Payrac
00 33 (5) 65 38 73 23
00 33 (5) 65 39 71 07
St Cirq Lapopie
• La Pelissaria ***
00 33 (5) 65 31 25 14
00 33 (5) 65 30 25 52
• Auberge du Sombral
Place du Sombral
00 33 (5) 65 31 26 08
00 33 (5) 65 30 26 87
• Chambres d'Hôtes - 3 épis
Chez Mme Agnès Dadoun
Route du Carol
00 33 (5) 65 31 49 10
00 33 (6) 12 29 76 55
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> Top |
 Click here for a full map. |
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 Albi
00 33 (5) 63 49 48 80
00 33 (5) 63 49 48 98
Cordes sur Ciel
00 33 (5) 63 56 00 52
00 33 (5) 63 56 19 52
Castres
00 33 (5) 63 62 63 62
00 33 (5) 63 62 63 60
Rodez
00 33 (5) 65 75 76 77
Villefranche de Rouergue
00 33 (5) 65 45 13 18
Conques
0 820 820 803
Conservatoire Templier
du Larzac
00 33 (5) 65 59 12 22
Cahors
00 33 (5) 65 53 20 65
Figeac
00 33 (5) 65 34 06 25
Rocamadour
00 33 (5) 65 33 22 00
St Cirq Lapopie
00 33 (5) 65 31 29 06
Millau
00 33 (5) 65 60 02 42
00 33 (5) 65 60 95 08
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