Jun 19th - Toulouse (DT to Albi)

 A day trip today to visit the medieval town of Albi, 80 kms north of Toulouse and best known for its beautiful cathedral, its 1,000 year old bridge, and the Toulouse Lautrec art gallery. 

It was relatively early when we arrived in town (i.e. we were the first tourists there) and almost immediately JEM was approached by a guide from the tourism office offering some guidance.  His English was limited but he gave us a map of the town and pointed out his ideal approach to four places to visit, it was good advice. He then took us to the first site on his suggested itinerary, the ‘old town’, that has some beautiful old laneways and houses.    

Next on the itinerary was a walk along the river to the ‘Pont Vieux’, the Old Bridge.  With some lovely views of the town on the way we soon reached the UNESCO listed bridge which is believed to be built in 1040.  

The enormous cathedral was next on our list.  Constructed between the 12 & 1400’s, and dedicated to Saint Cécile (about more later), this is said to be one of the largest brick buildings in the world (but I reckon Battersea Power Station would give it a run for its money! 🤔 😊).  On the interior the walls and ceilings are just magnificent, and mainly elaborately painted stories from the bible. However, perhaps the most outstanding paintings were on the huge columns either side of the alter with scenes from the day of reckoning (i.e. up to heaven or down to hell) with each person depicted holding a resume of all of their good or bad deeds. It would have been pretty scary 800 years ago! 😱😳.  Back to St Cecilia.  Neither of us had heard of her before but listening to our audio guides we found out that, along with someone else a bit more famous(!), she also had a virgin birth!  However, in St Cécile’s case it happened three times!!! 🤔😳

Lastly we visited the Palace Berbie and its gardens.  Previously the home of local catholic Bishops, in 1905, after the law of ‘Law of Separation of Church and State’, the church was dispossessed of the palace which allowed for the opening of a museum and which continues till today.  When the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who was born in Albi, died his family donated their collection of the artist’s painting to the museum and so it’s now named after him.  Housing more than 1000 works by HT-L this is one serious collection and definitely worth a visit. 



Comments

  1. Lyn WalpoleJune 20, 2023 at 11:55 PM

    Toulouse Lautrec - Another 'tortured' talent

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul DorkingJune 21, 2023 at 12:14 PM

    That’s so true, along with a few others of that era as well.

    ReplyDelete

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