Toulouse and its area
Toulouse, the ‘rose city’, is the historic centrepiece of the Languedoc, with its elegant buildings and churches typically built in rose-coloured brick, offering an unusual warmth and charm for a major city. And the historic centre of Toulouse itself is the famous open space of the Place du Capitole, with the Romanesque church of St Sernin, one of the loveliest in Europe, only a short distance away.
Toulouse, a vibrant cultural centre renowned for its art, music, exhibitions and theatre, gives way to none as an important industrial and commercial centre as well, birthplace of Concorde in its day, and now of the mammoth airbus of the future, the A380. And in sport, the Red and Black colours of its rugby team have a formidable reputation both at home and abroad.
As for the toulousains, their joviality and their love of life can be heard expressed on every café terrace, in the blunt accent of the South West. ‘A torrent of stones rolls in your accent,’ sang the Toulouse chanteur Claude Nougaro. Just as the mighty river Garonne rolls under the elegant stone and brick bridges of the city.
To the north and west are other ‘rose cities’, too, such as Albi with its Toulouse-Lautrec museum, and Montauban with its museum dedicated to Ingres. Across the region, villages cling to hillsides where vineyards soak up the warm sun and produce a range of intense wines, from Gaillac to Fronton — wines with substance which do justice to a satisfying dish of cassoulet toulousain. The renowned ‘pink garlic’ of Castres, is only one of the many fruits of the earth celebrated in harvest festivals and markets around the year, in the sun-blessed Tarn and Garonne districts.
To the north and west are other ‘rose cities’, too, such as Albi with its Toulouse-Lautrec museum, and Montauban with its museum dedicated to Ingres. Across the region, villages cling to hillsides where vineyards soak up the warm sun and produce a range of intense wines, from Gaillac to Fronton — wines with substance which do justice to a satisfying dish of cassoulet toulousain. The renowned ‘pink garlic’ of Castres, is only one of the many fruits of the earth celebrated in harvest festivals and markets around the year, in the sun-blessed Tarn and Garonne districts.
Elsewhere in the triangle bordered by Toulouse, Albi and the Lauragais, you can follow the unique Route du Pastel, made famous by the cultivation of the blue-colouring pastel plant which once provided fortunes and fine houses for many merchants, a legacy which we can still visit and admire today.
. . .