The Southwest of France--starting with Toulouse

Toulouse's Pont Neuf

Founded in  400 BC, the charming city of Toulouse, on the Garonne River in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, was an important city in the days of the Roman Empire.  Today it is France's fourth largest city with an international airport and excellent restaurants.

Norman nave of the Basilica

The Basilica of St. Sernin in the most interesting of Toulouse's monuments.  It is the largest Romanesque church in the world, built in the 11th century, with a mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture.  We wanted to visit the Convent des Jacobins to see its palm-tree vault based on only one column, but it was closed.  Next time.

St. Sernin's unusual tower

The Garonne River has a long shady promenade, past the beautiful Pont Neuf and next to 19th century villas and homes with pretty gardens. This is a university city which has been an intellectual and artistic center for over 1000 years.  You can see that tradition today in its lively squares and cafes where the people strolling through the streets and enjoying the outside restaurants are as diverse as any city I've visited.  Lots of gay and multi-racial couples, Muslim women in chador or head scarves, Africans in traditional dress, Arabs in long white robes, businesspeople heading to work in suits, heavily tattooed students with dreadlocks and book bags and, of course, tourists drinking wine or coffee as they watched the parade of passersby.

half-timbered house in Toulouse's old city

Toulouse also has a tree-lined canal filled with houseboats and narrow barges.  Every square seems to have its own market where nearby farmers bring their homemade hams and cheeses, meat, breads and fresh produce.  Apricots, peaches and plums are in season right now, so the markets had mounds of ripe fruit.  Other squares housed large flea and antique markets.

array of cheese in a market

view of the Pyrenees from our hike

From Toulouse, we headed south to the Pyrenees for a hike off the highest pass in this part of the mountains.  The valleys are extremely steep, with narrow, one-lane roads where passing cars stop, pull over as far as they dare, particularly on the valley side of the road, and inch past each other.  The hairpin turns are so tight that we saw one camper get part way through the turn, then back up, and continue forward in order to get around the hairpin.  At the top of the pass, a herd of Clydesdale horses roams freely, though they seem to prefer standing in the road while admiring tourists drive through a parking area to get around them.

Clydesdales on the road

Wild azaleas covered the mountains.  The peaks, though only a little over 6000 feet in this part of the Pyrenees, still had some snow.  The roadside snow markers showed that this area can get lots of snow in the winter.  We hiked through the azaleas to a pass where we had a gorgeous view of valleys, lakes and peaks.