Sunday and Monday in Albi

PS the video I tried to load in last blog will not, so please ignore.

The weather has changed since we arrived here. Cooler, cloudy and a bit of rain. We are now wearing most of our clothes including rain jackets. This town is amazing, the cathedral and the episcopal palace are UNESCO world heritage sites so that brings lots of tourists to town. We have been around the Cathedral Sainte-Cecile a couple of times, inside and out.  It is a massive brick structure with huge towers and bells that ring the hours. The interior is totally painted, much of it in dark colours, giving a sombre atmosphere. Wendy was fascinated with the huge 15th century painting of the “Last Judgement”. We also  visited the Choir of the cathedral, where the choir screen is considered to be some of the finest surviving sculptured medieval carvings (all angels and bishops).

We visited the formal gardens of the bishop’s palace (now contains the Toulouse-Lautrec gallery). We will see that later but the gardens are beautiful especially with the view across the River Tarn. The site now belongs to the city of Albi and the Tarn Department.

Albi Market pictures

 

Saturday Market Day in Albi

October 5
We had the best farmers market experience ever on Saturday morning. Our apartment is across the street from the indoor Halles Market which has many vendors selling their produce every morning (except Monday), and then on Saturday all around the outside of the market many more producers and farmers set up their tables or drive in their trucks that transform into small stores. We just had such fun checking everything out then going back to decide what we wanted to buy to make our dinner, since we have our own kitchen for the next 5 days.

We bought tiny green beans, little new potatoes and chicken breast strips marinated in lemon and thyme. We also got a little melon, ripe and ready to eat for our dessert tonight.  Also bought some local cheeses to sample and some French gala apples. There were so many folks there buying their veggies, seafood and meat, etc. Lots of families.

Right at 2pm all the market stalls were taken down and another event set up in the same place around the market and in front of the cathedral. We went into the Tourist Info office to ask what it was about and we discovered it was an evening half-marathon team relay starting at 8pm.  And food would be served inside the Halles Market until late for anyone and everyone who came out to cheer their team on or just watch. We headed out right after supper and got caught up in the fun of watching the runners coming in and tagging their team member who would then head out. No idea of numbers but there were a lot of runners, and the whole event was highly organized, with lights, cameras, loudspeakers.

We went into the market to see what was going on there.  Vendors selling wine and lots of different plates of meats and cheeses and fancy breads. Then the singing started! A Basque men’s choir of about 10 very animated fellows, all dressed in white. They had everyone clapping along with them – us too!  What fun and what a great day!

Albi October 4

We took the train from Toulouse to Albi, just over an hour’s ride through mostly farm land, corn fields, sorghum and vineyards with a few villages. Taking the train in France has been a real treat. We can book our tickets on line, picking a time after the early morning rush to get the cheapest tickets. As seniors we have been able to purchase our tickets for €5 each. What a deal!

We arrived in Albi and had a 1k walk into the old town and our apartment which we had rented for 5 days. We were both excited to be somewhere for a few days and just hang out. We finally found the place after a visit to the Tourist Info office and a chat with a friendly fellow who pinpointed the building on the town map for us.

Wendy had the code to get in and we were tickled with the very old place that has been updated and so cute. The downside was it had not been cleaned since the last folks left which we assumed was the same  morning. First we were a bit deflated but then left our packs in a corner and headed to the main Place Sté-Cecile. Had a very good grand café creme and then a sandwich and felt ready to
take it on. Wendy phoned the owner and could not get in touch with her so emailed booking.com who said to get in touch with the owner. Wendy listed the problems: no linen, no clean towels, no toilet paper etc. We headed off to explore for a couple of hours, then found the grocery store and bought some stuff so we could have tea, dinner and breakfast. When we got back to the apartment at 5 the bed had been made, toilet paper in place and 2 clean towels out. Certainly the bare minimum but we can cope.

In and around Toulouse

Toulouse, October 2 And 3

We had an hour and fifteen minutes on the train from Pamiers to Toulouse on Tuesday and then a short walk to our hotel. It’s in a perfect spot for checking out the city and there are lots of cafes around all the plazas for coffee and drinks and then supper. We have been to the Basilica St-Sernin which has a desk with a couple of volunteers to chat with any pilgrims coming through – between 3 and 5 every day. The two fellows there were telling us all about a large group of Canadians from Quebec who where through last week. 

We found a great travel bookstore that has lots of guide books for all the different caminos as well as 

all the maps, even one for the trail we were on that was much better than the one we had been using.

Lots of tourists here and one thing we are noticing a lot of is delivery bicycles with big “Uber Eats” pack on back  Around lunch time and then again in the early evening there are many. With so many hotels around I think it must be tourists ordering or maybe it’s just a way of life here. 

Another funny thing, we went to an outside bar/café so I could have a cup of tea about 6 yesterday and the server said no hot drinks after 6 only cold drinks. Ok then!

We went to a different restaurant for dinner a little while later and we each had a glass of white wine to go with our fish. I ordered a second glass and it came in a much smaller glass, Wendy ordered a 2nd and hers came in a large glass like the original glasses were with much more wine. I complained to the server and he said, the small glass I was served is the right size. The others were not so if you got a large glass you should be happy. So we were to be happy 3 times out of 4 I guess. How do you argue with that?

The River Garonne runs right through the city and there is a lovely walk right along the edge of the river. A number of bridges cross the river. Under one I spotted this gal just hanging around and having a swing. Looks like a high risk activity but on closer examination it is an art exhibit and not a real person!!!

On to Albi tomorrow on the train.

Pamiers Sunday and Monday

September 29 & 30, Pamiers:
Wendy had us booked into an old style hotel full of charm, old paintings and fancy ceilings. What it  didn’t appear to have was any other guests. It’s Sunday and it’s closed. Since we booked on Booking.com we were able to check in by phoning when we arrived outside. The door was unlocked for us and we were shown in. It was explained to us that there is no staff on Sunday and Mondays, just him. Turned out we did see a couple of other guests coming and going, but it was very quiet and comfortable.

Don’t think this town is a place tourists bother with. Seemed fairly scuzzy to us, especially in the closest plaza to our hotel. But we had coffee outside there and enjoyed watching all the comings and goings around us and the place was beautiful and green with this very interesting decoration which I loved.

We had the best dinner yet at a restaurant that had been suggested to us by a server at the bar we stopped at for a cold drink on our way into town. The restaurant was called Les Bains Douches which seemed like an odd name for a place to eat but it was excellent. We sat right along the edge of the little  canal that runs through town so we could watch the ducks floating down and then trying to swim back upstream against the fast moving water while we ate. A lovely setting.

My entree was an amazing gazpacho soup with a scoop of basil ice cream. First time I have ever had that, apparently the chef’s creation. Wendy had pressé du canard with the same basil ice cream. I followed this with roast veal in an onion sauce while Wendy had escalope de dinde (turkey) in a mustard sauce. Dessert was a chocolate mousse with chocolate ice cream. With a bottle of the local red wine Corbieres “La Demoiselle” – THE best meal in along time!

We spent Monday planning the rest of our trip. We have decided to move on to Plan B because the next part of this walk becomes much hillier and the stages longer with limited accommodation available to easily break it up. We enjoy being able to stop for a coffee or lunch and even have a choice for dinner at night. That has not been the case so far on this walk. So we have picked a few places we really have wanted to see in this part of France and will try and stay a few days in each. Love to see new places and have some new adventures. On Tuesday we will take the train to Toulouse for 3 nights, then up to Albi for 5 nights in a little apartment. We are both happy that we were able to hike for 6 days and get to know a part of the Voie de Piémont. It was wonderful to walk along and see the Pyrénées silhouetted on our left, and to go by the fields of sunflowers, corn, or beautifully ploughing hillsides, and see the local vineyards.