“Learn Something New Every Day”

Question: What do the city of Detroit, Michigan, the State of Louisiana and the Tarn and Garonne Region in France have in common? Answer: Lamothe Cadillac.

He was born in the village of St. Nicolas in1658, sailed off to Quebec and the Americas and founded the city of Detroit in 1701. From there he moved on in 1710 to become the Governor of Louisiana. During a recent visit to the southwest of France, I happened to stumble upon a small museum in the village of St. Nicolas which explained this man’s journey more than three centuries ago.

To keep costs down with the Euro escalating against the Dollar I had rented an apartment in Moissac, a smaller town between the Tarn and Garonne rivers. One week seemed to be enough for this area and I found a recently remodeled one bedroom apartment, second floor walk up for 280 Euro per week.

The Tourist office had plenty of free information on what to do during my visit and the English speaking staff was very helpful. After all they seemed to have the only working Internet connection and I never had to wait, so I went there daily to check my emails.
(Remember that most places in France are closed for lunch between 12 and 2 pm)

A beautiful 900 year old Benedictine cloister is the main attraction in Moissac, together with its St. Pierre abbey. One of the pilgrimage ways to Santiago de Compostela, Spain leads through Moissac and in the evenings I would see many young pilgrims with backpacks and heavy walks coming into town looking for a nights rest. Saturday and Sunday mornings are market days and local farmers sell the products from this rich agricultural part of France. Peaches, Pears, Apples, Melons, Cherries and the famous white Chasselas grapes. There is an abundance of fruits grown around here. The Southwest is also famous for Foie Gras (Duck liver) and Magret the Canard dishes. Business is booming I heard.

As it turned out, Moissac was the perfect location from where to discover this medieval region of France. Some of the daytrips I took included:

Montauban
Founded in the 8th Century, the city has had its share of fires, occupation and destructions over the centuries. Today its a busy market town with beautiful pink brick buildings that house shops and restaurants ,.I parked the car under the main square and walked the small but clean streets of this lively town. My stroll takes me past the museum for the painter Ingres. He is the most famous son of the city, born here in 1780.

Almost all houses and buildings are decorated with Geranium flowerboxes at this time of the year. City hall and all government buildings all have many small French flags added: Bastille Day is just a few days away. The arcades around the town square provide cool shade on this hot summer day and a refreshing beverage in one of the many street café’s makes this a perfect excursion.

After the city a drive to the Gorges de l’Aveyron region and St. Antonin Noble Val and Penne. A breathtaking drive and I could hardly wait for the next view around the next corner, another village perched on a hill, another field of sunflowers in bloom.

Castres
The city of weavers on the river Agout. The wool industry still dominates the economy here. But I specifically came here to visit the  Goya Museum in the former bishop’s palace. The collection of works by the Spanish artist is extensive. Goya was appointed court painter in 1786 and painted many famous people of his time, but he is also known for his works that depict the life of the common and not so fortunate people at the time.

Lautrec
The best garlic in the world is grown around this tiny little village on top of a hill not far from Castres. The garlic has a purple color. The patron of a small shop explained in perfect English, why I should be buying his fresh and also canned products he was selling, all made with local grown garlic and without preservatives.

I happened upon a small medieval fair geared towards children and the toys that were used in medieval times. Wooden toys used centuries ago, recreated by local artists.  Table bowling with small wooden balls. Falling wooden sticks from a frame to see how many you could catch. So much fun to see the children play, the air filled with their laughter and I stood and remembered the toys that I had as a child. Wooden building blocks were some of them.

Albi

The massive size of the St. Cecile cathedral is overwhelming. It sits on top of a hill and is surrounded  by the city of Albi that clinches to the hillside. I felt like stepping back in time, right into the middle ages. Walking in this town made me think of all the people that had lived here over the centuries. Every turn I took, every view I had, the cathedral was towering over me. How fortunate I felt that I could be here to see this town.  In all my travels this had to be the largest church I have ever seen. Stepping inside the gothic structure I heard the massive organ playing and sat down to look at the mural painting of the Last Judgement and to just listen to the music. Entrance to the cathedral is free, but to visit the chancel and the treasury a small fee had to be paid for each, but it was well worth it.

Outside the cathedral I was watching workmen install stages as in a few days the Tour de France was going to come through town and they were setting up for the festivities. Right next to it is the entrance to the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. The artist was born a count in Albi in 1864.  The museum hosts the largest selection of his paintings and drawings, going back to his childhood. His wild lifestyle in the salons of Paris took a toll on him and he died at the young age of 37.

I only planned for one day in Albi, but I wished I would have taken more time because I really felt a very strong connection to this town, so I have to go back and spend more time there. As I drove out of the city, I parked the car across the river Tarn and took pictures of this beautiful town.

Some general thoughts
One week went by fast and I did not get to see all the places I had planned to visit. But my goal was to stay off the tourist route and avoid the high priced places like Carcassonne for example. I had planned a visit to the Airbus factory in Toulouse but I ran out of time, so I just have to plan another visit to the region. I never really ventured off more than 100 miles each day and found driving was made quite easy through excellent street signage. Most rental cars in Europe run on Diesel/Gazole and it is double the price than it is in the USA but cars are much smaller and use less gas. When you book just make sure that the car is equipped with Airconditioning as it gets quite hot during
the summer.  If you do not know how to drive a car with stickshift, you might want to practice before you go. The rental car companies will try to sell you a higher priced car just to sell you an “automatic” version and then when you get to there they say they don’t have one available anyway.

Dinner in most of the outdoor restaurants was quite reasonable. The most reasonable is to stick to the “Plat du Jour”. Before you sit down, read the openly displayed signs to see if it interests you. A three  or sometimes 4 course meal,  including ½ liter pitcher of house wine hardly ever ran over 25 Euro  (around 30 Dollars). Most restaurants served home cooked style meals, nothing too fancy, but tasty and
you can sit at your table all night long enjoying the warm evenings. I only had one bad meal during this week.  “Restaurant de l’Abbaye” in Moissac is to be avoided.

And remember: No tip is expected. Prices are “all inclusive”. If you want to leave some small change, please feel free to do so. I leave 10%  if the service was exceptional!!

If you go:

Flights  (Toulouse Airport = TLS)
I traveled onboard Continental Airlines from the USA to Hamburg, Germany. Then I connected to www.germanwings.com from Hamburg to Toulouse. I paid Euro 10 for a one way ticket plus taxes (totaling about $50 for one-way ticket).

Car Rental
www.autoeurope.com seems to always have the best deals, but check out your provider or a website like www.kayak.com

Apartment Rental in France
I prefer a website called www.homelidays.com It has many listings in France as it is a French site (not to worry, the site is also in English).

Tour Guides
My choice of Tour Guide Book has always been the “Michelin Green Guides”. It has the best information in the most compact version for me. I used to purchase it in the USA before I left, but now I purchase it in Europe. The English guides are readily available in any good book store and the price is the same, but I have to carry one less thing in my small roll on suitcase across the Atlantic. For this trip I
used the “Languedoc, Roussillon, Tarn Gorges” guide. The price was Euro 15.00 and every bookshop in the region was selling it.

Before I leave for a trip I go to the Internet and read up on the places I want to visit , but I buy the actual guide book only when I get to my destination.

When you rent an apartment in Europe, there are some details and specifics you  should be asking about. Write down your questions before you contact any of the owners. For example: Is there Aircondition? How many floors/stairs/elevator? Kitchen fully equipped? Do you charge seperate for cleaning, taxes, electricity, towels, etc. etc. Better to ask, then there are no surprises when you get to your destination.

Gila Beckermann

BuzzyVoyager.com