Part 6, the Midi-Pyrenees

This is the last installment of our France trip!

Toulouse, La Ferme de Boyer
We left the Dordogne area and drove from Le Moustier to a little farmhouse near Mirepoix in the Midi-Pyrenees area of France.  The farmhouse is owned by a delightful English couple.

On the way, we stopped in Toulouse and met up with a guide, Elyse, that Mark had arranged for in advance.  She is an American who has lived in France for a number of years and is a professor of the arts at a nearby college.

We met Elyse at St. Sernin Basilica.  The church was built in honor of Saturnin, first bishop and martyr of Toulouse, who died after being dragged through the streets by a sacrificial bull in 250 AD.

It was not long before the rise in the numbers of pilgrims to Compostela made Toulouse a stopping place.  The basilica is built to assist the flow of pilgrims though the church on the ground floor as well as the upstairs.

While we were there, a student from the university was practicing on the organ, and we were treated to some wonderful music.

I loved this stained glass window of Jesus blessing the children.

Elyse told us about many of the buildings.  In 1463, following an especially terrible fire, a law was passed encouraging people to use bricks instead of wood for building.  The nearby Garonne River provided dirt that was a unique rose color for their bricks.

Notre Dame du Tarn is another church in Toulouse, but has a more Basque-region feel to it.  The front facade is only about maybe 10 feet thick, giving the appearance from the front of a soaring church.  Notre Dame du Tarn is supposedly built on the spot where the rope broke that was attached to the bull that was dragging Saturnin, the bishop.

This large square is the center of the city.  The photo below is the government building.

 Capitole de Toulouse

This is opposite the Capitole.

Inside courtyard of the the government building:

The bridge over the Garonne River was an architectural achievement because of the "flood holes" that allowed water to pass through when the river rose.  

 Buildings around Toulouse:

After our 2 1/2 hour walking tour, we hopped into our car and headed to Mirepoix, or more precisely to a little farmhouse between Coutens and Besset.

 The driveway to La Ferme de Boyer

 La Ferme de Boyer

 We were treated to a gourmet meal by Harriet, a Cordon Bleu school graduate.  Her husband, Robert, was helpful in making suggestions as to what sites to see.

Mirepoix, Chateau de Lagarde, Camon, Montsegur

The first day in this area, we first visited the city of Mirepoix.  The buildings were from the Middle Ages.  It was interesting to see the different heights of the first floor of the buildings.  Mark said it looked like they were in the same woodshop class as he was... and probably didn't get a good grade.  Still, the buildings were charming and colorful.

 The little village had a huge church, with a very wide central nave.

 The interior was colorful with the stained glass windows as well as the painted walls.

The walls looked like they had been wallpapered, but on closer look, you could see that the painting was slightly uneven in places.

 The arches were beautifully painted!

This is the outside of the church:

 The gargoyles were interesting, as well:

A short drive from Mirepoix, we wandered around the ruins of the Chateau de Lagarde.  At one time, it was called the Versailles of the Pyrenees.  It was first a medieval fortress, then a Renaissance palace and finally, the Classical residence.  It was destroyed during the French Revolution.

This sign shows what it would have looked like during the 17th century.

We were the only ones visiting the site, so that made it extra cool!

 The nearby village with the Pyrenees in the background:

We stopped briefly in the little village of Camon.  They had recently had a flower festival.  All the homes had beautiful roses climbing up the side.

In the Languedoc area, there are many Cathar castles.  The Cathars were a religious sect that broke off from Christianity.  The pope was concerned about the power the Cathars held in this part of France.  The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) was initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate the Cathars.  He offered the lands of the Cathar heretics to any French noblemen who would take up arms.  Punishment for Cathars who refused to recant their beliefs were burned.

We climbed up to Monsegur, one of the last Cathar strongholds, where 200 Cathar Perfects were burned because they would not recant their beliefs.

 Montsegur

 The fortress walls.

The view from Montsegur.

Vals, Foix, Niaux, Andorra

The second day in the midi-Pyrenees, we began our day by visiting a church that was partially built into the rock at Vals.

 The staircase into the rock.

The ceiling inside the church.

 The exterior extended above the rock area.

The cemetery next to the church.

Our next stop of the day was Foix.  There was a large fortress on the hill, but we just wandered around the village and had lunch before moving on.

Mark had been meticulous with our planning and had secured a reservation for an English tour of ancient cave paintings in the Niaux caves.  But somehow he mixed up the days and when we showed up at the appointed time, he realized that we were supposed to have been there the day before.

View of the town of Niaux from the caves.

So instead of going into the caves, we drove on up into the Pyrenees to Andorra, just to say we'd been to Andorra.  

 Andorra with its Lego-like buildings.

Driving through the Pyrenees.

Carcasonne, Narbonne, Lagrasse

Our last day in the area, we headed to Carcasonne.  It has a beautiful medieval fortress that was restored in 1853.

In the afternoon, we drove on to Narbonne.  It is a larger city, with an attractive "centreville" with a large church.  We had lunch on the city square.

 Morrie & Dawn share a pizza & salad.

 The cathedral.

As we were leaving, I noticed this poster on the bulletin board.  It was similar to the "I'm a Mormon" campaign that the LDS church had a couple of years ago.

The last stop of the day was a town called Lagrasse that had been recommended to us by our host, Robert.  However, we got there after the church (and everything else) was closed, so we just took a photo of the town and drove back to our lodging.

The following day, we boarded the TGV in Avignon and returned to Paris for the remaining few days of our trip (see first post.)  This ended a wonderful trip.  We were glad we had the opportunity to experience it all, but also glad to be returning home to our own bed!