We found Albi to be a very interesting town to visit......
First stop, the immense Cathedral, the largest brick built cathedral in the world. We had seen it from our chambres d'hotes window and it was even more impressive close to! Awe inspiring....built to intimidate the Cathars.
The interior is totally painted.....which creates a very light interior.... heaven and hell depicted below!
It uses the blue 'pastel' , woad, which was the source of the city's wealth in the middle ages.
It took a lot longer to go around than anticipated...particularly as we decided to ascend their spiral staircase....a lot wider than the one at the chambres d'hotes....
... to their Treasury......
We found the opening hours out of peak season in Albi a little frustrating! As the Lautrec museum closed between 12 and 2pm there was no point in going without enough time to see as much as we could......
So we explored the town a little.....
The old bridge which has been in continuous use for traffic since the 10th century......
The small narrow maze of streets ...............
with old ads on buildings......
and interesting homes.......
On a little street we also found the birthplace of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec.
...right next door to the navigator Leperouse..... a good street address!
It was interesting learning the history of Toulouse Lautrec...... apparently his parents were first cousins (their mothers were sisters!) from noble families and in order to keep their wealth within the family it was decided they should marry! Their son, Henri, had a lot of congenital problems and died fairly young at 36. Their second son died when he was one year old. So......no close family to inherit the combined wealth!!
After lunch ( and surprise, surprise very few restaurants were open on a Monday!!) we finally went to the Toulouse Lautrec museum.
It is enormous!
In content as well as the building, which had been the archbishop's residence but looked more like and awe inspiring fortress! Again obviously to intimidate the Cathars!
No photos allowed but I did take a few before I realized!
I can definitely recommend a visit... but do allow a lot of time. They have every poster he ever produced and it appeared he was very prolific! Interestingly his parents offered all his work to the Paris museums after he died and they were turned down. So his birthplace, Albi, definitely benefitted!
The covered market is also worth a visit, built in 1905....
.....the oldest church, the Saint Salvi, is also worth a visit.........
We did find a different restaurant open on the Monday evening Les Jardins de L'Archeveche..... there wasn't much choice!
Fortunately the food was good....
First stop, the immense Cathedral, the largest brick built cathedral in the world. We had seen it from our chambres d'hotes window and it was even more impressive close to! Awe inspiring....built to intimidate the Cathars.
The interior is totally painted.....which creates a very light interior.... heaven and hell depicted below!
It uses the blue 'pastel' , woad, which was the source of the city's wealth in the middle ages.
It took a lot longer to go around than anticipated...particularly as we decided to ascend their spiral staircase....a lot wider than the one at the chambres d'hotes....
... to their Treasury......
We found the opening hours out of peak season in Albi a little frustrating! As the Lautrec museum closed between 12 and 2pm there was no point in going without enough time to see as much as we could......
So we explored the town a little.....
The old bridge which has been in continuous use for traffic since the 10th century......
The small narrow maze of streets ...............
with old ads on buildings......
and interesting homes.......
It was interesting learning the history of Toulouse Lautrec...... apparently his parents were first cousins (their mothers were sisters!) from noble families and in order to keep their wealth within the family it was decided they should marry! Their son, Henri, had a lot of congenital problems and died fairly young at 36. Their second son died when he was one year old. So......no close family to inherit the combined wealth!!
After lunch ( and surprise, surprise very few restaurants were open on a Monday!!) we finally went to the Toulouse Lautrec museum.
It is enormous!
In content as well as the building, which had been the archbishop's residence but looked more like and awe inspiring fortress! Again obviously to intimidate the Cathars!
No photos allowed but I did take a few before I realized!
I can definitely recommend a visit... but do allow a lot of time. They have every poster he ever produced and it appeared he was very prolific! Interestingly his parents offered all his work to the Paris museums after he died and they were turned down. So his birthplace, Albi, definitely benefitted!
The covered market is also worth a visit, built in 1905....
...to enjoy its beautiful cloister area......
and it has a watch tower on top!
We did find a different restaurant open on the Monday evening Les Jardins de L'Archeveche..... there wasn't much choice!
Fortunately the food was good....
Nice place for tourist to spend their time away from home.
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