Exploring Albi......

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.........

...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....

On the trail of Toulouse Lautrec.......

We like to vary our route between Switzerland and Provence and this time decided to return via Albi and visit the Toulouse Lautrec museum there. It was adding quite a number of kms to our journey but we wanted to explore a different part of France. This decision was made after we read an article in Cote Sud which described the area around Albi and Rodez in glowing terms!

We did initially book into one of the recommended hotels mentioned in Rodez, the Chateau de Labro because of their comments on the restaurant's innovative cuisine. However, thank goodness, we asked for a dinner reservation, otherwise we would not have found out until too late that the restaurant was closed on Sunday evenings! They gave us the names of two other restaurants to book...both were also closed. When their next suggestion was the restaurant at the bowling alley we felt we needed to skip Rodez! However Albi wasn't too much better! Most restaurants were indeed closed there also on Sunday evening, and  on Mondays!
Research led to us to booking a fantastic chambers d'hotes.......La Tour Sainte Cecile.....

..within a stones throw of the museum and the exceptionally large brick built Cathedral. This was a private residence and the owner grew up in the house. It is listed as a historical monument, the

Hotel Séré-de-Rivieres, from the 16th century .........

We were greeted inside the door....

and entered into the owners salon, which he told us had been his parent's bedroom when he was growing up.

Entrance to our room was up a very narrow spiral staircase ......

but I had definitely asked to have the Toulouse Lautrec room, knowing this prior to arrival.  We took very little luggage!

The room was even better than it looked online!
The nighttime view of the immense Cathedral was superb.....

...as was the view of it from our window  the following morning....

We were then also able to check out the tower we were in, during daylight hours...... just behind the circular stairs!

The owner did find us a small restaurant on the Sunday evening, just around the corner......he couldn't remember the name of the place he had booked for us but assured us it was only 20-30 meters, left and left again! He was correct... we had no trouble finding it.......everything else was closed!!

 ...and we had no choice but to take all 3 courses of a 'menu'..... fortunately good!

Game of Thrones……Dubrovnik

When I booked our apartment in Dubrovnik I had never heard of Game of Thrones! It is not as popular in Europe as it is in the US…….
However we heard  that the fortress and small bay we overlooked from our window are apparently prime sites used in the production!

We didn't think we would have an opportunity to see it being filmed, however there was a notice in the Tourist Office that they would be filming in a few locations around the town and so we were on the lookout!!

First item we saw…… and wondered about …... but it wasn't clear until we saw the second one……

……. the arrival of the props……

I tried to take more photos but was informed no photos were allowed…..

but the banners were a dead giveaway …..

and its amazing what a good telephoto lens can do……

 We did actually see the cast leaving the set…..

However, not having watched the show, we have no idea who these characters might be…….

We also visited one of the areas where they apparently do film a lot…..
judging by the electrical system left in place……

I presume anyone familiar with the show may be able to identify this Fortress……

 …..there were great views from the top!

and of course there is the inevitable Game of Thrones tour! We did not feel tempted to join!