Occitanie Toulouse suggestions?

[Amy]

Hi all. We are ending our upcoming France trip with six days based in Toulouse. The city looks quite interesting, although at least one of the museums I’d been looking forward to is closed for renovations. Engineer husband is looking forward the the aerospace museums. I’ve rented an apartment near Victor Hugo market. We are planning on a day trip by train to Albi, and perhaps a day for Castres, primarily for the Goya museum.

If anyone has suggestions for this segment of our trip, I’d be appreciative. Interests are art and architecture, food and wine, history; and anything geeky for Larry.

 

[dayhiker]

We spent only two nights in Toulouse a few years ago, just to get adjusted to the time change from the U.S. We walked all over the city for a day and found the most beautiful botanical garden: JARDIN DES PLANTES. For a day trip other than Albi, Carcassonne is interesting. For a longer trip, your husband would definitely be interested in the Millau Viaduct in Millau. There was a fascinating exhibition about the construction of the viaduct. Although we didn't drive across, we did walk/drive below for a better look at the support columns. It is also possible to book a tour for up close viewing. See https://www.leviaducdemillau.com/en

 

[Dana]

Toulouse La Ville Rose is probably the most underrated city in France! Sadly it true, the Fondation Bemberg and the Augustins are still closed (during covid they decided it was time for renovations, and things always take longer than they think they will).

Don't miss the Salon des Illustres upstairs in the Capitole (Toulouse's town hall); St-Sernin, the world's biggest Romanesque church with its beautiful school of Toulouse sculpture, the Musée St-Raymond (next door), and the Jacobins, and the very fun steam punk Halle de la Machine and Les Abattoirs (contemporary art, often with some excellent special exhibits).

The old part of the city is very charming to wander through, with all of its palaces built on woad fortunes, oh and the Japanese gardens in the Jardin Campans-Cafarelli are very pretty too. And be sure to have lunch upstairs at the Marché Victor Hugo. Another possible excursion by train is to Cahors, with its medieval centre, Pont Valentré (prettiest bridge in France) and newly reopened Musée Henri Martin. I wrote about it here.

 

[chachalaca]

Hi Amy,
I was just thinking that I had listened to a great podcast series on France, specifically the Toulouse region. I looked it up and it is still going strong! You can pick and choose the episodes you want to download. I see that they have branched out a lot since CoVid, so you might want to look at the archived episodes too. Join Us in France podcast

Laura