barbara pletz blog: Cordes-sur-Ciel and Albi

Yesterday I went with some "Bize" friends on a drive north to Cordes-sur-Ciel and Albi. I drove over their way, actually the beautiful village of Agel, and then we headed north in two cars. I didn't have to drive which was a real treat for me. I've been doing my driving since I got here, and although it is so helpful having a GPS to tell you where to go, you just don't get to enjoy the scenery as much when you are driving.

It is amazing how quickly the terrain, and the "feeling" changes, as you travel sometimes just a few kilometers. By way of example, here in Abeilhan the terrain is flatter and the fauna scrub and low trees much like southern California. In the Minervois, where Bize and Agel are, the fauna is thicker with more trees and is much hillier (is that a word?). So it was also evident as we drove north yesterday that we were heading into a very different kind of region. First we went to Cordes-sur-Ciel.

This is a beautiful hilltown, unusual for this part of France. Although there are many medieval fortified towns, few are hilltowns. In Italy there are lots of hilltowns but not here. I didn't get a picture from a distance. At the end of this blog I'll try to paste one in from the web. There is a main walkway through the town (all uphill). Here we start up.

Here is the group (minus Bonnie who was taking the picture). Left to right - Graham visiting from Scotland, his wife Jean (Alison's cousin), Alison an Australian who lives here part time, me, Terry (American lives here most of the year - Bonnie's husband) and Bill (American visiting Terry & Bonnie).

The town was founded in 1222 by the County of Toulouse. The town provided shelter for the Cathars who were being pursued by the crusaders because, although they were Christians, they denounced the Catholic Church. The Cahars in this area were specifically targeted by the Bishop of Albi (the town we visited nextJ).

The town is beautifully preserved and in the summer mobbed with tourists. This day the weather was perfect and it was practically deserted. There is no traffic permitted in within the central town so, with few people there, there was a lovely stillness and it felt almost deserted.

Here is an old VERY DEEP well in the town square. We paid about .40 Euros for a 2 minute lit peak to the depths. Here Bonnie and Terry peer down.

and see this.

There are lot of half-timbered buildings not seen further south.

Town Square with restaurants almost deserted.

View from the wall.

A beautiful stone building with interesting sculptured creatures.

Fois Gras anyone?

You can see that Autumn is on its way.

We headed south to Albi. Very different feeling there even though it was a "contemporary" with Cordes. Very Catholic. Here is entrance to the Cathedral.