Toulouse, the Rose City

Judy.  Before leaving France, we decided to spend our last 24 hours in Toulouse. From there, we'd get a better flight to London and on to Atlanta. It also gave us a chance to check out a city we'd always been interested in seeing.

If Montpellier's buildings make a golden city, Toulouse is known as the rose city, because all its edifices are build of a pink stone. It's warm and inviting and truly beautiful.

Arriving mid-morning, we were able to check into our hotel and get a recommendation for the best restaurant to eat cassoulet, a peasant bean casserole we first heard about from our old friend Felix De Greef about 47 years ago. Long time to wait to taste it, but never found it before. It's "home city" is near Toulouse, so it seemed a good place to try it. 

Le Colombier is famous for its cassoulet

We were sent to Le Colombier, which turned out to be exactly what we wanted. Our host there explained that this recipe had  been used there since 1947, and then steered us to the best wine. Cassoulet is a bean stew made with whatever meat is available--rabbit, sausage, goose, ham, whatever! This one had sausage, ham, and a goose drumstick, and was well worth the wait! Furthermore, dessert was an apple tart with armagnac ice cream.

From there we explored the city, starting with the Capitoline, a government building with stunning murals inside. While the outside was beautiful, the building was closed to visitors. Ugh. On to our next site.

The Capitoline and the market in the square

The rose color is evident in this building across from the Capitoline

While walking to the Couvent des Jacobins, we took in the charm of the medieval city. Streets were not as narrow as in Montpellier, but the buildings were definitely impressive.

The Couvent  is the birthplace of the Dominican Order of Preachers, of whom St. Thomas Aquinas is arguably the most famous. Central to this spare room is an altar covering the relic of St. Thomas. More impressive, however, is the colored light streaming through the windows onto the walls and the "palm tree columns", a distinctive aspect of the church. There's also a cloister where lots of people go to relax, but it cost, so we didn't go.

Palm tree columns reflect the light from the windows

The light reflects around the simple altar

St. Thomas Aquinas's final resting place

From there we headed to the Garonne River, and on the way, located the Basilica Notre Dame de Daurade, which housed a Black Madonna, so we ducked in. It was the complete opposite of the couvent--roccoco to the max! A plaque reminded us that the restoration of the artwork was done with the help of the French Heritage Society, Atlanta Chapter! There was artwork everywhere, and in a side chapel was the Madonna in her fancy blue gown. Legend says she has 23 outfits, and the presence of one of her dresses on the bed of a woman giving birth guaranteed a safe delivery.

The Black Madonna

That night we walked to the river to see the lights. What a sight! We took an elevator down to the river level and walked past dozens of university students enjoying the evening. 

The next morning we packed up, stored our luggage, and stopped at Monsieur Madeline for a breakfast of madelines and coffee. Another treat hard to get in the US.

This time we headed to the famous Japanese Garden. Now I've seen many Japanese gardens, but this one was in a class all its own. It's small, but has many nooks and crannies where you can observe the beauty there from different viewpoints. None of our photos do it any justice.

We headed next to the 12th century St. Sernin Basilica. Once again, the church was not like any others we'd seen. At the altar is the elaborate gold tomb of St. Sernin, but other than some ancient murals, it's a pretty simple stone Romanesque building. What it's noted for is the over 300 relics in the church! Other than the tomb of the saint, the most famous relic is in the crypt--a thorn from the Crown of Thorns. There's also a piece of the True Cross. Yes, I do have my doubts. Still, this pilgrimage church, with all its relics, is oddly peaceful. A side door was used by pilgrims, and, yes, the Camino (or Chemin de St. Jacques) runs through this city as well.

The crypt houses the thorn from the Crown of Thorns

Lunch was at one of a series of restaurants above the indoor city market, another recommendation from our hotel manager. I went for steak tartare, something I seldom find in the US. On our way out we passed an Art Deco building that took our breath away!

Certainly not part of Medieval Toulouse!

There was so much more to see, but we had a plane to catch, so we cut our losses and caught the bus to the airport. We definitely recommend Toulouse!