Albi

Not my photo, but this is the most common shot of Albi, a town an hour from Toulouse by train. It straddles the River Tarn and the big building is Saint Cecile-- the largest brick cathedral in the world.

Albi is a romantic's dream!  Not an uncobbled street can be found in the center of town; brick paths wind down steep wooded banks to the river, which is spanned by arched bridges and aqueducts; heavy bows of purple wisteria hang over the alleys.  Follow narrow flights of stairs to tiled terraces and you'll soon find yourself dead-ended on someone's back porch, with their potted flowers and clothes line.  Turn off the main street, mount a few steps and you'll discover this courtyard, quiet except for the incessant cooing of pigeons:

The Cloister of Saint Salvy

The Palace of the Berbie offers this view of the Tarn, complete with gardens, a vine-covered promenade, and the orange-shingled roofs of the stacked houses across the river:

I spent Saturday in Albi, arriving around noon when the sidewalk and terrace cafes were filling up.  It was sundress weather.  Kids ran through fountains and the homemade gelato shops were doing good business.  With so many picturesque alcoves, it was hard to choose where to eat mine.  The heat made the fragrance of flowers hang in the air and the atmosphere felt like summer vacation, without lots of tourists.  Albi isn't huge, but in addition to its charm, it has a few attractions that draw crowds-- the Cathedral Saint Cecile and the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum (I visited the museum--of the French artist by the same name-- but I'll spare you the details).  This weekend there were only a couple coaches worth of tourists so there was an agreeable array of people (no one likes walking around a deadbeat town unless it's supposed to be that way).

I went inside the enormous Cathedrale de Saint Cecile and it was 15 degrees cooler inside-- out of the sun, surrounded by all that stone, the familiar smell of candles and old wood.  Cathedrals first impress with their size and grandeur, and after a few minutes of taking it in, it's the details: the decor and the carvings.  Put the two together-- such elaborateness in so much space -- and you could spend days in there and not see every intricacy.  Saint Cecile stands out from the rest in that every foot of it--the walls, the bays, the ceilings-- is painted:

France has a lot of towns with cathedrals and quaint streets, but Albi turned out to be one of my favorites.  A smooth train ride through the country and back and an afternoon spent wandering through this treasure of a town-- it was a Saturday well-spent.