Weekend in Toulouse

I spent recently an extended weekend in Toulouse. I really enjoyed it, there was a lot to enjoy - great sightseeing, excellent monuments and museums, the always fine French food. It's a 2 hour flight away from Lisbon, so it seemed like a nice place to go for a short getaway, and so it was.

Toulouse is a beautiful city, with an ancient history that goes all the way to the Romans. I stayed between the railway station - Gare de Matabiau, a name reminiscent of the Toulouse saint bishop Saturnin, killed by a bull - and the Place du Capitole where is the City Hall. It's a pleasant city to walk, being flat and well paved.

And so I walked, through beautiful squares like Place du Capitole, Place Saint-Georges, Place Wilson, Place de l'Esquirol, prosperous 19th century boulevards and narrow medieval streets. Toulouse is called la Ville Rose on account of the numerous buildings of local brick. There is a beautiful Romanesque cathedral, the Basilique de Saint-Sernin, and impressive Gothic churches, especially the church of the Couvent des Jacobins - also built with bricks, it's a peculiar kind of Gothic, more austere than usually, and with beautifully faded frescoes on the walls. I guess it's what they call the Languedocian Gothic.

I visited two excellent small museums: the Musée Saint-Raymond and the Musée des Augustins. The first has a fine collection of Roman artifacts, especially remarkable are the numerous busts, I love the perfection of the portraits, really individualistic and expressive. The second, in the ancient convent of the Augustins, has a wonderful collection of Romanesque and Gothic sculpture, I was particularly struck by the beauty of the Romanesque capitals and some Gothic faces. There are also some good paintings - Delacroix, Reni, Lautrec - and sculptures by Rodin.

From Toulouse, I took a day trip to Carcassonne, a small town with a fortified medieval city which was important at the time of ta Cathars and then extensively restored in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc. The place is outrageously touristic now, with cafés alternating with souvenir shops, but it manages to retain a magic fairy tale atmosphere, especially the castle. And of course I tasted the famous local cassoulet.

And so it was another very nice trip, not the less for the company - I took my mother with me, and she was a fine travel companion, valiantly walking a lot and always cheerful! Looking forward to do it again.