It took only three hours by car from Bordeaux to reach Albi (Tarn capital)
Albi: classified as a UNESCO World Heritage since July 31st, 2010 and called the city of red bricks
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The Pont-vieux (Old Bridge) built in the XIth century extend its suburbs onto the right bank |
In the XIIIth century the Palais de la Berbie as well as the world’s largest brick Cathedral Sainte Cécile were erected.
Today the Palais de la Berbie shelters the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum . Since 2001, the museum has been refurbished and its restoration was just completed. The Apr 2 was the reopening date and we were pleased to be among the first visitors. We discovered a unique collection worldwide dedicated to the famous painter born in Albi in 1864
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Maison du vieil Alby (Old Albi House) a renovated medieval residence |
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Castelnau district |
Next stop was in the Aveyron Department (Millau area)
France’s Most Beautiful Villages in Aveyron: Peyre is an unusual village built on the side of a colossal rock
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Built into an excavation the troglodyte church of Saint Christopher overlooks the village |
From this Peyre village site, there is a magnificent view of the Millau Viaduct
The viaduct: total height: 343m; total length: 2,460m
Conceived by the engineer Michel Virlogeux, it took only 3 years to build
55 people work on the viaduct every day to provide optimum driving conditions and top service quality
The last but unavoidable visit was for Roquefort and its famous cheese coming from the magic of the Grands Causses plateau and of the cellars of Roquefort naturally ventilated by the air of the “fleurines”. The air is used for the Penicillium roqueforti to develop the transformation process
The ewe’s milk is collected throughout the counties of Aveyron, Tarn, Lozère, Gard, Hérault and Aude called the “Rayon de Roquefort”
