Over the past weeks Iz and I have been travelling pretty much every weekend, which can be tiring but we were happy to be invited and visit our friend Julien’s family home in the south of France, along with Louisa. It was his birthday, so he decided to go home to see his family and with him to bring some of his London crew.

 

Julien is from a small town named Albi, which is about an hours drive from Toulouse, France and situated within the commune of Tarn (I assume named after the river Tarn).

After taking the flight and landing in Toulouse, Julien picked us up. It was the Euro championships, something that we don’t really follow but as France was in the semi-finals at that stage we expected some celebrations and general football discussions. Driving on the way back from the airport this was demonstrated with the traffic on the roads, of course we landed as the game between France and Germany ended, France won 2 – 0. So we spend some time appreciating the traffic and even getting into an argument with a really overweight grumpy French lady while playing traffic games.

Eventually we arrived, it was late so we essentially proceeded to have a snack and go to bed. We were all to sleep in a large loft conversion that had been the entertainment area for Julien and his siblings, it was decked out with TVs, computers, foosball and of course books. Overall good leisurely items.
The next day we woke up and had a luxurious breakfast, with much  good French food including yummy cheese which was well devoured.

As the weather was fantastic we drove out of town to a nearby lake (I didn’t get the name of other) where we were able to hire some canoes. We proceeded to explore the lake with our canoes, taking a bit of time trying to figure out how to actually paddle properly and swapping team members, we then of course we
We then proceeded to go the town centre for our local tour of Albi in which Julien provided a very good service, even with my highest of standards.

The town of Albi is roughly split between the north and side, in which we started from the south due parking restrictions, as I understand that the town centre in the north side is pedestrianised.

As you can imagine the photos here cannot really do justice to how cute and pretty the town is but hopefully it will give you a bit of a sense of how it looks. After roaming around the south we then crossed the old bridge, which is a UNESCO world heritage sight, and headed to the centre. We decided to buy some ice creams and see the narrow streets and buildings of the centre before proceeding to the “Fortress” which I believe is actually called the Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile.

The cathedral served as a place of worship as well as a place of defence, mainly against another christian group called the Cathars who the Catholics wanted to ensure that were firstly destroyed via war, etc.. but also they wanted to ensure they could show the splendors of the Catholic church through its buildings.

 

 

We proceeded to walk around and explore the fortress and the surrounding gardens and other cloisters that served as the residencies for the important church folk over the centuries, which led us to explore the Palais de la Berbie which sits on a slight hill.

 

Upon the top we explored the buildings but what drives people is the garden located within its walls, the guests are allowed to walk around them on a raised walkway but unfortunately not allowed to working within the garden itself, I guess that it is just for show and not to be touched, especially by the likes of tourists.

After all our walking around we proceeded to roam the town and see the other interesting nooks and alleys of the town, and of course to have a refreshing drink as it was pretty hot. Fortunately there was some live music which provided some entertainment while we enjoyed our refreshments.

The next day we did a short drive to cute town named, Ambialet which is situated along the river Tarn. On the top of the hill sits an old church, named Église Notre Dame de l’Auder which was built in the 11th century and was constructed in entirely in stone slate.

After some good goofing around with panoramic photos and exploration we proceeded to go home for the day and rest a bit before going to a local concert, along with Julien’s brother (Adrian). The concert was to be held in the nearby park, pretty close to the Albi Cathedral.

The line-up consisted of 4 perfomances: Vianney, who we missed most of their show so I cannot comment much on. Next was Francis Cabrel who Julien and Adrian loved. He sings mostly reomantic music, which I needed them to translate the lyrics. Izaskun seemed to like him and later bought his album online at home. The next act was a Joan Baez, who is currently 75 years old. To be honest, I’ve never heard of her but she is apparently pretty famous for our parent’s generation. She sang in English which helped Louisa and I, not speaking French and all. She was energetic and still was able to hold her voice, which was overall impressive. The final act was a band called Sanseverino who sang in French, and appears to sing more comical music with an upbeat punk or jazz tune. We didn’t enjoy the last act as much so we took the opportunity to leave slightly earlier and beat the crowds out, however it seems everyone else had a similar idea to us.

 

After the show, we arrived home where Julien’s father proceeded to show us his extensive whiskey collection and even educating us unrefined types of the different types and tastes of the various regions of whiskeys.

… and just like that it was the last day we decided to take it easier and proceed to the locals equivalent of the beach, which is the river, where we relaxed, swam and even enjoyed swinging on a rope into the water. After this we proceeded back to the house to say thank you and goodbye to Julien’s parents. Izaskun and I proceeded to go to the airport, with a lift from Julien’s mothers (very nice of her). Louisa and Julien decided to stay in Toulouse to see one of Julien’s friend. So after a brief delay at the airport and the short flight we managed to arrive back to London.

The weekend was over but we had a really good time and a really great trip, thanks the Monsieur Julien.