Albi was looking just fine this morning on a slowly warming sunny day which saw us looking at one of the most unusual cathedrals in France. Built as a fortress – not just of the bishops but of Catholicism as a whole – the building scarcely looks 700 years old. Albi was the town which gave its name to the Albigensian crusade and the French victors were not about to let their southern neighbours forget who won the war and which faith was in control.
We also saw half-timbered brick houses built with money from the woad trade and managed to find a good bar in the covered market that could serve cheese and tapenade with the excellent Gaillac wines.
The Moulin a Cafe coffee house sobered us up before visiting the bishops’ palace, now a delightful museum housing the works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. His works are not simply the Moulin Rouge posters that adorn student walls the world over; he is an able portraitist with a fine eye for composition.
A few opted to walk home and enjoyed the outskirts of Albi so much that they continued going well into the late afternoon. All recovered in time for a dinner which was hailed as a great success – seared scallops with fresh peas and Lima beans and a carpaccio of asparagus – chicken breast on a risotto of scampi tails – strawberry and rhubarb tart with strawberry sorbet. This dinner is going to be hard to beat.
