Fortress Albi

 

Where to start?

We're in Sarlat (not Sarlacc, Randall.  Much nicer) and will be here for three nights.  It's a small medieval town (without walls) that was almost entirely rebuilt in the fifteenth century when the King (of France) rewarded the town for their loyalty during the 100 Years War (which was a lot more than 100 years and which our guide says was “a very silly war”).  The Sarlatians (?) used the money to build the grandest buildings they could, and it's a kind of cartoonish early Renaissance town, almost out of a Disney movie.  We love it.

Anyway.  Since actual days begin and end normally now, maybe go day by day.  

Saturday:  Another great breakfast in the hotel, and then on the bus to Albi, another small medieval town (sensing a theme here?) that features:  More Cathars!  

Did you know that the Albigensian Crusade (1208-1229)(named for Albi), organized by Pope Innocent III, was not created to fight the Saracens in the Holy Land, like most of the rest of the Crusades were, but to fight fellow Frenchmen in France?*  Abigensians, to be precise, because Albi was the center of the Cathar movement.  Many Cathars were defeated and massacred in Carcasson in 1209 (see yesterday), but it took the Crusade fifteen more years to get them all.  Later in the century the newly appointed Bishop of Albi decided that he needed a cathedral that was a massive fortress, so there'd be no more of this heretical nonsense.  And he did build a fortress (ask Google for more pics), at least on the outside, and in the process ended up building the largest brick building in the world (which it still is, apparently)(he used brick because it was cheaper).  

The inside, however, is just astoundingly ornate, not in the Baroque fashion (too early), but in the “let's use all this extra wall space we have because of the narrow, arrow-slit windows, and fill it with art!!” fashion.  Wow.  Just wow.  We've seen a LOT of cathedrals, but nothing like this one.  The whole front of the church, above the main altar, is a huge mural based on their reading of Revelations, focusing on the condemnation of the damned, with each of the deadly sins represented by each one's specific horrible punishment.  And yet there are playful tromp-l'oeils all over the place, and one of the finest choir screens in Europe.  We just sat there and stared for a long time.  Then sat for some time more, because it was 80+ outside and sunny, and it was cool in the cathedral.  

The Bishop's Garden

Next door to Fortress Albi is Fortress Bishop, the Bishop's Palace, built about the same time by the same bishop, who was apparently so unpopular that he needed to live in a massive castle so the Albians (Albigensians?) wouldn't do him in.  We got to wander around a lot of it, because it is now, for complex but boring reasons, the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum.  You can read T-L's biography, which is really interesting.  His mother, from an aristocratic family, was unmarried at 30, so instead of sending her to a nunnery, the family married her off to a first cousin.  T-L was the result of that narrowing of the gene pool, and was physically disabled all his life.  He's the one who painted the Moulin Rouge posters and the prostitutes of Paris.  He was supported all his life by his mother, so he could paint what he wanted, and he combined that freedom with great talent, and became famous.  He came along at the end of the Impressionist era, and was inspired by the Impressionists, but you could see that he struck out on his own, too.  

Anyway, we started our day in Albi with a tour of the T-L Museum, and then went over to the Cathedral and gawped for a while.  Abbey wanted to go back to the Museum and look at more of the paintings in more detail, so after a leisurely long time in the Cathedral, she walked back over to the Museum – and it was closed.  For lunch.  For an hour and a half.

So – no detailed T-L.  But how about this:  our lunch (which was on our own, not included in the tour) was a chocolate croissant each.  Nice.

I have to say that the bread is just outstanding so far.  I've mentioned the croissants and brioche, and we managed to manufacture reasons to enjoy other breadstuffs.  Tonight's dinner, which was also on our own, was at another boulangerie in Sarlat – a simple chicken sub (lettuce, tomato, hard-boiled egg, wonderful mustard) on a roll that was – a treat in itself.  Why can't every sub everywhere be on that kind of roll?  It can't be wildly expensive.  It was wonderful.  And a big raisin roll we split for dessert.

Last night we had a group dinner, at a restaurant about five minutes walk from the hotel.  It lasted over two hours, which seemed fine with everybody.  The company was congenial and interesting, but the noise level increased with each bottle of wine that was opened.

Well, today's Mother's Day somewhere in the world, and we hope to connect with Randall, Lily, Gwen and Whitsun soon on the phone, or a video call, or something.  I don't understand this stuff.  We have kept our phones on airplane mode the whole time, but we have much more access to wi-fi than we did last year – every hotel has it, and some of the places we visit do, as well.  But Mom/Abbey/AA turned her phone on today so we could talk.

Speaking of Mom/Abbey/AA, she is having a ball trying out her French and holding halting conversations with non-English speakers.  A lot of mime is involved.  So far so good!

Sun AM – woke up to gentle rain, went out on covered patio.  Instead of birds singing, which is a much-anticipated sign of spring, it was doves cooing.  Today we went to Lascaux and saw the cave paintings, and to an awesome boxwood cliff garden.  More soon!

NOTES:

* - This should give us all pause – the idea of a religious leader raising an army and going on crusade against fellow countrymen because their beliefs are different.  We are the same people who lived 800 years ago, and we haven't learned much in that time.