A Side Trip to the Historic Town of Albi, in the French Pyrenees Region

Have Eurail Pass, will travel…..

Albi is located on the River Tarn, about 85 km northeast of Toulouse. The episcopal city, situated in the centre of the actual city, around the cathedral, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2010.

The Old Bridge (Pont Vieux) is still in use after almost a millennium.

The Palais de la Berbie, now Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, is one of the oldest and best-preserved castles in France. This imposing fortress was completed at the end of the 13th century.

The Sainte Cécile cathedral was built between the 13th and 15th centuries.

The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum houses over 1,000 works by Toulouse-Lautrec, the largest collection in the world. It is based on a donation by Toulouse-Lautrec's mother after his death in 1901.

We were fortunate to be at the Museum when it hosted an exhibition of some of the 2571 photographs taken by Bert Stern six weeks before the death of Marilyn Monroe. Stern is one of the greatest photographers of his generation. He did an amazing job capturing the mood of this fascinating and fragile woman.

Everywhere we looked we saw captivating scenes…..

We had to climb 145 uneven stairs to reach our spacious and eclectically-decorated apartment.

We had a great view from the third floor window.

The bedroom was up even more stairs.

The colourful IKEA kitchen.

And we enjoyed many tastey meals, accompanied by the excellent local wines from the Gaillac region.