News: August 2010. the
Tarn city of Albi officially recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site
Unlike
many regions of France Midi-Pyrénées
is not a historic province. It is actually a 20th century invention,
created as a result of the "regionalisation" process that took place in
the 1970s. Like the Pays de la Loire region further north,
Midi-Pyrénées was established in order to create a region around a
regional metropolis, in this case the city of Toulouse.
The modern Midi-Pyrenees
region encompasses all or a large part of different historic areas,
including parts of the large former provinces of
Guyenne, Gascony,
and
Languedoc,
and smaller areas, within these larger areas, such as
Rouergue and
Quercy,
the
Albigeois,
and the county of
Foix.
The
largest region in France:
Midi-Pyrénées is the largest region in
metropolitan France, in terms of surface area, and equal largest in
terms of the number of departments covered. It incorporates eight
departments, which are Ariège (09), Aveyron (12), Haute-Garonne
(31), Gers (32), Lot (46), Hautes-Pyrénées (65), Tarn
(81) and Tarn-et-Garonne (82). The region covers a
total surface area of 45,348 km², making it larger than either Belgium
or Switzerland; and stretching some 400 kilometres from north-east to
south-west, it is not surprisingly a region that somehow lacks any
strong regional identity. Within this region, towns and traditions tend
to identify themselves more with the historic provinces to which they
once belonged, than to the modern-day region.
Regional
towns and cities
The city of Toulouse, lying more or
less in the centre of the region, is by far the biggest city. Although
this is the largest region in France, over a third of the entire
population live in the Toulouse urban area, and the Haute Garonne
department, surrounding Toulouse, accounts for well over 40% of the
regional population. The region's second largest urban area,
surrounding the city of Tarbes, capital of the Hautes Pyrenees
department, is ten times smaller than the Toulouse urban area. The only
other towns with a population of over 40,000 are Montauban, Albi and
Castres.
A rural
region
From all the above, it is not too hard
to understand that Midi Pyrénées is essentially a rural area. In fact,
apart from the Toulouse hub, it is a very rural area (just 54
inhabitants per sq. km, half the national average), and the leading
agricultural region in France. Stretching from the Massif Central in
the north east, to the Pyrenees in the south, it is an area that
includes a wide diversity of agricultural land and production. The
lower lying area in the Haute Garonne, Gers and Tarn departments is one
of the richest and most productive agricultural areas of France,
producing a variety of crops including maize, sunflowers and wheat. But
recent dry summers have begun to cause a rethinking about the viability
of growing maize in the region, as it is a crop that needs copious
watering in this southern climate.
The region also has sizeable vineyards,
such as in the areas round Gaillac, north of Toulouse, and
the Armagnac area, which lies partly in Midi-Pyrenees, partly
in
Aquitaine. However
this is not one of France's greatest wine producing areas.
The southern and northeastern parts of
the region are very different from the plains. While traditional houses
on the low-lying land have a classic southern-European look, with red
"roman" tiles on their roofs, those in the higher regions look very
different, with their roofs of slate or "lozes" - thin slabs of stone.
Drive northeast from Toulouse, and after Albi, a beautiful
little city on the Tarn, the road rises towards the Ségala and
the Ruthénois, and villages here look very different. This is a region
of gently rolling hills and valleys, and livestock farming. Cattle in
the lower area, but increasingly sheep farming as one moves further up
into the "Causses", fairly dry limestone plateaux famous as the
production area of France's most famous
cheese,
Roquefort (a blue cheese made from ewe's milk). In the extreme north of
the Aveyron department, the land rises to about 1200 metres, the
southern flank of the Aubrac moors, a fairly desolate area of the
southern Massif Central, where the granite rocks are never far below
the surface.
At the southern end of the region, the
Pyrenees, rising to over 3000 metres on the Spanish border, offer all
the attractions of a high mountain area - in both summer and winter.
This is real mountain country, where wooded foothills give way
to mountain pastures and open terrain at higher altitudes.
This area is popular with skiers in winter, and with ramblers and other
outdoor enthusiasts in the summer months; it also containes one of the
few National Parks in France., as well as the world-famous pilgrimage
centre of Lourdes.
Access: by
train (TGV) from Paris Gare Montparnasse or Gare de Lyon. Express train
from Paris gare d'Austerlitz. For train tickets and timetables, visit Rail
Europe.
Access by
car from the UK,
via any of the Channel ports, from Roscoff (Brittany) to Calais.
See route map from
Calais.
Access by
air:
Toulouse-Blagnac is one of the best
served of France's regional
airports. There are also airports at Lourdes, and Rodez with flights
from London. See Flights to France |
Some of
the main tourist attractions
in Midi Pyrénées
(But
this is a very big region, and to list them all would be a mammoth
task...)
The historic centre of Albi,
a UNESCO world heritage site, dominated by its unique mediaeval fortified St. Cecelia's
cathedral.
The High Pyrenees National Park
Cahors, capital of the Lot, with its famous mediaeval bridge
Photos
on this page, copyright About-France.com
except for the Rocamadour, High Pyrenees and Cahors pictures, which are
published under the GNU licence. |
- Toulouse
(31), Regional capital; the "Ville rose", or pink city, on
account of the warm colour of the local brick. Cathedral, Canal du
Midi, Place du Capitole. Musée des Augustins.
- Albi:
(81) UNESCO
world heritage site - Historic city on the Tarn, with a
unique mediaeval redbrick
fortified cathedral. Also the Toulouse Lautrec art gallery, old town,
and riverscape on the Tarn.
- Castres
(81). Goya museum, with a major collection of Spanish art.
- Cordes
sur Ciel. (81) Small mediaeval town perched dramatically
on a hilltop above the river Cérou.
- Tarbes:
(65) genteel town in the foothills of the Pyrenees
- Lourdes
(65) The most famous Catholic pilgrimage centre in France, where the
Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl in1858
- Pyrenees
National Park (65) spectacular area of high mountain,
including the Cirque de Gavarnie.
- Foix:
(09) historic capital of the Ariège
- Rodez:(12)
capital of the Rouergue. Large 14th century cathedral, old
city centre. Musée Fénaille with world class collection of prehistoric
carved menhirs.
- Roquefort:(12)
visit the caves, where the famous cheese is matured.
- Millau
(12) The Millau viaduct, the world's highest road bridge.
- Conques.
(12) One of the finest romanesque churches in France, with
remarkable sculptures. (UNESCO world heritage site).
- Cahors
(46) The capital city of the Lot department is famous for its old
streets and its unusual fortified mediaeval bridge.
- Rocamadour
(46): A major pilgrimage and tourist site, this small town
clings to the side of the Alzou canyon, in the Lot department.
- Bastide towns:
Many of these famous fortified medieval towns are in this
region
|
Going
further:
