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Toulouse Overview

The Pink City

The town’s fired brick buildings give the Pink City its unforgettable glow. The intact Old Town hides numerous treasures – the Capitole, the great organs of Saint-Sernin Basilica, the Church of the Jacobins and the Pont-Neuf (whose construction took almost 100 years), to name just a few. The city’s restaurants offer all kinds of specialties such as cassoulet, made with the famous Toulouse sausage, foie gras and apple crisp. A delicious fact about the city? As the violet is an emblem of Toulouse, local candy manufacturers have developed a variety of sweets around this theme, which make wonderful gifts to bring home.

A walk through the city's old quarter is a must, leading curiosity-seekers through a maze of streets lined with houses dating from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Rue Saint-Rome and Rue des Changes are pedestrian-only streets offering lovely jaunts around the Place de la Capitole, which is home to a fair number of cafés and a weekly market. The square also harbours the Capitole (city hall), several rooms of which are devoted to the opera and the pictorial arts, with works by such artists as Didier-Pouget, Gervais and Albert Laurens.

Near the square, the Notre-Dame du Taur church (14th century) is a showcase of Gothic architecture. Farther north, the Basilique Saint-Sernin -- Toulouse's spiritual gem, on which construction began in the 11th century -- is the largest Romanesque basilica in France and features a splendid, octagonal bell tower. On Rue de Metz, the Musée des Augustins offers, among other things, a beautiful collection of Gothic and Romanesque sculptures. For its part, the Église des Jacobins harbours a "palm-tree" ribbed vault that is definitely worth seeing. Moreover, the church's luminosity is both remarkable and inspirational. South of the church, the Hôtel d'Assézat, whose cornerstone was laid in 1555, was once home to the capitoul, the city's local magistrate. Today, it houses the Fondation Bemberg's great art collection.

For many decades now, Toulouse has been a frontrunner in the aeronautical and aerospace industries. Indeed, the Concorde, the Airbus and the Ariane rocket are among its great pioneering works. Also associated with Toulouse are such trail-blazing aviators as Clément Adler, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Jean Mermoz and Henri Guillaumet. In keeping with this theme, the Cité de l'Espace, a futuristic space centre, will provide both amateur and expert stargazers with guaranteed thrills!