A day trip to Albi and Cordes

Introducing Jean-Pierre, a recent acquaintance and a terrific friend. Our guide and driver on a recent sortie. Albi and Cordes are two towns in reasonable proximity both of which have a strong medieval presence. Cordes is a traditional bastide town, a fortified village on a hilltop with steep winding streets and crumbling walls. Albi is a larger town that was the birthplace of Toulouse-Lautrec. The cathedral and adjacent palace are massive towered brick edifices. Very imposing. It was lunch when we arrived so the museum and church were closed as was the Tourism Office. So we made a little stroll around the palace gardens where we took some amazing photos of the gardens, river scenes, bridges, towers and walls.

In Cordes we had a picnic lunch of baguettes crepes and cider. Very fine it was. Good thing too. Most places were closed in Cordes. After a steep climb through several ancient portals we arrived at the pinnacle and most heavily fortified area of town, where the inhabitants were more likely to be cats and pigeons than people. The various streets and plazas offered some amazing views of the surrounding hills and valleys which were blanketed in green fields dotted with friut trees some already in bloom. Very pretty. Very photogenic.