At the end of three weeks of settling in, acculturating, and exploring in Toulouse, Dickinson in France took a group trip to visit Rodez, Conques, and Lisle-sur-Tarn to discover other can’t miss sites in the Midi-Pyrénées region.

 

Our trip started in Rodez, a city in Aveyron, where we first visited the cathedral and afterwards, the Pierre Soulages Museum, which opened in 2014 and is dedicated to Soulages’ works of art.

 

Later in the afternoon we visited the Saint-Foye Abbey where we saw more of Soulages’ work: the stained-glass windows he built that give a modern touch to this church, built in the XI century.  In the piligrimage spirit, we ate dinner with the other “pilgrims” at the inn who had decided to stop in Conques and rest their feet for the night. The following morning Mr. Créma, our guide and teacher, gave us a tour of the village and took us on a short hike. At the end, we had a picnic with an incredible view of Conques.

 

On our way back to Toulouse, we visited Château Lastours in Lisle-sur-Tarn, a winery belonging to the de Faramond family since the 16th century that continues to produce its wine in the same way the Benedictine monks did.  At the end of our visit we tasted various wines produced at the château.