visit toulouse city

Visit TOULOUSE city

A little of hystory, Toulouse by day, Toulouse by night, Toulouse and open sky

Toulouse was founded towards IIIeme century before our era by Volques-Tectosages which was Celte people of Central Europe. Threatened by their neighbors, they called upon the Romans who occupied the close Narbonnese then. And as one could suspect it, the latter benefitted from it to colonize the city. It is thus, which, in edge of the Garonne, the city of approximately 90ha, surrounded by ramparts, thrived thanks to the trade of the wines of Italy. Built out of red bricks, the stone being rare in the area, it saw to hatch a refined civilization.

In the middle of IIIeme century, the Saturnin bishop, more known under the name of Saint Sernin, evangelized the city and was martyrised there. After the fall of Rome, the Visigoths seized “Tolosa” into 418 and made of it the capital of a vast kingdom which extended on both sides from the Pyrenees. Demolished with the battle of Vouillé, the Visigoths were driven back in Spain and left Tolosa to the hands of the Francs. top page

Times then were disturbed enough until Louis le Pieux becomes King d' Aquitaine

and which it establishes his capital in Toulouse. It however left the city to its advisers and parents, who were at the origin of this line called Counts de Toulouse, whose territories extended from the Pyrenees to Auvergne. But the authority of the church was also very important in Toulouse and it is here even as Urbain II launched in 1095 the call to the Crusade, trustful in Raymond IV the command of the principal army charged to go to deliver the tomb of Christ.

But it is however in this very catholic city, that a heresy called will leave: catharism

. The dark years started for Toulouse, crusade, war One hundred year old, wars of religion. But the years 1460 to 1560 brought prosperity and brought to the construction of palate of the Renaissance pride of the city. Indeed, Toulouse launches famous “the pastel”, this pastel which gave a blue dyeing extremely required in whole Europe and which will make the richness of the city, however the discovery of the road of the Indies and the importation of the indigo ruined the exploitation of the pastel. Toulouse sinks again until 1666 with the boring in

record time (1666-1681) of a channel connecting it to Sète. The Canal du Midi had been born and was going to make it possible the town of more easily export its corn, culture dominant at the time. In 1856 the railroad arrives at Toulouse, opening the city with other prospects, but it is the First World War which will give its essort economic to Toulouse, because far from the frontline, populated well and served well, Toulouse sees developing its military industry with the cartridge factory and also, its aircraft industry. top page

As the sun is often with go, to stroll in Toulouse becomes easy and pleasant.

Thus you will be able to admire the reflections of the light gilded on brick of Toulouse were worth its name of “pink city ". And, step by step, you will discover the buildings, monuments, places, which made its history. The Saint-Sernin basilica, jewel of the Romanesque art of XIeme and XIIeme centuries, are not only one big step on the ways of Saint Jacques-of-Compostelle, but it shelters the burial of Saint Saturnin, first bishop of Toulouse. The conventual whole of the Jacobins is visited for his southernmost Gothic architecture and its astonishing “palm tree”, a pillar from which twenty-two ramifications leave. Houses with wood sides on the place de la Daurade. Private mansions of the Renaissance : hotel of Bernuy, hotel of Assézat, hotel of Pierre.

Capitole, current town hall, with its historical rooms magnificiently decorated and its immense place raising a cross occitane. The museum of the Abattoirs, centers modern art and contemporary, or Bazacle, place of permanent exposures. The convent of the Jacobins and his cloister. The museum of natural history, 2nd museum of France, with its kitchen garden of the world, its 3000m ² of showrooms and its 2,5 million species. top page

Too much walk? badly with the feet? Then install you with the terrace of one of the many coffees of the city and made a pause while enjoying this softness of living which planes on the city. Need for a little freshness, then, you at the edge of the Canal du Midi walk, the oldest channel of Europe, which connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and whose Toulouse is the central stage. Its 382 locks, aqueducts or tunnels, were worth to him to be classified with the World heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Or prefer the gardens of the cities, like the Botanical garden of 7 hectares connected to the grand rond garden and the royal Garden, both impressed English romanticism; the Compans-Cafarelli garden, cultivated in the Japanese style; the Prairie des filtres offering the freshness of the edge of the Garonne, or the garden Raymond VI, animation and crossing point near the museum of the Abattoirs. Oh! and it there in the Garonne which offers also beautiful ballades on its quays or its banks. But if you are sportsmen, then rent a bicycle, Toulouse has many very easy cycle tracks, which will enable you to visit differently. top page

It is rare to see a city lending itself to discovered as well the night as the day, this is why, the point was to be noted. A light Plan comes to raise the sites and the buildings of a lighting specifically created for Toulouse: the Garonne, the churches, the frontages, the malls and the places are development to offer a new vision of the inheritance. It is often at this time there, which one sees a detail which has escaped us day. The places of exit

swarm since the cinemas, theaters and concert halls, to the bars and restaurants, of which some produce spectacles and animations. Lately, a casino with 600 machines with under and 20 tables of play has just settled on the island of the Ile du Ramier. The vision is different, the light adding a point of magic and as if the city had been covered with strass to play each evening the stars. top page

At the end of the XIXeme century, Clément Ader made take off his funny

machine that it called “plane”. It is as starting from Toulouse as the great connections of Air-mail opened, an epopee immortalized by the writings of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Today, the birth of A380 d' Airbus confirms the town of Toulouse in its position of capital of aeronautics. The City of space, park with topic of 3,5ha proposes a whole complex of interactive animations making it possible to inderstand sciences of the ground and cosmos, of the infinitely small to the infinitely great: at the same time scientific, ludic and spectacular attractions. top page

All along the year, Toulouse becomes animated with a multitude of festivals: the virtual dance, cinema, music, arts, literature, Flamenco, humor, as many subjects inviting to the discovery, the escape and the pleasure quite simply. top page

In Toulouse, the gastronomy belongs to art of living. To eat well, it is crowned! Then envisage the mode with your stay, because after… the culinary specialities will not miss: the famous sausage of Toulouse, the confectioneries containing violet, the cake of will fénétra containing lemon and almond paste, without forgetting celebrates it cassoulet, prepared with local ingredients only, the dishes containing goose and of duck: crystallized, steaklets, foie gras, gizzards… in short that good! top page

Many thanks to Mélissa Butelli and the town of Toulouse to have allowed to us and helped in the realization of this text.