Toulouse

More photos of my three days in Toulouse

The basilica Saint Sernin built to honour Saint Sernin  who died after being dragged through the streets by a sacrificial bull in 250. This route is commemorated by this church and the street is named the Rue de Taur.

Place du Capitole 

the facilities!

the canal in Toulouse

Reflections of the Pont Neuf

Hotel D'Assezat home to the Bemberg Foundation- a private collection of his favourite  canvases, bronzes , books and furniture

Musee des Augustins formerly monastery,  a musee des Beaux Arts de Toulouse since 1793

Canals en route to Toulouse

Cooling off in the heat of the afternoon

What bliss after an extremely hot afternoon ride! Iced water and a swim offered on arrival

Fellow travellers with bikes and trolley from Spain

 Canals

Rather neglected church under repair

Cemetery

Villages en route to Grenade

The patisserie once again- every town has one!

Back on the bikes- by the canal, crossing another river

Moissac

A quiet spot on the canal 

Napoleon Bridge

Canal lateral de Garonne

Part of the town's wartime history

Our undoing as a late lunch

Market square circa 1930's

L'abbaye Saint-Pierre de Moissac

complicated vertical climbing lock. 
The idea of a waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Atlantic dates back to Roman time. This involved crossing a watershed  set at almost 190m above sea level and an irregular supply of water to the rivers in a drought region. In the 17th century, Pierre-Paul Riquet solved many of the problems that had stalled the project using a purpose built canal with a reservoir to collect water from Montagne Noir. He then developed hand dug channels to convey the water to the canal with intermediary reservoirs, the largest being the Saint- Ferreol Lake (the Knight of Clervilles idea) .  Unfortunately he died with the last 2.5 miles still unbuilt with his fortune in tatters. The entire project was completed in 14 years, with 7 million cubic metres of rock and ryublle shifted using picks and shovels.

The Moulin (mill) de Moissac late XVth century-our hotel and formerly where the goods were loaded to Bordeaux along the River Tarn with access to the Canal de Garonne

Serignac sur Garonne and le Prince Noir Hotel

Serignac sur Garonne to Moissac passing through Agen (home of the most delicious prunes)

The older houses in Serignan (after Serenus a Roman centurion)

The twisted spire of the church

Le Pigeonnier at the Prince Noir

Through the arch to the courtyard beyond

Difficult to choose a menu for tonight

A good way to start!

One of the many aqueducts carrying the Canal over the rover below- great engineering  from the 17th century

The modern ways