1. Things to do near
Olivier is 3 miles from the small town of Aurignac, with two boulangeries, shops, cafes, two restaurants, a tourist office, a museum, tennis courts, a cinema and a medieval tower with fantastic views. There is a Saturday market, great for local produce. There is a small supermarket and a card only petrol station just outside the town.
See this clip of the Tour de France for a view of Aurignac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt1RQUuYeD4
Aurignac’s claim to fame is L’homme Aurignacian, a paleolithic site containing artifacts attributed to early human occupation from about 35,000 years ago. (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6jiK8Bya_o – in French.) There is a museum in the town with a short pleasant wooded walk to the site itself.
There are many rural villages nearby with local markets and plenty of great restaurants. Alan and Martres de Tolosan are typical interesting local villages. Cazeres is a larger town with boating and canoeing on the river.
2. Things to do an hour away.
Heading North – Toulouse is a vibrant city with plenty to offer – shopping, culture, and history. It is an hour away by car and central parking is available. There are museums, historic churches, restaurants and shops, a zoo, the Cité de l’espace and the Stade Toulousain for rugby fans.
Heading South – St Lizier is an interesting medieval village with an unusual church. The old chateau now houses a good restaurant. Off the road, beyond Salies de Salat, are the old Roman quarries that provided the stone for building Roman Toulouse – great views and a nice picnic spot. Further on is St Girons, with a great market.
St Gaudens is our nearest main town, with the usual markets and restaurants. Also a big Le Clerc and various out of town warehouse shopping.
The Pyrenees are about 30k (20 miles) away, but visible from Olivier on a clear day. (Pic du Midi is 67k, 42 miles, away and can easily be seen from the west side of the house on a clear day!) Luchon is a 1 hour drive away, a great centre for hiking and mountain walking in the summer and skiing in the winter. Take the telecabin up to Superbagneres for a great start to mountain walks. Just beyond Luchon is Lac D’Oo – a stiff climb up the pathway to one of the most magical places in the Pyrenees. (Two further lakes above for serious hill walkers.)
Just off the road before Luchon is St Bertrand de Comminges. Once an important medieval cathedral town. The cathedral is amazing – a great stone box with a wonderful carved choir and organ. Organ recitals and concerts. (Beware the crocodile!)
Spain is a one hour drive. A nice tourist town, Bossost, is just over the border – a great place to buy leather goods and pottery. A nice restaurant, Restaurante Casa Nostra, across the river. A winding road from Bossost crosses a pass to Luchon, back into France.
Adventure activities include white water rafting before Luchon, or downhill mountain biking and paragliding from Superbagneres. The area has hosted many stages of the Tour de France.
from Olivier
3. Things to do 2 hours or so away.
Carcassonne is an amazing medieval city that time forgot – until rediscovered by the tourist and film industries. But its sheer scale and authenticity make it unforgettable.
The Ariège has a gentler wooded landscape with great walks and interesting towns such as Mirepoix.
Albi is an interesting town (yes, good restaurants – again!) with a grim fortified cathedral taking one back to the dark history of the Cathar wars. On a brighter note there is the museum to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a native of Albi.
Beyond Carcassonne, in the Languedoc, there are many Cathar sites and castles such as Peyrepertuse, Puilaurens, Montsegur and Quéribus, all virtually impenetrable rocky fortresses, a reminder of one of the grimmest times to be a medieval European. Also the singular Rennes-le-Château, for those interested in the folklore of the region. And perhaps drive on to Foix, guarding a major pass into Spain, and from where one can take an amazing train ride over the Pyrenees, to Barcelona.
Or travelling east there is Lourdes. A bizarre mixture of tacky tourist trinkets and the genuinely moving.
Olivier 