504 - Join Us in France Travel Podcast

Categories: French Departments, Occitanie, Off the Beaten Track in France, Toulouse Area

Discussed in this Episode

Najac
Villefranche-de-Rouergue
Rodez
Millau
Millau Viaduct
Tarn River
Villefranche du Rouergue
Rouergue
Les Grands Causses
Trou de Bozouls
Espalion
Chateau de Calmont d'Olt
Estaing
Conques
Saint Foy
Peyres
Roquefort sur Soulzon
Sainte-Eulalie
La Couvertoirade
Sainte-Eulalie-d'Olt
Musée Fenaille
Musée Soulages
Cathedral of Rodez
Laguiole
Micropolis
Gorge du Tarn
Le Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux
Aubrac
Aligot
Tripou
Gâteau à la broche
Fouace.

[00:00:15] Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 504, cinq cent quatre.

Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.

Today on the podcast

[00:00:31] Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a conversation with Elyse Rivin of Toulouse Guided Walks, I know you’ve missed her, about the Aveyron Department.

This is the episode where we explore the best of the Aveyron, a department that never ceases to impress with its medieval villages, scenic routes, and gastronomy.

We explain why you really need to put it on your list.

Podcast supporters

[00:00:54] Annie Sargent: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap App, or take a day trip with me around the southwest in my electric car.

You can browse all of that at my boutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.

And Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ads free, and they can do that for as little as two bucks a month. If that sounds good to you, be like them, follow the link in the show notes.

Magazine Segment

[00:01:28] Annie Sargent: There won’t be a magazine part of the podcast today because this recording with Elyse ran long. A special shout out this week to our Join Us in France champions, Karen Lachance, Steven Struck, Terry Brault, Mali Phares, Barbara Logan, and to all my current patrons, it is wonderful to have you on board in the community of travel enthusiasts and francophiles who keep this podcast going.

And to support Elyse, of course, go to patreon.com/ElysArt.

I’m going to be heading out to Lille just as the Olympics start. I’m sure there will be many things I want to discuss but it won’t be on the podcast because I’m banking this early. I’ll post updates about what I’m experiencing on Patreon and on Facebook as well, which are the two places I go to regularly.

It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, and I hope you enjoy the Paris Olympics as much as I will be.

Annie and Elyse

[00:02:44] Annie Sargent: Bonjour Elyse.

[00:02:45] Elyse Rivin: Bonjour, Annie.

[00:02:46] Annie Sargent: We’re recording about the Aveyron today, a beautiful department in the Occitanie. And the reason why we’re laughing is because we started it, we started, we were gabbing away and then I realized, oh, it’s not recording, oh, the card was full, oh, let’s get another card.

Anyway, here we are.

[00:03:03] Elyse Rivin: Oh, wait, I have this vision of the words floating into the cloud in the sky, disappearing. Can I get them back?

[00:03:10] Annie Sargent: All right, so it’s a beautiful part of France. I would like you to start, and I was just there and I spent five days, very busy days with my husband, my friend, Brenda, and her husband, Jeff. And we were based out of Rodez and we tried to cover a lot of ground.

[00:03:29] Elyse Rivin: You did, you actually did.

[00:03:30] Annie Sargent: Yeah, probably more than we should have.

And it was very fun, but I would like you to do kind of an intro on the department first, and then we’ll talk about the towns that we visited.

Aveyron Department, largest rural department

[00:03:42] Elyse Rivin: So, the Aveyron Department is a fairly large one.

It’s actually the biggest in surface area of all the departments in France, it’s North by Northeast of Toulouse, more or less as the crow flies. It’s fairly big. And one of the specificities of the Aveyron is that it’s not only very rural, but the southern part of it is what is called, The Big Limestone Plateaus.

These were carved out millions of years ago because it used to be under the sea, and it has left a very dramatic landscape. It reminds me a little bit of parts of Western Ireland in some ways. It’s very barren in some parts, but very, very beautiful in a dramatic kind of way.

[00:04:26] Annie Sargent: It is definitely dramatic. I’m going to do some videos for my patrons of my trip. But it’s gorgeous.

[00:04:32] Elyse Rivin: It’s really gorgeous. It’s largely sheep raising country. The sheep seem to not be bothered by weather conditions, so that’s fine with them and the cows and further north that make the wonderful cheese.

Des Grands Causses

[00:04:44] Elyse Rivin: But it’s, it’s very, very specific to this area is what’s called ‘Des Grands Causses’ Very dramatic, there are gorges in some of the rivers, there are three rivers that go through the Aveyron, the biggest being the Tarn. And the northern part is lots of valleys, lots of little streams that run into the big rivers and many, many, many beautiful old villages made out of the local stone in the South, it’s a red kind of stone, it’s a mixture of sandstone and limestone, and in the North it’s much more of the limestone, with a very specific style of architecture with very steep roofs. And that is because this is a region that gets a lot of rain and snow can happen in the winter time. And so the old buildings and houses of course had very thick walls and it’s actually quite lovely.

Most of these villages, and Annie will talk about the specific ones she visited, have been fixed up and made into largely summer homes and places people have as secondary residences or places people go. And French people go a lot to this area in the summertime, because it’s very, very beautiful, and it’s very far from the city life that a lot of people have.

Rodez, biggest city

[00:05:52] Elyse Rivin: Now, the biggest city is Rodez, which is just about 55,000 people, and it’s just about dead center in the middle of the department.

[00:06:00] Annie Sargent: That’s why we chose to stay there.

[00:06:02] Elyse Rivin: And it’s kind of, you know, it’s an active city and it has a couple of very important things, which we’ll talk about a little bit later and talk about specific monuments.

And then the only other two places that really can be considered to be cities, or I have a tendency to call them towns, is Millau, which is in the southeastern part of the department, very close to the very famous, wonderful viaduct. And that is a town of about 22,000 people. A little bit hidden away.

It’s not a place that people tend to go to, and especially now that the viaduct is there, people tend to sort of go over the top and leave it, but the area is beautiful. It’s close to where all the sheep are that produced the wonderful Roquefort cheese. And then on the western, northwestern side of the department, close to the Tarn and actually closer to Albi, you have Villefranche du Rouergue, which is the other town, small city, that is about 15,000 people. And it used to be, interestingly enough, the capital of this region, when, prior to modern times, to the time when the departments were made, which of course was after the French Revolution, this was a region that was largely called the Provence of Rouergue, and it was, they had their own Count, the Counts of Rouergue, and Villefranche was at the time, the capital of Rouergue.

[00:07:22] Annie Sargent: Yeah. It was bigger than Rodez.

Routenois, the Celtic Tribes

[00:07:24] Elyse Rivin: Much more important, much more important than Rodez, yeah. And just another thing, which I actually find amusing, Rodez, Rouergue, lots of r’s, there were a Celtic tribe there before the Romans arrived, called the Routen, at least that’s what the Romans called them, who knows what they called themselves, they called the Routen. They were among the biggest defenders of the land against the invasion of the Romans. They were relatively ferocious and as warriors. And even though the area eventually got conquered by the Romans, the name Routen has lasted in Rouergue, in Rodez, and the people are called the Routenois.

[00:08:03] Annie Sargent: Aha. Yes.

[00:08:04] Elyse Rivin: There’s the vestige of Asterix and all the wars with the Romans in the olden times. It’s a very beautiful, relatively wild area compared to The Lot, The Dordogne, which are very calm, very.. very law and civilized, I would say, and it’s part of France that’s very popular with French people to go on vacation.

And I would strongly recommend taking a trip to this area once you have gotten through your major Paris, etc, etc, sites.

You need a car to explore Aveyron

[00:08:36] Annie Sargent: Yes, it is absolutely gorgeous and very different in character than the rest of the country. Now, this is not a part of France you can explore without a car, let’s put that right at the top, okay? Don’t ask me how to do this without a car, you cannot. You can go to a few of these towns, Rodèz for sure, probably Villefranche de Rouergue, possibly, probably, not even a hundred percent sure. Just get a car.

[00:09:06] Elyse Rivin: Yeah. And lots of narrow, windy, beautiful country roads. This is a place where you don’t have to worry about going too fast on an autoroute because there aren’t any.

[00:09:16] Annie Sargent: Well, there’s some, there’s the A9, I think it is, or…

[00:09:20] Elyse Rivin: They criss-cross, the one that goes across the viaduct that actually goes from Clermont Ferrand to Beziers.

[00:09:25] Annie Sargent: Might be A7.

You know, there are two or three. But basically, if you really want to explore the region and the department, you take the little departmental roads and you enjoy yourself.

My car GPS kept on sending us like one lane roads, and my husband was getting uncomfortable with this whole thing of one lane roads.

[00:09:43] Elyse Rivin: At least it’s on the right side.

It’s not like going to England or Ireland doing the same thing. You know, where you’re on the left side and you’re on a one lane road.

[00:09:50] Annie Sargent: Yes. And it’s worth reminding you that if the GPS tells you to go down a road that looks too small to you, just don’t go, keep going straight, it will recalculate. You might need this in the Aveyron quite a bit.

[00:10:03] Elyse Rivin: You might need it, exactly.

10 Plus Beaux Villages de France

[00:10:05] Annie Sargent: Yes, yes. Okay. So we went to, so the Aveyron has a lot of ‘plus beaux villages de France’. I think there’s 10 of them.

It seems to be 10, yes. Which is a lot for one department.

As always, the plus beaux villages are absolutely wonderful, especially if you go on a day when something’s happening. If you go on a generic winter day, it’s dead, nothing, everything’s closed, you might have one cafe that’s open, the end. Because there’s not enough visitors most of the time to keep all these businesses open. Okay?

So try and time your visits, what I would do if I were doing this, which I did, is spend time on weekdays in Rodez, or in the bigger city, which is Villefranche de Rouergue, and then save the villages for weekends. Because on a weekend, even in the winter, there might be some things open. And if you can go during school vacations, whether it’s the summer school vacation or some other school vacations, because these, this area attracts a lot of French visitors, more things will be open during school vacation than the rest of the year.

Okay. So that’s your generic warning for all of these places. They can be dead, dead, dead, not a soul outside.

[00:11:30] Elyse Rivin: Yes, yes, yes. This is especially if you go outside of the high summer season. One of the villages you went to, which is one I’ve been to a couple of times, we went to Najac, which is absolutely gorgeous, this is, I don’t know, maybe a year or two ago, but I don’t remember what day of the week it was, but by the time we got there, we were starving, and there was one little restaurant, creperie, kind of place that was open. And, you know, I really hadn’t thought about it ahead of time, but you’re absolutely right, you have to really pay attention to things like that.

Najac

[00:12:00] Annie Sargent: Yes, definitely. Okay, so we, speaking of Najac, we started in Najac, which is lovely. The village itself is very cute. And then there’s a little chateau that you can visit.

I did not go into the chateau because it was closed both times.

[00:12:17] Elyse Rivin: We got in.

[00:12:18] Annie Sargent: Ah, tell us.

[00:12:19] Elyse Rivin: Okay, so I must have been around Easter time, I guess. I have no idea. It’s all vague in my mind. The chateau was open and we had a choice between a guided visit and then just roaming around. My husband is very impatient, so we wound up just roaming around, but we did go in, so part of it is still intact. There’s a huge open courtyard on the inside. There were two sets of stairs, the circular stairs that can go up into the towers, and I remember that some of the rooms were relatively intact, and then there was a part of it that was actually in ruin.

There were a fair number of panels that explained what the rooms were, what their function had been, and they managed to dig out and show a little bit of, for instance, the tiles on the floor and the things like that.

So you got an idea of what the chateau was like when the lords lived in it.

[00:13:09] Annie Sargent: Oh, that’s interesting. Yeah.

[00:13:10] Elyse Rivin: There was a little piece that was Renaissance, and there’s a part of it that’s still fortified medieval. One of the things that’s specific about Najac and the chateau, it’s very, there were two other villages in the Southwest that I know that are similar, is that if you remember, the village is very long.

It’s like all on one long skinny street that takes you up towards the chateau. And then the chateau is all the way up on the top. It must have been a weekend because there’s a little museum just at the entrance to the chateau, and the museum gives a bit of the history of the chateau and of the village.

And if I remember correctly, it was indeed open at that time only on weekends, but it was very, it was very nice. It was really an interesting visit.

[00:13:51] Annie Sargent: Good, good, yeah. So yeah, go on weekends or go during school vacations. Always a good idea. Najac, very cute little town. You’ll probably spend, what, three, four hours there, even if you have a meal?

And that’s the case with all of these places that we’re going to discuss.

Villefranche-de-Rouergue

[00:14:07] Annie Sargent: The second place I went to is Villefranche-de-Rouergue, and Elyse mentioned earlier that Villefranche-de-Rouergue was bigger than Rodez at the time, long ago, and that is because it was a ville franche.

Franche means free of. So it was a city free of… the king, well, it kind of works, it’s backwards because it means that the king gave it permission, gave the local lord permission to impose his own taxes.

Right, it’s about taxes.

It’s about taxes. So, it’s not that they didn’t pay taxes, it’s that they didn’t pay taxes the normal way.

They paid taxes to a lord who had gotten permission to do things, run things his own way, rather than the way the king wanted them run, I suspect. I’m not really big into this, but that’s why it became very rich. And it was also famous as the city of laws, and the city that was ruled by fair people.

[00:15:08] Elyse Rivin: By fair meaning that they were just.

Yes. Okay.

[00:15:12] Annie Sargent: The city of the just, the city of the law was what it was famous for.

Des Penitents Noirs, parade in Villefranche de Rouergue

[00:15:17] Annie Sargent: And in Villefranche de Rouergue, I just happened to be there when they were doing a parade of sorts.

Des Penitents Noirs were processing. And yes, they were processing. And so this is… this is a bit strange, because they do have in Villefranche de Rouergue, any time of the year, I think it’s open most days, you can visit La Chapelle des Pénitents Noirs, which is gorgeous Baroque chapel, very, very beautiful, that they started building, I think the construction ended around the 1650s, okay? Beautiful place, and they had closed it temporarily because they were getting dressed and ready to process out.

And when they did process out, these were people dressed in like long black robes with a hood over their heads. And, you know, when you spend time in America, that sort of thing is a bit unsettling, you’re like, oh…

[00:16:16] Elyse Rivin: Yeah, especially with a pointy tip on top.

[00:16:19] Annie Sargent: Yes. Yes. And so I looked into it. And this is what it is. Now it has absolutely nothing to do with the KKK, I want to make that very clear right away. The KKK probably stole the idea from somewhere, but they are a racist organization that just oppresses people, kills people, burns people, does awful things. This is nothing to do with that. They never killed anyone as far as I know. They were just an organization that started in the Middle Ages. The first black penitents appeared in Italy in the 1400s, and so late Middle Ages. And the whole idea came from the fact that they wanted to reenact the end of the life of Jesus.

[00:17:04] Elyse Rivin: So it’s around Easter that they do these processions?

[00:17:06] Annie Sargent: Yes, they do processions at Easter and during all the big things.

And it is essentially a group of people, very often they weren’t even priests or monks, very often it was an association, a brotherhood, which very quickly also included women in the case of Villefranche de Rouergue. So they would put on the robes, and the hood, and they would process with the cross and make all the way up to the Calvaire, which is Golgota.

It’s an image of Golgota, or Calvary in English. Okay? So it’s a reenactment of the end of the life of Jesus.

[00:17:46] Elyse Rivin: Done by lay people.

[00:17:48] Annie Sargent: In part. So in Villefranche de Rouergue, again, this started to take root, the first black penitents, they established a charter, the brotherhood charter in 1609, which is at the end of the wars of religion.

[00:18:04] Elyse Rivin: Right, that was with Louis XIII.

[00:18:06] Annie Sargent: Right.

And so they wanted to establish the Catholic faith again. That was the idea, to show that they were Catholic and they wanted to process, which is typical thing. The whole idea came from Emperor Constantine, which apparently had, he had a big role in the establishment of Catholic faith, because he converted to Christianity, and he had this vision before a battle of a soldier carrying a cross.

And apparently he’s…

That’s like the Knights Templar.

Yes, yes, yes, that’s what it all stems from. He saw this cross, and he heard the words: ‘In this sign, you shall conquer’. He took this as a divine sign, there’s a whole thing around this that I’m barely cognizant about.

So I don’t want to say anything too stupid, but the sign, the visual sign that they use is an X with a big P in the middle.

[00:19:05] Elyse Rivin: That’s the sign of the earliest Christians for Jesus Christ.

[00:19:09] Annie Sargent: Yes. So it’s called Chi-Rho or something like that, and you will see it, yes, it’s Greek letters, and there’s a whole thing about this. But it looks like an X with a P in it. It’s something that was huge because back then all of this symbolism meant something to people. Today, we don’t really understand, but it was a big deal.

So why are they hooded? Do you have any idea why they are hooded?

[00:19:35] Elyse Rivin: No, I don’t. I have no idea. I would like them to not be, but I wouldn’t…

[00:19:40] Annie Sargent: So, it has something to do with the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter six, it says: ‘so when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by men. Truly, I tell you, they already have their full reward, but when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

[00:20:14] Elyse Rivin: So you hide your head so that nobody knows who you are.

[00:20:18] Annie Sargent: Exactly.

The idea of that the Father who sees what is done in secret rewards you is huge. Okay. That’s why they wore hoods. Because they were penitents who didn’t want to be recognized. Eh. For what it’s worth.

[00:20:32] Elyse Rivin: For what it’s worth. And as penitents, because I’ve seen this on Corsica, do they do flagellation?

[00:20:38] Annie Sargent: No. No, they carry the cross all the way up a hill and there is a hill near Villefranche de Rouergue called Calvaire, and they will carry a cross and worship the cross up there.

Now this is something that the Mayor of Villefranche de Rouergue, who was there at the ceremony and who was wearing a gray suit, did not have his mayor kind of sash around him.

So I didn’t know he was a Mayor, but he went and shook hands with everybody, including me. And he explained that they were trying to revive this, but that it wasn’t religious, that it was just a historical thing. And indeed, apparently there were no priests in the procession at all. So this is something that they do because it’s historically, it was historically important in the area and they do have a gorgeous, gorgeous chapel as a result.

And they had two orders in Villefranche de Rouergue, which is kind of crazy because it’s not that big of a town, they had the Penitent Noir and the Penitent Bleu. But there’s also, so you have the black one, the blue ones, the gray one, and the white ones.

[00:21:49] Elyse Rivin: There were three in Toulouse.

The reason we know, among other documentation, is that there are streets named after them, but they were started basically by Louis XIII, who went around giving money so that these groups could begin.

[00:22:03] Annie Sargent: Right, so it was a big deal, and at the same time, in Villefranche de Rouergue, they also established a seminary to train priests. It was an attempt to kind of strengthen the Catholic faith.

[00:22:17] Elyse Rivin: Absolutely. This was the counter reformation.

[00:22:20] Annie Sargent: Right. This was the counter reformation. Exactly. If you run into that sort of thing, don’t be alarmed, they’re not going to kill any people. It’s just a historical thing.

[00:22:28] Elyse Rivin: Well, I think it’s this association with other things, you know, there’s something also a little bit sinister about seeing people with these pointy hoods walking around.

[00:22:37] Annie Sargent: But it’s only sinister since the KKK. Before that, it just meant these were people who were trying to reenact the crucifixion of Jesus. Which they saw as a good thing. If you’re a catholic, you… yeah…

[00:22:53] Elyse Rivin: They didn’t have to have a point on their heads.

There’s also, by the way, I don’t know if you had time to visit it just on the outskirts, literally, I think it’s at walking distance from, because I remember going into the center of Villefranche and there’s a huge parking area near the big open square, but they have a Cistercian Abbey that is visitable that is actually very, very beautiful. Now it’s older, obviously, Cistercian abbeys go back to the 1200s, 1300s, I’m not even sure exactly when. But at the time, I haven’t been back in a number of years, it was possible to visit, the cloister was still intact, and I believe there were actually still a few monks that were living there.

[00:23:30] Annie Sargent: I did not visit that, no.

[00:23:32] Elyse Rivin: I knew that that was there, and I knew about the chapel. I did not know about the order.

Yeah, it’s… I thought it was really interesting. So Villefranche de Rouergue is a cute little town, has several restaurants, has this beautiful, the church has this beautiful kind of tower looking thing. That’s very recognizable. It’s very unique. I thought it was gorgeous. I think because it’s a little bit bigger town, it might be a good place if you want to spend a night somewhere in the area, although it is kind of off center, you know, it is not as central as Rodez.

And like you mentioned, it’s a big area. You have a lot of ground to cover. If you want to do this as day trips, it would be easier to do it as day trips from Rodez, which is more central. I don’t know, and you will still spend plenty of time in the car even if you base yourself out of Rodez, so okay.

(Mid-roll Ad Spot)

Le Trou de Bozouls

[00:24:27] Elyse Rivin: Then the next place we went to is called Le Trou de Bozouls.

Did you go? Yes.

[00:24:34] Annie Sargent: Yes, we stopped. It’s very quick. It’s this geological formation where it looks like a big canyon. And they have it all set up, so you can just, they even have a kind of a place where you can sit and look down onto the canyon.

They have lots of cafes in that area. Yeah, you have a little parking lot.

People don’t stay very long. So the parking lot is not very big, but there’s not much there. Like you might stop, look at it, take a few photos, have an ice cream or a drink, which is what we did. Oh, they have this, they do this thing in France these days, where you have all these bio little grocery places and none of them have sodas.

It drives me nuts.

[00:25:19] Elyse Rivin: Well, you’re not supposed to drink soda, they’re bad for you.

I like them, I like sodas. When I stop somewhere I like a Diet Coke, come on, give me my Diet Coke. They all sell like these organic juices and whatever. Alright, bless their hearts. I’m sure there’s a, there’s a good… but I’d rather buy a Diet Coke. I spent too long in America, I guess.

The Le Trou de Bozouls is great.

But you don’t go down, you just look at it. You can go down, but it’s very deep.

It’s a sink hole basically.

That would be hike. Yeah, that that be a hike, so no, we didn’t.

But it’s a lovely place to stop.

Espalion and the Chateau de Calmont d’Olt

[00:25:52] Elyse Rivin: Then we went to Espalion, which is a Plus Beaux Village.

And the Chateau de Calmont d’Olt which was the chateau at the top of the hill. The chateau was closed.

There was a sign at the bottom of the hill explaining when the chateau was open. We didn’t read the sign, we just hoof it up, and we got up there and like…

It was only open in the afternoon, so defeated again.

It’s a very beautiful village though.

[00:26:19] Annie Sargent: It is very nice. It is very nice. There was a, some sort of market going on. So parking was not easy, but it looked lively compared to the other ones.

It looked more lively, so that would be a very good place to stop.

Estaing

[00:26:34] Annie Sargent: Estaing was next on our list. And Estaing is absolutely cute. It has this very nice little chateau. We didn’t go into the chateau, it looked small, but we didn’t take the time because we were running from place to place, really.

This is the place that was owned by Valérie Giscard d’Estaing, the French president. So that’s where his family was from, and he actually bought the chateau, as did some of his ancestors. At different times, it changed hands, but it was in the hands of his family. I thought it was very cute little village. They have a nice car charger there. And some dude was parking in the car charger thing.

And I went up and I said, you got no business parking here, dude. And he’s like, Oh, I didn’t notice. I’m like, well, move along.

I didn’t, well, yeah, I mean, I didn’t need to charge, but this is wonderful. We have a village with two fast chargers. Imagine this, Americans! You know! A tiny village that has two plugs.

And so I told them to move along and then I parked in it and plugged in my car, even though I didn’t really need to charge, but I was like, well, I’m… yeah, you know. Anyway, so lovely little town. We had a meal at one of the restaurants on the Plaza. It was more lively than some of the other ones that I visited because we were there on the weekend.

[00:27:54] Elyse Rivin: And Estaing and Espalion, I think, are visited a lot. Yeah, both of them. Yeah. If I remember correctly, I think both of them have little Roman bridges, teeny little beautiful humpback Roman bridges.

[00:28:07] Annie Sargent: Yes, Estaing has this cute bridge with a steel cross on it.

It’s really scenic. I will do like a slideshow of the scenic stuff for patrons. I might eventually make it open to everybody.

[00:28:19] Elyse Rivin: And it’s very much the typical Aveyronnais architecture of the stone with the slate roof. Very beautiful. I guess it’s an aesthetic you either develop or whatever, but I find it very beautiful.

[00:28:31] Annie Sargent: It’s very medieval.

Conques and Saint Foy

[00:28:32] Annie Sargent: Next we went to Conques and Saint Foy. Now we didn’t do all of this on the same day, okay? We slept in between some of these things. Conques and Saint Foy were on a different day. And I was charmed by Conques. I thought I had been to Conques and I had not been to Conques.

This was my first time there. So I thought it was actually, like compared to Cordes-sur-Ciel, where you really, there’s, you have to hoof it up, in Conques, you can park up and walk down. So it’s more accessible. And it’s not as steep.

[00:29:05] Elyse Rivin: No, it’s, geographically it’s very different. I actually have been there a lot. Mmm, I mean, I’ve been there many times, let’s put it that way. I’ve taken groups there, I’ve been there many, many different times. And, of course, it’s much, it’s actually smaller than Cordes-sur-Ciel in terms of the size of the village.

It’s really, really very small. It’s in the bottom of a teeny little valley. But the major reason why it’s so famous, aside from the architecture, which is important, is that it is a stop on the road to Compostelle, and it’s still an active stop. It’s still a place that pilgrims go, and it’s a bit out of the way, so there are two buildings that are there to house pilgrims, because otherwise there aren’t that many.

There are some very cute little shops and some very nice little houses, but the village itself, other than around the abbey, is pretty small, you know.

[00:29:58] Annie Sargent: Right. And they do welcome a lot of pilgrims. And they do have facilities just for the pilgrims. I thought it was adorable. There’s Saint Foy, which is, I don’t remember her story, I read it.

[00:30:09] Elyse Rivin: She was a Roman martyr. Can I just briefly tell the story of…?

Okay, so the village of Conques, it’s really at the limit of being a village, it’s so small, but it’s famous because of its abbey. And one of the things that, aside from the fact that it’s still active for pilgrims as part of the, one of the routes to go to Compostelle, is that it’s the front entranceway has what is called a very famous tympanum, which is the huge semicircular sculpture above the doorway.

It’s one of the few left that still has color, from the original color, that you can see, you can actually see places where the color is.

And it’s a version of the Last Judgment.

It’s one of the best versions of the Last Judgment, you will see because on one side you have the Devil pointing down, with people going to hell. And the other side you know, the angels pointing up for those who have been good in their lives going up. And it’s wonderful. It’s very visible, it’s very famous for the quality of the sculpture. And it’s got a cloister.

And the reason why it got put on the map, as we would say today, is because, I don’t remember exactly when, because this is a long time ago, this is apparently the true story, there was a monk, who was a part of the congregation of Conques, who went and had himself admitted to a monastery near Montauban. Now, it’s not next, it’s not the door next door, we’re talking about the 1200s or the 1100s, right. And one of the reasons he decided to go there is because at that time, in that monastery, there was this statue covered with gold of Saint Foy. And Saint Foy was a young girl who the story is, was martyred by the Romans in Rome because she wanted to become Christian.

[00:31:55] Annie Sargent: Okay.

[00:31:56] Elyse Rivin: And so there was this relic that inside had supposedly part of her skull, and the outside was gold covered with precious stones. And the story is that this monk spent a couple of years in this monastery in

let’s just say Montauban to make it easier. And one day left. But he left with the relic. He stole it and he took it to Conques. And he brought it to Conques, and guess what, Annie? Once the relic was in Conques, it started creating miracles.

[00:32:32] Annie Sargent: Amazing.

[00:32:33] Elyse Rivin: And it’s been there ever since.

And it’s been there ever since. Did you see it? Did you actually see it? It’s very beautiful.

Except that of course they did laser soundings, in the more recent times, and there is no skull inside, unfortunately,

[00:32:47] Annie Sargent: Well that’s no matter.

[00:32:48] Elyse Rivin: But it’s covered with gold with precious stones, and it is something that is very important in the history of the Abbey of Conques, and has been for the last 700, 800 years.

[00:33:00] Annie Sargent: Right, and the other thing that’s remarkable about the church in Conques that you can visit, obviously, is that they have some stained glass from Soulages, and we’ll get back to those in a moment. I have things to say.

Annie always has things to say.

Yes. do. But it’s, yeah, Conques not to be missed. Go. Go to Conques.

[00:33:20] Elyse Rivin: It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

[00:33:22] Annie Sargent: Yes. Yes.

Peyres

[00:33:23] Annie Sargent: Next thing we did is we went to Peyres, a very tiny little village, which is not that interesting, I mean, it is gorgeous. It has a train that goes just below it, but does not stop.

I didn’t see a stop. But from Peyres, you have this beautiful view to the Millau Viaduct. I thought that in French it was viaduct, and that in English it’s viaduct.

[00:33:51] Elyse Rivin: It’s the opposite. It’s viaduct in French and viaduct in English.

Okay. So I’m just confused.

All right.

So this little village is very cute, but mostly you would go if you wanted to take pictures of the bridge from a distance.

It’s lovely.

And we drove through the bridge and I made a video, which I first released to patrons, and I think I’ve since now released it on the YouTube channel for anybody to see. It’s very nice driving it. But I mean, it’s driving on a freeway, you know, when you’re on it, you don’t see it.

Well, you do see the, you see the piles, you know. Very nice drive, and the reason why they built this is because this freeway that goes between Paris and Montpellier is one of the oldest in France. At Millau you have two valleys, with this very deep valley floor, it’s like a gorge, and really, there were massive traffic jams on this road, down to Montpellier.

[00:34:49] Annie Sargent: People of Paris were sick and tired of getting stuck around Millau, going through the town and all of that. And so they built the bridge.

That’s essentially what it is.

[00:34:59] Elyse Rivin: Apparently now, of course, what’s happened is that the people in the town of Millau are upset because nobody comes through Millau anymore.

[00:35:05] Annie Sargent: Well, compared to before they had to get, because Millau was like a massive traffic jam most summers.

And now people just go right above.

[00:35:15] Elyse Rivin: It’s quite impressive actually.

[00:35:16] Annie Sargent: It’s very nice. It’s very nice.

Roquefort sur Soulzon and Cheese Visits

[00:35:18] Annie Sargent: Then we went to Roquefort sur Soulzon, which is where they make Roquefort, and all the AOC Roquefort sold in the world comes from this tiny little town of Roquefort sur Soulzon. And we visited the Papillon cheese makers that are not as big as Roquefort Société, but they do produce plenty and they do export to the US as well. And it was a charming visit. I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it or not, because they’re not very responsive. You cannot book online. You have to call them. And when you call, they don’t respond very much, but they called me back, eventually. They saw that I called several times and called me back, and said, yeah, you can join the next tour, which starts at blah, blah, blah.

And it’s a free tour. This is one of these instances where I wish they would charge for the tour and make it easier to book it. Because they keep it free, but it’s a pain in the behind to get in those tours because you have to get the right person at the right time.

[00:36:21] Elyse Rivin: I was there in quite a number of years ago and we, I think what happened was we just showed up and went to see which tour was available.

[00:36:29] Annie Sargent: You might be able to do that, Société also has tours. There’s like three or four different, they’re small. So Papillon is smaller in Société than there’s, I can’t remember the names.

[00:36:39] Elyse Rivin: Small producers as well, you know. And then of course you have some shops that have all the different Roquefort that you can buy.

[00:36:47] Annie Sargent: Yes. And I thought it was really generous of Papillon because at the end of the visit, which was free again, they put out quite a selection of all the cheeses that they make. There was plenty for us to taste everything once and even twice and I ended up buying a lot of cheese and I sliced it up and put it in these little plastic things where you vacuum, yeah, you vacuum pack it and then you can freeze them in small chunks.

So he said, you know, you can freeze them for six months, but then once it’s defrosted, you have to eat it in two days.

[00:37:24] Elyse Rivin: Because it changes the consistency, doesn’t it?

[00:37:26] Annie Sargent: No, it does not. The consistency is fine, but it might turn after it’s been frozen. So he said, you know, freeze it, vacuum pack, freeze small chunks that you can eat in two days. And every one of the ones that I’ve removed from the freezer, I’ve eaten in two days, because

[00:37:43] Elyse Rivin: mean, If it’s an acquired taste, first of all, blue cheeses are definitely an acquired taste, I think, but Roquefort is the strongest of the blue cheeses, and it’s of course made from sheep’s milk. And what I loved about the visit is seeing the underground natural caves where they keep the cheeses. And of course, the story of how they discovered the idea of using blue, you know, the bacteria.

So by now they don’t use any of the old caves anymore because it’s not as sanitary as they used to think. So now they all have modern plants that, but they’re all made within the town of Roquefort sur Soulzon, and it’s actually quite an industrial little town because you have semis driving through there all the time.

Because they distribute, right?

[00:38:33] Annie Sargent: Coming, bringing milk and, you know, taking away the cheese.

So it’s not a scenic, like, it’s not a scenic town, it’s an industrial town, really, but you can visit these cheese making places and you can, if you are there at the right time, you can taste and you can buy. And I bought plenty. I bought like 80 euros worth of cheese. And Papillon makes other sheep’s cheeses besides the Roquefort, which I quite enjoyed as well.

I wish I had gotten more of the other types of cheeses. Oh yeah. There’s some that are very creamy and lovely. There’s one that tastes like, like you’re visiting a sheep farm.

[00:39:15] Elyse Rivin: Oh, I’m not sure I would like that one.

[00:39:17] Annie Sargent: No, it’s good. It’s good.

[00:39:18] Elyse Rivin: Those of course, by definition, Roquefort has to be sheep’s milk, but there’s another blue cheese in Aveyron called the Bleu d’Aveyron.

And that’s actually what my husband prefers, because it’s not quite as salty, it doesn’t have that bite to it, you know. But it’s big cheese country in terms of production of cheese.

Saint-Affrique

[00:39:35] Elyse Rivin: Did you stop in Saint-Affrique at all?

[00:39:37] Annie Sargent: We did not. That’s another one where I’d like to, I’d like to go to Saint-Affrique and Millau at some point.

[00:39:44] Elyse Rivin: I have a vague memory that the old city centre was cute, but that the surrounding area, the countryside was beautiful, but other than the old city centre, which has a certain charm, it was more fun to visit the Roquefort producing caves in Roquefort, and this pass through Saint-Affrique like that just for a short visit to see what it was like, you know…

[00:40:04] Annie Sargent: Yeah.

[00:40:04] Elyse Rivin: It wasn’t a big deal, you know.

[00:40:06] Annie Sargent: Yeah. So, yes, the guy told us that there’s many different types of blue cheese that are made even in the Aveyron. It’s just that to call it Roquefort, it has to be from Roquefort sur Soulzon. And just a note for our dear listeners, Roquefort means the strong rock, so this one is hardly the only town in France called Roquefort.

We have many, so if you want to see the one with the cheese, you have to go to Roquefort sur Soulzon in the Aveyron, and that department, the zip code starts with number 12.

I don’t remember what the zip code for Roquefort sur Soulzon is, but it starts with 12.

Yes. If you go to another one, no cheese. No cheese for you.

Sainte-Eulalie and Stories about the Knights Templar

[00:40:54] Annie Sargent: Then we went to Sainte-Eulalie, which is another most beautiful village.

[00:41:00] Elyse Rivin:

[00:41:00] Annie Sargent: And that one is linked to the story of the Templars. It even has a Templar experience that you can go to, but it wasn’t running when we went, so we didn’t do it.

There are three towns that are linked to the Templars in that area, not far from the Millau Viaduct, and they are Sainte-Eulalie, La Couvertoirade

[00:41:26] Elyse Rivin: That’s the one I really would like to visit.

[00:41:29] Annie Sargent: Yes, it was interesting. I’ll tell you in a second. And that’s it. No, it’s two of them, not three of them. There might be another one that’s not a plus beaux village. But I didn’t see it. So Sainte Eulalie was very nice. They have an experience, Templars experience that was closed.

It was a bit dead. No, it was quite dead. We weren’t there at the right time to experience the whole town. And La Couvertoirade, I definitely want to go back to because that looked spectacular, but it was extremely dead.

[00:41:58] Elyse Rivin: Yes, and it was that, unfortunately, the two times that with my husband we’ve driven through that area, both times it was indeed dead.

And I’ve heard a lot about it, and I would really like to go back in the summertime.

[00:42:11] Annie Sargent: It was very pretty, very scenic. I’ll share some photos. But you know, nothing was happening. There was not a soul around. It got a bit creepy because sun was setting, and it was getting dark, and it’s like…

[00:42:25] Elyse Rivin: Isn’t it, it’s up atop a little bit of one of the Causses, I think, isn’t it? A little bit barren? It seemed if I remember…

[00:42:31] Annie Sargent: Well, it is barren. A lot of that area is very barren anyway. As soon as you exit the town, it’s like nothing much.

Like it’s sheep country, you know?

Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt

[00:42:40] Annie Sargent: And then the other town I went to, but now this is north of Rodez, this was on a different day, is Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt. There were lots of pilgrims there. Lots of them. And I thought it was very, very cute. They have this church that has beautiful carvings on the door. I shared something with my patrons about that already.

I thought it was just beautiful. And if you’re a pilgrim, I think that’s one of the more popular stops in that area.

Rodez

[00:43:10] Annie Sargent: Now, we got to talk about Rodez, because this whole time we were going back and forth between Rodez and all these towns. Rodez is a cute town, a good place to base yourself out of, like we said. It has several, quite a few restaurants. And it has two major museums.

This is something I would do on a weekday, because the museums, it’s a bigger town, things are open, and you don’t have to go there on a weekend.

Musée Fenaille

[00:43:36] Annie Sargent: So the two museums are Musée Fenaille, that has these very cool standing stones.

[00:43:43] Elyse Rivin: Which is the one I’ve not seen.

[00:43:45] Annie Sargent: I thought it was very cool. So apparently, around the Aveyron, there were like something like 700 or 900 of these stones that were found, megaliths. Yeah. I thought they were very interesting to see. Now there are a little bit similar, all of them, you have a standing stone, some of them are as high as I am, which is not very high. They’re not huge, you know, and they are carved.

[00:44:08] Elyse Rivin: I saw the pictures.

[00:44:09] Annie Sargent: Yeah, they are carved, I am not sure what all of this means, but it’s a little bit like the, standing stones in Brittany, Carnac and places like that. Except that I’m not sure the ones in Carnac are sculpted.

[00:44:23] Elyse Rivin: In different places in Brittany, yeah… some of them are, okay.

[00:44:26] Annie Sargent: But the ones at the Musée Fenaille are all sculpted and they are lovely. It’s this beautiful red rock that you have all around the area. The cathedral is made of that same red rock. It’s very nice.

Musée Soulages

[00:44:39] Annie Sargent: And then of course, they have the Musée Soulages, which is an impressive museum, honestly. It’s very modern. It’s not been there for very long. 2004. Okay. And Soulages is a huge deal in Rodez.

[00:44:55] Elyse Rivin: Annie, he’s not just a huge deal in Rodez, he’s actually internationally famous. Okay, the painter. But I just, can I just make a comment about the building? Because I’ve been there a number of times. The rock, you were talking about the rock and the red color and everything. It’s red sandstone, which I know you’re going to talk a little bit about the cathedral too. The building that the museum is made out of what’s called 10 core steel, which is a kind of steel that is treated to have that color of the same red, that red color, like the red rock to make it look like rust.

But of course, it’s a specific process that they use. It’s used in a lot of architecture was used in a lot of architecture in the Southwest, and in the North of Spain as well. The mission of the architects was to make the color similar to the color of the cathedral, so even though it’s very contemporary, very, very contemporary, you know, slabs, walls, and stuff like that, the idea was to use that, reiterate that redness, which is kind of a nice color, actually, you know.

It looked like many contemporary type museums that you see. It was fine.

Pierre Soulages

[00:46:04] Elyse Rivin: Now, the work of Soulages bored me a bit. A lot of monochrome. It’s all in the detail and in the largest tree of details that escapes me. So I will let you talk about it. Pierre Soulages, who just died a year ago at the age of 102, I believe, was one of the few French artists to be really internationally famous. There were a few others, but let’s face it, in the last 50 years, it’s been more dominated by American artists and German artists, interestingly enough.

He had a very long career, and like a lot of other artists, started out doing figurative work, and at some point, became an abstract painter. And honestly, you either can understand and like abstract art, or not. I don’t think there’s a value attached to it. I think it’s either, it touches your sensibilities, or it doesn’t, and I know lots of people who don’t like abstract art, like you don’t like it particularly, or don’t, you know, you don’t feel anything for it.

And then there are people who do. But because he was a native son to this area, and because he was so famous and important, and because he had told the city of Rodez that he was going to leg them, I guess that’s the French word, he was going to leave them a bunch of his very, very important paintings, which are in all major museums pretty much all over the world.

That was the reason why they got the money to make the museum. And it is, in fact, named after him. It’s the Soulages Museum. So three quarters of the museum is really his work. And then there’s a part of it that has temporary exhibits. And I’ve been there a couple of times with some interesting contemporary exhibits that are 20th century art.

Not always just pure abstraction, but of course similar, I guess you would say, in the same vein.

So it’s a place that’s interesting because they try to give the full gamma of the work that he did. And I know, because I’ve been there with small groups, that they have a lot of high school groups and university groups that go there to see the work.

So I think it has a largely, there’s like an education department, they bring people in.

But again, the thing is, it’s just like the stained glass that he did in Conques, you either think that it’s pretty or you don’t, and that’s just the way it is.

[00:48:15] Annie Sargent: Right. So the reason why I wanted to bring this up again before we end, because we’ve been talking a long time, is that in the Cathedral in Rodez, there are some modern stained glass windows that are stunning. They are so different and they catch your eye and you’re like,

Oh, wow, what is this? And I didn’t write down the name of the guy who made them. I didn’t write it down. I have it. I have it, I’ll put it in the show notes. Not someone who’s very famous. But the windows are stunning. By comparison, the stained glass windows that Soulages made are just as boring as the rest of his art, as far as I’m concerned.

It’s like monochrome, eh, whatever. So, but like you said, I must be the one who don’t get it.

Because he’s clearly very popular, Soulages.

[00:49:06] Elyse Rivin: Some people really find that they have a response to abstract art and some people don’t. And that’s just the way it is, you know, it’s like there are certain things we like in terms of forms and colors. I make no judgment about any of that at all. I think it’s just, you either see something that touches you and stuff like that, or you don’t.

But I would be interested, you talked a lot about the Cathedral, I’ve been in it a few times, it’s very big, it’s very beautiful. It’s made of this gorgeous red purpley sandstone. Talk a little bit more about your experience of going into the cathedral.

[00:49:39] Annie Sargent: The cathedral really touched me. Rodez is famous as the city of bishops. They had a lot of very famous bishops in Rodez that were very important to the history of the Catholic Church. They have a lot of displays about the various bishops that served in this area. The church is just really touching.

I can’t really explain why, but I could have spent a long time in that church looking at all the details. And I think, the fact that there were modern stained glass windows that were so colorful and so striking, also improved the experience. Sometimes you see modern stained glass and it leaves you… okay whatever. But these were really striking in my opinion. And in that particular cathedral, they also have some of the older stained glass, which by comparison wasn’t as impressive. Which is really strange, because I really like stained glass, and I typically don’t ever say, oh, modern stained glass would be my preference, except for in that cathedral.

It is just really, really nice. So, in Rodez, do plan on spending an hour or two in the cathedral.

It is very, very nice.

[00:50:55] Elyse Rivin: It’s very big. It’s very, it has an incredible tower.

It’s very large. And it’s very interesting because, I think, well, part of Rodez was actually destroyed during World War II because it has a very small, old, medieval center, very tiny, with a few little streets with Renaissance houses, and there’s a piece of an ancient wall around what would have been the castle, but everything is just centered right around the cathedral.

Otherwise, it’s more of a modern town than other places in the area, but it’s certainly worth visiting for that.

Laguiole where they make the knives

[00:51:29] Annie Sargent: Right. One place that we didn’t mention because it’s not a plus beaux village, so it wasn’t on my list is Laguiole.

[00:51:37] Elyse Rivin: Ah oui. Laguiole. (pronounced La-yoll)

[00:51:38] Annie Sargent: Laguiole. (La-ghee-yoll)

They pronounce it Laguiole. (La-yoll) Do they?

Yes.

Weirdos! Yes, this is up in the northeastern part of the Aveyron, in the area that’s called the Aubrac, which is probably, it’s not considered to be one of Grands Causses, but it’s a very big wide open area. It makes me think it’s the French equivalent of the Great Plains in the United States. It’s very open, it’s kind of little undulating, but it’s pretty much, you can see forever in every direction. And it’s cold and lots of snow in the winter. And in the middle of that is this very beautiful village called Laguiole. (La-yoll) Spelled Laguiole.

[00:52:19] Elyse Rivin: Yeah, you have to go there to have them correct pronunciation. OH, whatever!

Yeah, and it’s famous for its knives, the famous knives with the little bee on them.

Bee, why a bee?

It because it’s the signature of the authentic Laguiole knife as opposed to a counterfeit knife. On the back of the tip of the handle where it joins up with the blade, you have a tiny little bee.

I have one that I had made for me there. They have what they call ladies knives, they’re smaller. There are still two or three manufacturers there, where you go in, you choose your handle, they have all these beautiful kinds of woods, and bone, and stone, and then your blades.

And they actually put them together for you there. There were two or three centers in France for knife making, but this is the very famous Laguiole knife.

[00:53:07] Annie Sargent: Very, very nice. Okay.

[00:53:09] Elyse Rivin: And they told us that it’s not La-ghee-yol, it’s La-yol.

[00:53:13] Annie Sargent: All right, whatever people.

[00:53:14] Elyse Rivin: It’s whatever the Occitan dialect is of the local area.

[00:53:17] Annie Sargent: Well, we have all kinds of Occitan names. Most places they don’t insist on… yeah, whatever.

Micropolis, the City of Insects

[00:53:23] Annie Sargent: Another place of interest is Micropolis. So this is The City of Insects. I saw signs for it when we were approaching or either approaching or leaving the Millau Viaduct, and did not stop.

But for people with kids, I think it would be good.

[00:53:41] Elyse Rivin: Exactly, my guess is, I didn’t go either, but my guess is that it would be really a fun place to take kids because they must have lots of interactive things.

Creepy crawlies.

[00:53:50] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah.

Gorge du Tarn

[00:53:51] Annie Sargent: Other places of interest are the Gorge du Tarn. You know, hiking, kayaking, summer kind of activities.

There’s something called Le Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux.

It’s near the Gorge of the Tarn and it’s a place we mentioned in the podcast about the Sidobre area with the big, huge pieces of granite. This is a place where for over the thousands, I guess, even maybe a million years, it’s created these formations that look like somebody has set one stone on top of the other. So there are these strange columns that are huge, but it doesn’t look like one big piece of stone. It looks like a giant has placed stones one on top of the other, and a kind of valley gorge, similar to the trou you were mentioning.

So it’s a place you go to visit and you can hike through it as well.

Fun, fun. And of course you can walk around, there’s hikes around the Aubrac.

The Great Food Specialties of the Aveyron Departement

[00:54:49] Annie Sargent: So we talked about some of the food. We talked about Roquefort, obviously. But we didn’t talk about Aligot and we have to talk about Aligot Saucisse. So Aligot is a potato dish with tome cheese in it.

[00:55:03] Elyse Rivin: It’s melted cow cheese, and garlic, and olive oil.

[00:55:07] Annie Sargent: Yes, and potatoes. It is absolutely amazing.

Love the stuff.

I could eat it all day.

It’s not very good for your rump.

[00:55:16] Elyse Rivin: It’s not good for anything except keeping you warm in the wintertime, which is, my guess is that it was basically the peasants, the shepherds’ food, having some potatoes, having some pieces of cheese. These shepherds out in the middle of nowhere, you know, trying to heat something up to get them warm in the middle of these very cold winters, and it’s definitely a winter dish.

Don’t try to eat this in the summertime.

[00:55:39] Annie Sargent: I can eat it all day, every day of the year. I don’t care if it’s hot. It’s very good. It’s very good.

[00:55:44] Elyse Rivin: When they prepare it, it looks like taffy.

[00:55:46] Annie Sargent: Yes, yes, it’s stringy.

Yes. And the best way to prepare it, strangely, is in the microwave.

If you buy it already made, you put it in the microwave, and you just stir it, and it’s very easy.

It comes out stringy and perfect.

[00:56:00] Elyse Rivin: That’s a very good idea. I do it in the bain marie because I don’t have a microwave.

[00:56:03] Annie Sargent: The other local food is tripou, so, we had a bit of a discussion about this before we started recording because she says it’s a tripe dish. And I think it used to be a tripe dish, but I saw it on the menu and it was not, it had no tripe. It was a kind of a fried vegetable potato doughy thing, and it was totally edible.

Tripe, the animal tripe, I could not eat. So I think they might be reusing the name and made it something people actually want to eat.

[00:56:35] Elyse Rivin: Be careful. If you go into a restaurant, make sure you know what it is before you order it.

[00:56:39] Annie Sargent: Yes, if you see Tripou, ask them exactly what they have in mind, because… yeah…

They do sourdough bread.

[00:56:47] Elyse Rivin: Very good, very good sourdough bread.

[00:56:49] Annie Sargent: I don’t like sourdough bread, so you tell us.

Oh gosh. I don’t know why, I don’t really know why, but the vendors who sell bread from Aveyron on the open air markets, which, you know, I think is something I love to do. The breads are as close to San Francisco sourdough as I’ve ever had anywhere. And I love sourdough bread. Yeah. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s the water, I don’t know if it’s the starter that they use, it’s just, it’s specific and typical of the breads from Aveyron. Very good. Very good.

Then they make a Gâteau à la broche. So we had some of that and you can buy it. I mean, they don’t have to have it on the spit. You can just buy it. It looks like a tower looking thing and you break pieces off.

It was fine. I wouldn’t say it’s anything to write home about, but it was fine.

[00:57:37] Elyse Rivin: It’s very strange I think it’s the same batter as the waffle batter. We had a Christmas market here in Toulouse they had a stand, they were making it, it was the stand that had the biggest line of everything besides the Aligot at the market, and they were putting chocolate on it and all this other stuff, and I was thinking, eh, no, I don’t think so, but it looked like it would be fun to have warm right off the spit, you know, that kind of thing.

Probably. So at the Millau Viaduct, they have a visitor center. And underneath the visitor center, they have this little restaurant looking thing where they were selling fancy sandwiches. So they were like wraps. I got mine with Aligot Saucisse, because that’s the local dish.

So they put it in a wrap and you bite into that. But my friend got one with a foie gras and anyway, there were different kinds that you could get. It was very interesting kind of, you know, freeway rest stop sandwich. I liked it. I thought it was good.

But everywhere you go in the Aveyron, they will sell you Aligot Saucisse, so you don’t have to go looking for that, it’ll just come to you.

This is not wine producing country. So, you know, don’t ask me for a wine tour there.

No, no, cheese tours you can do.

[00:58:49] Annie Sargent: Yeah, cheese tours, yes, an Aligot tour, yes, you can, baa tours.

[00:58:54] Elyse Rivin: But get the wines from nearby near Montpellier are fine to have with, whatever you’re having there.

And the fouace, we have to talk about, this is the kind of stuff I love.

Fouace is, it’s a kind of brioche, but with a little fleur d’orange. And I don’t even know how to say that in English, to be honest.

[00:59:10] Annie Sargent: It’s like an orange…

[00:59:11] Elyse Rivin: Orange essence?

Orange blossom.

Orange blossom water or something, a tiny little bit.

It’s very rich. It’s got a little bit more butter in it than a typical brioche. And it is yummy. Yummy. Yummy. Yummy.

[00:59:23] Annie Sargent: I didn’t try that.

[00:59:24] Elyse Rivin: Oh boy. You take a slice of that in the morning with your coffee and it holds you for a while.

[00:59:29] Annie Sargent: Eh, not that long for me. All right. Well, okay, this is going to be a long episode.

[00:59:34] Elyse Rivin: And it’s getting to be lunchtime. So there you are.

[00:59:36] Annie Sargent: But thank you very much Elyse. We love the Aveyron, I hope you get to go.

[00:59:40] Elyse Rivin: It’s really, really beautiful, for those of you who’ve already done your Parisian trip, your Normandy trip, and maybe even your Southwest Dordogne trip, try going to the Aveyron, it’s gorgeous.

[00:59:52] Annie Sargent: Amen to that.

Merci Elyse. Au revoir.

Copyright

[00:59:56] Annie Sargent: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and Copyright 2024 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.

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Transcript for Episode 504: Exploring the Aveyron Department