Brick is the favoured building material in Albi due to the abundance of clay vs stone in the area. Most of the town is brick, with the cathedral said to be the largest brick building in the world. It is certainly massive, and has several unusual features - side entrance (instead of the traditional west end entrance), a single nave with no transept, ceiling and walls completely covered with frescoes, relative lack of windows, austere exterior contrasting with highly decorated interior. It is St Cecilia's cathedral - the patron saint of musicians. It's probably my favourite cathedral to date, amongst some stiff competition.
The painter Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, and an extensive collection of his works is housed in the bishops palace next door to the cathedral.
Carcassonne is a fortified city dating from 5th century or earlier. It seems a little Disney-esque with some features added during an 18th century restoration that are not true to type (some crenellations, some steeply pitched tower roofs.) Nonetheless it is a spectacular sight.
The town is full of little shops selling expensive (supposedly) local produce. We tried a spectacular looking candied clementine.
At the risk of becoming even more of a foodie blog - we ate he local dish which is cassoulet. Very nice. There are variations. The one we tried used duck leg and a special sausage. We enquired about the contents of the sausage and established that duck was one ingredient, but the others were too tricky to communicate. Possibly better not to know!
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