Cordes sur Ciel, Tarn

We have been home for a few days now, full of unpacking a motorhome and doing tons of laundry, not just ours but the bedding and towels from our friends who came to housesit for us. It always takes an age to get through it all, and there are three of us this time!

I've managed to whittle down about 90 photos of Cordes to just a few, but we weren't anywhere where we could get a photo like this, as I think we came into the village via the 'wrong' way. So I've borrowed this image from the Tarn Tourist Guide.



I'm so pleased I chose to visit this delightful village, as previously we had seen it from a distance, rising out of the countryside up towards the sky; it really stuck in my mind and I had always wanted to come here.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of walking involved, although there is a little tourist train that you can take, if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. We walked!

I loved this house! Butterflies and insect hotels galore, and even a stone cat.

Cordes sur Ciel was built back in the 13th century as a bastide (new) town, originally conceived to resettle and shelter people who had been displaced by the Albigensian Crusade. Reading about this subject, I had always though bastide towns were defensive towns, but apparently not, though many were built in defensive positions such as on top of hills.

The covered market on the right was built in the 13th century as well, now it has many restaurant tables there making the most of the shade on the hot summer days.

Saint-Michel Church, also mostly dating from the 13thC.

There are a number of well preserved gothic mansions, such as the Maison de Grand Veneur below.

And lovely little artisanal shops dotted about here and there.

One of the gates to the oldest part of the town on top of the hill.

This poor house, it had been patched up with all sorts of building materials over the decades/centuries. It could be beautiful.....

There were a number of houses like this with bricks between the timbers, some very attractively done.

Another gate into the older part of town.

On our way down we visited the Jardin de Paradis, a lovely terraced garden with many places to sit and relax. The water garden had a number of frogs sitting on the lily pads and there was even a level dedicated to veggie growing.

All that on just day one of our holiday! I loved our all-too-short holiday, apart from the heat at times! Many of the places we travelled through I would like to go back to to see more. Maybe next year.... 😀