Albi, le Rougier de Camares and the vulture museum at the Gorge de la Jonte

I've already shared a few photos from these places but I said I would add some of the interior of Albi cathedral, plus some of Keith's photos of vultures, so here goes.

The Sainte Cécile cathedral at Albi (capital of the Tarn department) was built between the 13th and 15th centuries and the building on the right is a part of the Bishop's Palace, the Palais Episcopal de la Berbi, built before the cathedral itself in a defensive style as the Catholics were at war against the Cathars at this time. It now houses the Toulouse-Lautrec museum.

Whilst I don't have a religious bone in my body, I do appreciate very ornate church and cathedral interiors. Just trying to imagine the work that is involved in the decoration of these places is almost beyond belief! Whether it's the painting, particularly on the ceiling, or the sculptured stonework, they are all equally amazing and the talent involved in those ancient times is sadly mostly lacking in these modern times.

Looking back in the opposite direction.

The amazing ornate ceiling:

Beautiful red stone (marble?) font:

The old bridge, construction of which started in 1040! At one point in the middle ages, it had houses on it, but these were partially destroyed during a flood.

There were dozens of pigeons nesting in amongst the stones!

The new bridge, built in 1868.

The cathedral and Palais de la Berbie from the old bridge:

This building is right beside the old bridge, and I found it fascinating because the base under the patio is so dodgy looking! Not sure I'd want to sit out there. 😀

The collegiate Church of Saint Salvi, built in the 11th century.

On to the Rougier de Camares, weird outcrops of red clay full of iron oxide interspersed with occasional horizontal grey clay strata. It is a very strange valley full of these red patches of earth. Due to the clay, the soil is supposed to be quite moist, which explains the sphagnum moss in many places, but not the wild thyme growing through it!! One likes damp soil, the other dry.

I loved this grass, and found out later that it is Stipa pennata - which like Stipa tenuissima is also called Angel's Hair Grass. Stipa pennata grows across the Causse de Larzac near Millau, in which direction we were heading.

Another attractive wild grass:

We then spent three nights at Millau, a town near the fairly new viaduct de Millau, a motorway bridge across the Tarn river valley near Millau, designed by British architect Norman Foster. There were so many places of interest to visit around here, that we didn't even find time to visit the town itself! We will be back another day.

The first day here we visited the Vulture Museum beside the Gorge de la Jonte, a scenic drive and gorge in itself, even without the vulture interest. I've shown a few photos already but have some vulture photos now to share.

There are four species of vulture that nest around here, but by far the most common are the Griffon Vulture. There is one couple of Black Vultures, a handful of Egyptian Vultures and the Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier which is the rarest. This last we have yet to see.

These next images are all taken by Keith with his 800mm lens - as you can see from the image above, the cliff faces were a long way away, and these Griffon Vultures in the photo below are on the same cliffs. My few photos with my SX50 were terrible!

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Photo credit: Keith Allen

On this next photo, you'll need to view it full size as the vulture is the tiny looking bird right in the centre of the image! It's actually a Black (or Monk) Vulture (Aegypius monachus), much rarer than the Griffon Vultures and in fact there is only one pair nesting in this area this year; how lucky they chose to build their nest in full view of the viewing platform! They are the only vultures that build nests in trees. It's not in the photo but we could see the youngster's little head bobbing up and down - apparently it was about six weeks old.

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Back to the Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus):

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Back soon I hope with more holiday photos!