
Places to visit: Albi
Albi – a brief introduction
Albi is a beautiful city – a world heritage site on our doorstep and another place we discovered on our first trip here in 2018, but only to drive through then as we were on our way to see another house in Mazamet. We crossed the river Tarn, which gives the département its name and runs through the city, and spotted this stunning cathedral seemingly on a hill. I took a couple of quick photos from the moving car to remind us to visit properly one day.
Albi, like Toulouse, is built in the very distinctive pink stone of the area, giving the city a warm glow. It is the administrative centre of the Tarn département and is where, hopefully soon, we will visit the Préfecture to get our residency cards. According to Wikipedia, there has been a settlement here since the Bronze Age. The city expanded in 1040 and became very prosperous. The gothic cathedral of Sainte Cécile was built in the late 13th century along with the Palais de la Berbie (the Bishop’s Palace) which looks a bit like a fortress. The Cathars are a feature of the history of this area – I need to read more about this at some point. The city is also the birthplace of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Bishop’s Palace is now a museum, housing many of his works.
We returned in the summer of 2018 to rent the house that we eventually bought, to see if we liked it – a great idea which really gave us the chance to have a good look round! On that trip we made a point of visiting Albi to explore a little. We walked and walked, along narrow winding streets, discovering stunning architecture, lovely shops, a riverside walk, and so much more. We found a gorgeous café, sadly no longer there, whose owner had once worked for Burberry. We visited the gothic cathedral of Ste Cécile and the stunning riverside castle gardens. There is a fabulous covered market, a Saturday food market and a brocante market – all fun to visit.
The Cathedral of Ste Cécile
The Palace Gardens
We have tried out a few restaurants – a favourite has become Le Clos de Ste Cécile, in an old school, near the Cathedral. A beautiful building and great food. We celebrated exchanging contracts on the house there on their picturesque outdoor terrace.

We stayed in Albi a couple of times during the house buying process, once in an Airbnb in the centre, which had an amazing well inside the apartment, the second and third times in a charming chambres d’hôtes on the other side of the river Tarn, looking directly across to the cathedral. This B&B served breakfast by delivering a basket of goodies to a small window downstairs each morning -just lovely. Max actually officially proposed over breakfast there the day after we completed on the house – very romantic.
We love visiting Albi and still have so much to explore. Some of our favourite spots so far are the winding streets, the riverside, the gardens and views of the Cathedral from wherever you are in the city. It reminds me a little of Canterbury (where I went to university) and Salisbury (where I lived before coming to France), both of which have stunning cathedrals that seem to rise up from the city centre. The cathedrals are obviously totally different but the views of the cathedral that pop up in different places and when arriving in the city evoke those memories.
The city offers great restaurants, cafes and bars (sadly all closed at the moment), lovely shops, many of which are independent, the markets, a theatre, many outdoor events and fabulous architecture. As I have mentioned before architecture fascinates me – the unexpected, the juxta position sometimes of different styles of buildings, and just the construction and detail of buildings, old and new.
High on the list of our favourite spots in Albi is this amazing water feature near the cathedral – just beautiful and often quite deserted. A great spot to sit on a sunny day to quietly contemplate the world, but also to people watch, which is another great pastime.
This is a very brief introduction to Albi – there is so much more to say and so much more to see. Perhaps you should add it to the list of places to visit one day….

