Occitanie
The Canal du Midi, an architectural feat
Built in the 17th century, this navigation canal was one of Louis XIV’s major projects. Punctuated by numerous locks, the structure, designed, directed and partly financed by the architect Pierre-Paul Riquet, climbs the mountain - quite a feat - before flowing gently into the Grande Bleue. Listed as a Unesco World Heritage site, today it is a delight for tourists who have become boatmen for a day. Moussaillon, cast off !
The Canal du Midi at Nérac, ©iStock
Hervé Di Rosa
From writer Paul Valéry to director Jean Vilar, creator of the Avignon Festival, from anarchist singer Georges Brassens to outrenoir painter Pierre Soulage, Sète inspires artists. One such artist was Hervé Di Rosa, who in the mid-1980s turned contemporary painting on its head. Colors and shapes borrowed from childhood, rock, advertising and comic strips. Today, his paintings are exhibited worldwide. At first glance, playful...
Jean Moulin, by Hervé Di Rosa, ©dirosa.org
Cité de l’espace, Toulouse
Reaching for the stars... Toulouse, the French capital of aeronautics. At the end of the 19th century, the city welcomed pioneers such as Clément Ader, inventor of the first aircraft, and Latécoère, the first mass-produced aircraft. In Vol de nuit, in which Saint-Exupéry recounts the exploits of the Aéropostale pilots as they set off to deliver mail to South America, the industry becomes a romantic epic. Today, Europe’s Airbus and Ariane Espace programs point the way to the future. Toulouse’s space museum retraces all this ambition.
The museum in Toulouse, ©Cité de l'Espace
Montpellier Danse, movements
Over the past forty years, the Montpellier Danse festival has become a major European event. Created by Dominique Bagouet in 1981, the festival has contributed to the renown of the French New Dance movement, including Maguy Marin, Philippe Découflé and Angelin Preljocaj. Brilliant, sometimes disconcerting, always demanding, it continues to welcome new talent as well as the great names of international contemporary dance. Last week of June.
Montpellier Danse. Choreography by Atomos Wayne McGregor. Gia/Alamy Live News
Southwestern cuisine : cassoulet...
Southwestern cuisine will make you happy. The Quercy, Périgord and Gers regions are famous to gourmets throughout France and the rest of the world. Tasty and generous dishes, diversity and quality of produce, the choice is vast and famous: cassoulet with duck breast, risotto with chanterelles, white beans in goose fat...; you’ll never finish your plate!
Cassoulet in a casserole dish, ©iStock
