Take some time in Monestiés and meet with a picturesque medieval village. You will be charmed by this “circulade” (traditional village built in concentric circles), listed among “ The Most Beautiful Village in France”.
This ancient city, nestling in a curve of the Cérou, will offer a peaceful walk through medieval lanes, Candèze’s door (last evidence of the old fortifications) and its bridge (XIIthcentury).
The picturesque village of Villeneuve sur Vère, all in white stone, is constructed on a natural rocky spur. Located in the heart of the Vère valley that used to offer scenery of hemp, much appreciated for Royal Navy’s cordage, was governed by viscounts.
Villeneuve-sur-Vère hasn’t been spared by great upheavals in France, like the Albigenses’ Crusade or the One Hundred Years War. It’s in the aftermath of Simon de Montfort’s passage that “Villeneuve the New” will be built and become a thriving city.
Following the Cérou, you will arrive to Salles. Between Monestiés and Cordes sur Ciel, take a rest and be charmed by this picturesque medieval village with its red sandstone houses, and its medieval towers.
Salles has been the theatre of crusader’s disorders between Albigenses. The remains of fortifications, like the square dungeon and stronghold houses, can attest to this.
Let’s meet on a land of history! Borrow a time machine and concentrate on the wonderful industrial and social saga of Carmaux. A past as black as coal is carved in memories, but also in the soil. Since the XIIIth century, men have extracted coal from mines. Its development was made mainly in the XIXth century to feed the glass industry.
Pampelonne, dating from the Middle Ages, has been for a long time a big agricultural market town where five annual fairs used to take place. Eustache de Beaumarchais, Seneschal of Toulouse, made of it a royal fortified town during the XIIIth century. Its name reminds the one of Pampelune in Spanish Navarre where Beaumarchais was governor.
Once upon a time The Guard of the Viaur… this is how we could start the presentation of this citadel. In this fortress-village, many vestiges of its rich history and the whole of its architectural harmony have been preserved over the centuries.
