Near the Canal -
[1] Toulouse - Capitol, Basilique, Les Jacobins (St Thomas Aquinas),
Musee des Augustines, Shopping
[2] Bram - 99 Blind men
[3] Carcassonne - Cite, Chateau Comtal, Torture Museum, Falconry show
[4] Trebes - St-Etienne (350 painted faces)
[5] Puicheric - Chateau, (restaurants)
[6] Homps - Templars' Tower, Minervois wines
[7] Le Somail - Museum (6,000 hats)
[8] Beziers - Cathedral with Jardin, Arts Museum, Mus. du Bitterois
[9] Capestang - Chateau
[10] Colombiers - opodium excavations (500 B.C.)
Some distance from the canal:
[11] Albi - Toulouse-Lautrec Mujseum, Cathedral
[12] Castres - Goya Museum, Jean-Jaures, Huguenots
[13] Narbonne - Archbishops' Palace (with Art and Archeology Museums), Cathedral
[14] Pezenas - Moliere, Arts & Crafts Museums, Antiques shops,
[15] Montpellier - University, Museums, Opera
Carcassonne has served as a backdrop to numerous movies about medieval knights and is the most spectacular site along the Canal. Since tourism is its bread and butter, the towns Municipal Government has produced an outstanding web site, well worth the visit though too many fancy things slow down loading the pages.
Ode to Aude is a modest site maintained by Sam Moony. The objectives of the site are: "...to advertise [my] house
available as vacation rental" and "It's also a collection of comments, links and photographs". the site has freshness and is current.
Obviously, when in France, one should dine out well (and expensively). There are hundreds of sites recommending restaurants and we will probably forget most of them. I liked
Graham Tigg's Languedoc Reviews for its independence of opinion and interesting descriptions. There is also a useful guide to local wines. The bad news is that only a few restaurants mentioned are close to the Canal.
(This may not be such a bad news when you see the prices).
For those of you who like to listen to the internet, Minnesota public radio has posted an
Interview with Vaughn Ashby, the regional Manager of Crown Blue Line. An interesting show, but nothing new for those who have visited some of the above sites.
And now, for something very different, read a wonderfull account of a bicycle trip in France by a Canadian cyclist from Montreal.
