It takes a while to get somewhere else from Labastide Esparbairenque because first you have to get out of the forest and the mountains--the roads are steep and twisty-turny and about half a lane wide.
I was able to take a road trip to the medieval city of Albi, about 2+ hours to the north. Albi is the heart of the Cathar resistance to the Pope. In the 15th century the Catholic Church built this enormous red stone fortress of a cathdral to impress the church's great power upon the resistors. The cathedral is a formidable Gothic pile---the 1400's version of shock and awe.
 |
| This hand-painted ceiling in the cathedral in Albi has never been retouched! |
|
|
I got to see saint's skulls in the cathedral--that was a new one for me.
 |
| Soccer players in Barcelona. |
I also went on a whirlwind road trip to Barcelona. I had never been to Spain before. It turned out, though, that we just got to have some lunch, walk around the beautiful Born district--full of cobbled streets, little shops and parks and do a forced march to Gaudi's Sograta Familia. To the right is my buddy Jaclyn, checking the map. The forced march was not her fault!
 |
| Here I am in the Born District with pistachio gelato--my favorite! |
It takes a while to get somewhere else from Labastide Esparbairenque because first you have to get out of the forest and the mountains--the roads are steep and twisty-turny and about half a lane wide.
