A place called Déols

Ever since I happened upon Moissac and discovered it was a stopping place for pilgrims on the Route of Santiago de Compostela or the Way of St James, the route as a whole has interested me and prompted me to find out more.

The Way isn't any single road, it is a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the north west of Spain and can be made up of many different routes.  To my great surprise I've discovered that one of the branches runs very close to where we stay in France, and that one of the stopping places is Déols.

Up until this point I had always looked upon Déols as a village that had gradually evolved into a suburb of the capital of our département, Châteauroux, the ugliest town in France (Jean Giraudoux: "Châteauroux, ville la plus laide de France").  But it seems it has a long history dating from the 10th century and was once the most important town in the lower Berry region.

In 917 a Benedictine abbey was founded by the Lord of Déols and then was headed by Abbots of Cluny, the leading and probably wealthiest monastic house of the time.  If you ever have the chance of going to the wonderful Cluny Museum in Paris, you will see many of the things that provided that wealth.  By the by, this would be a particularly good year to visit because it is the 1100th anniversary of the founding of the Abbey of Cluny.

Sadly, in spite of this wealth all that remains of the abbey today are ruins.

The first thing you see is the bell tower which makes you think it's more complete than it is, but this is the largest section.

Little else remains but here and there more excavations and restorations are revealing sections of wall, carvings and doorways.

They are doing their best to make the most of what does remain, showing it off to good effect.

A small rose garden leading into a park.

Some window frames put to a new use.

This following picture is a representation of how the abbey might once have appeared, really very extensive.

The picture comes from the site of the Tourist Office in Déols where there is more information if you can translate the Franglais.

The abbey was burned by the Huguenots in 1568 during the religious wars, and was secularised in 1627 by the Prince of Condé because of the corruption of the monks.  The stones were removed and redistributed for use in other buildings.  Having served as a quarry, the choir of the abbey is crossed by the road of Issoudun in 1812 and the Chapel of Miracles was demolished in 1831. The Chapel of Miracles which survived that time, was demolished to allow a road to be built.

At least now the importance of the site has been recognised and with luck improved still further.  Historians are continuing to study and reassemble.

More pictures including those above.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Letter from France: A time tunnel named Cluny (gadling.com)

Purple

I struggled to find anything purple this week.  I was surprised.  You'd think some of the palaces and châteaux would have yielded a little purple but either it wasn't there or I avoided it.  Looking through my archives has become unwieldy, now that I have so many photos, but then I discovered a clever tool in Picasa - you can search on a colour!  How clever!

I would have to argue with some of Picasa's choices, (I really have no idea why a picture of my face should be included!), but on the whole they've set me off in the direction of flowers.  Not especially exciting, but by now I was ready to accept anything.  Then I started to wonder where purple starts and red or blue ends.....

Multi-coloured aubretia

So many different shades, some of which could be called purple.

Lavender in the sun

In fact Picasa didn't label this as purple but I like the way the sun was shining only on the taller flowers and left the rest in the shade. "Lavender's blue dilly, dilly" but it looks purple to me.

Lilac

A lilac flower. Is lilac purple? Picasa thinks so.

A cardoon or artichoke thistle

Another of Picasa's choices that I might have left out, but beggars can't be choosers.

Aquilegia, columbine, or granny's bonnets

Finally agreement. This definitely is a purple, I'm sure of it.


If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt and discover how colour blind I am compared with other players, pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more. 

Now we are six

Late again, but my excuse is that although I'm not six, nor even a multiple of six, I am one year older than I was this time last year.

I felt obliged to do six pictures this week - one of these days I'll be able to settle on a single picture but not today.  Each picture does have six things, and I think easy enough to spot.

The Mediterranean Sea

This was taken just after the Grand Prix of Monaco, when there would have been wall-to-wall yachts. 

The church in Collonges-la-Rouge in France

The whole of this village is built in red sandstone.  It is a spectacular sight but sadly it is almost entirely dependent on tourists and during the winter is completely dead.

A retaining wall alongside a river in France

Not the most inspiring sight perhaps, but it captured my imagination somehow, wondering if the drainpipes all spout at once.  I should go and have a look next time it rains.  That's likely to be any moment now, and all tomorrow, and ...

A visitor to our garden

I find it very hard to take photos of birds, I'm far too slow to react.  No wonder I like buildings so much!

A window in a church near Winchester in England

I've used this picture before, or one very similar, when describing this ancient church.

Bridges on the river Gartempe in St Savin, France

I thought I might have used this picture before too, but if so, I can't find it.  The bridges are beside the beautiful church of St Savin sur Gartempe.

If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt and find other players, pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more.

Coming soon - Pisa

The Arno river in Pisa

I've recently been visiting Pisa, sadly missing today's festival, the Luminaria.  At sunset, all the lights along the river, the Arno, are dimmed and the thousands of candles which have been attached to the buildings lining the river are lit.

In spite of missing what sounds like a spectacular event, I enjoyed the visit immensely and will be posting about it as soon as I have time to persuade myself that my blog is looking sensible again.

New template

I changed it in an effort to make the last post look less l-o-o-o-ng.  I don't much care for the end result so it may change a few more times before I'm finished.  If I knew what I was doing it would help a lot.

An afternoon in Albi

It should have  been a good deal longer than the afternoon, but we chose the same day to travel to Albi as the lorry carrying paper for recycling, the one that caught fire and melted the carriageway of the autoroute we had hoped to use.  The cross country route ate up most of our time.

Albi is in the department of the Tarn, in what used to be the Quercy region of France.  It looks very different from many French cities, being built with Languedoc red brick.  Montauban is similar, though not as attractive, and I believe Toulouse is too.

The town grew around the rather forbidding looking cathedral, built between 1282 and 1480 on the site of earlier religious buildings.  It is the largest buildng made of brick  in the world and was designed to make a statement after the Cathar or Albigensian Crusade.

The wonderful porch and entrance does lead you understand that the interior is going to be completely different from the austere exterior.

Even though I visit so many cathedrals, I am still surprised that they are all so different.  Albi is no exception.  Sadly, but understandably, in order to preserve the beautiful decorations they keep the lighting subdued and don't allow flash photography.  As result my photos are very limited.

After the cathedral, a short walk down to the river.  In fact you can see the cathedral's position in the town better from there, from the bridge, the Pont Vieux or old bridge.

The old bridge dates from 1040 and yet it's still in daily use.  At the time it allowed the far bank to be developed and trade expanded.  At one time, between the 14th and 18th centuries it had houses along its length and a toll gate at the centre.  These were demolished after the enormous flood of 1766 which is marked on one of the buildings beside the bridge.

In 1820 the original stone bridge was clad in brick and widened.  At the time The river Tarn carried a great deal of river trade and the old port bustled with activity.  The bridge remains one of the oldest bridges still in use in France.

The mills of Albi - there were once ten or so of these mills on the banks of the river.  They flourished from the 13th century, finally stopping in 1976.  They have now been refurbished and put to other uses, one was the hotel where we stayed the night.

Next to the cathedral is the bishop's palace, the Palais de la Berbie.  It was finished at the end of the 12th century making it even older than the Palais des Papes in Avignon.  Now it holds the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum which has the most complete collection of his work in the world. 

Nearby is the church of Saint Salvi even older than the Cathedral.  The building was started before the Cathar Crusade.  It is topped by a watchtower added in the 15th century and used by the city as a look out.  The city emblazoned its arms on the tower so the church had an effigy of St Salvi added in an equally prominent place.  Unfortunately the church hasn't been as well preserved as many of the other buildings.

By this time it was getting late and all we could do was admire from outside followed by a quick tour around the town.

Through beautiful streets where old buildings have been put to modern uses, via parks and green spaces enjoyed by all.

This post has been rather longer than intended, but it's a reflection on how much I enjoyed the place.  I found it relatively unspoilt and a pleasant mingling of the old buildings with modern city life.  There was no feeling of being in a museum.

Albi is in the process of being approved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I do hope that it won't change the character of the city, even with the expected 30% increase in tourism.

Sparkle

I think I prefer the sparkle of light on water to any other type and besides, I find other sparkles very hard to capture. 

The two above show light sparkling on the Mediterranean Sea.  In fact both were taken at much the same time but they look quite different.

Then we have two fountains, the top one in Monte Carlo and the second in Albi in the south west of France.

Finally, I suppose this is the ultimate in sparkle, the best of both worlds, another fountain but this time from Versailles.  Personally I prefer the more natural look of the light playing on the sea.

If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt and find other players, pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more.