The Midi-Pyrenees: Albi, Toulouse, Conques, Moissac (Blue Guide)

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Guide to an Exquisite Place
Review: Before I praise this book to the skies, this is what it is not: a motor atlas or local guide, a guide to restaurants and hotels, or a reference book. There are a pair of maps on the end papers, but they are not adequate for navigating, although it does have very useful maps of nine of the towns it covers. It makes no pretense of helping you out with meals or accommodations. The index is cursory, basically listing only places; you cannot, for example, use it to locate monasteries, parish churches, or Renaissance chateaux. It does, however, have at the front a categoric list of outstanding attractions of the region which is inclusive and very informed and thoughtful, and for a tourist this makes up most of the deficiency in the index. (It is not very light reading, either: the tone is very matter of fact and rather dry, and any adjective merits the reader's consideration.)

However, if you are a tourist with back-roads and cultural inclinations, and if you're even thinking you might want to check out the southwest of France, you want to look this Blue Guide over; if you go, you will have to take it with you, since it has no peer. It is organized geographically, with chapters for each of the larger cities, and auto tours that cover the rest of the area, with lots of emphasis on the scenic countryside and the beautiful old towns and villages that decorate the region. It is impressively inclusive, and since the region is big, it covers a lot of ground. Its treatment of the artistic and historic sites of the Midi is exemplary, both knowledgeable and thorough, although the book is a manageable 240 pages. (It has invaluable information about opening and closing times and contacts for sites that don't have regular hours, as well as market days and the like for towns and villages.) The author, Delia Evans, really knows her stuff, and in particular, her treatment of the medieval sculpture and architecture in which the area abounds is better than you would get from any but the most erudite and informative guide or from scholarly studies. (She includes a keyed plan of the Moissac cloister, indicating the subject of each carved capital.) The tours are absolutely gorgeous, and totally delightful: they run you way off of the main roads, up into the hills, along river valleys, and through quiet old towns that are very appealing and to this day totally French, seldom visited by foreign tourists, and well worth passing through.

This is beautiful country: the Midi-Pyrenees is hilly and very lush, and crisscrossed by postcard river valleys. It is largely agricultural and relatively undeveloped in modern times, and full of treasures. It abounds in arched stone bridges, serene abbeys, old farms and medieval villages and towns, each with squares, ancient walls and picturesque gates, carved house-fronts, and decorated churches. (The food is fantastic, even by French standards, and there are lots of nice hotels.) If you want to visit, the Blue Guide to the Midi-Pyrenees is your ticket; not only won't it disappoint you, it will probably engender your gratitude for its indispensable guidance.

A word of advice: lay your routes out beforehand on a good map. The directions are very good but also very involved, and you're not going to be able to decipher them while driving along French country roads or through the narrow streets of French towns; you'll need that map.