At Maison Garcia, an entire corner is the cockpit of
this acclaimed 62-year-old family-owned butchery.
Specialties include their award-winning Toulouse
sausage (there's a plump gamey female saucisson sec
and the milder skinnier male saucisse sèche) and the
stand-alone prize winner, "Pata Negra Bellota," voted
best ham in the world in 2020. We tear into the tradi-
tional baguettes (a piece of UNESCO World Heritage),
sample the Holy Grail of ham that retails for the price
of a luxe Gucci sneaker, savour sharp cheeses akin to
France's king of cheeses, which is the Roquefort, pro-
duced here, and toast with a bubbly rosé from the
locally grown Mauzac grape.
"Santé," proclaims Jessica, nodding her head, eyes
fixed on the toastee (me). "Don't ever cross your arms
in a group and always gaze into the other person's
eyes," she reveals about the French tradition.
Indeed.
Throughout my Occitanie journey to this storied
southwestern French region, I admit, there are loads of
good memories. After all, closer to Spain than Paris,
this corridor of plenty that spans west to the Atlantic
and gurgles south into the Mediterranean Sea via the
Midi Canal is rife with life's finest pleasures, which are
naturally wrapped around good eats and inspiring
places bien sûr.
DREAMSCAPES FALL/ WINTER 2023
16
TRAVEL PLANNER
For travel information to the Occitanie region,
Toulouse and surrounds, visit Destination Occitanie
tourisme-occitanie.com, Toulouse toulouse-visit.com,
Tarn et Garonne Tourisme tourisme-tarnetgaronne.fr/en
and Tarn Tourisme tourisme-tarn.com/uk. For general
information on France, visit france.fr/en and for
year-round air service see AirCanada.com
i
DS
PRETTY IN PINK
Montauban and Albi are both accessible by rail from Toulouse, but we
snaked around the sleepy bends to these river valley villages by car
where France's acclaimed artists Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres,
Antoine Bourdelle and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec once lived.
In Montauban, get ready to wander pink arched colonnades, see two
newly restored plazas, and spend time in the charming shops and stylish
restaurants, after you visit the newly renovated Ingres-Bourdelle
Museum.
Continue the odyssey in jaw-dropping pink-popping Albi. The scenic
panorama of this UNESCO city overlooking the Tarn River is eye candy
that takes your breath away as soon as you set eyes on it. It did for me!
PHOTOS:
ILONA
KAUREMSZKY
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TOURISME
TARN
ET
GARONNE
|
ALBI
TOURISME
À L A C A R T E
