{"id":2004,"date":"2021-12-29T17:36:09","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T17:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2021-12-29T17:36:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T17:36:09","slug":"toulouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2004","title":{"rendered":"Toulouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toulouse is not a winemaking city.\u00a0 It\u2019s the center of France\u2019s aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus there.\u00a0 But it is surrounded by regions that do make wine, albeit not the most famous in France.\u00a0 There\u2019s Gaillac to the north, Madiran to the south and Minervoix, the best known, to the east.\u00a0 It also has history and architecture and food, which makes it well worth visiting when you\u2019re travelling for wine tasting.<\/p>\n

The Romans called it Tolosa, and when the city of Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in 410 A.D., the Romans gave the invaders the southwest of France to get them to leave their city.\u00a0 Toulouse was their capital as it was 800 years later for a large population of pre-Reformation heretics known as the Cathars.\u00a0 These people were wiped out but the echoes of Catharism are still felt throughout the region.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Toulouse\u2019s Capitole at night.<\/em><\/p>\n

The current-day toulousains<\/em> are justly proud of their history, but are more involved in 21st<\/sup> century living than in the past.\u00a0 For the visitor, it is preferable to sit in their main square, the Place du Capitole, dominated on one side by a building that is part city hall and part opera house.\u00a0 The other side of the square is lined with cafes, under broad umbrellas.\u00a0 There you can sit and eat the local sausages, which are the envy of the rest of France, along with a bottle of local wine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grand buildings along the Garonne river.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then take a stroll along the banks of the River Garonne, which starts in the Pyrenees and ends up in Bordeaux (you may have heard of their wines) before debouching into the Atlantic.\u00a0 There are numerous grand buildings once erected by the elites, mostly in the 19th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Not far is what little is left of old Toulouse, since much of the city was destroyed in the many wars that beset the region.<\/p>\n

The Canal du Midi<\/a> begins in Toulouse and connects it with the Mediterranean.\u00a0 Once a commercial waterway, the canal today is mostly navigated by tourists who get aboard the boats called p\u00e9niches <\/em>and visit the many picturesque villages along its banks.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t want an extended trip, you can take a tour that just goes around Toulouse\u2019s part of the canal for a few hours or, as we did, take a day trip about 20 km. away and back.<\/p>\n

You cannot visit Toulouse without indulging in its greatest contribution to French gastronomy: cassoulet.\u00a0 Now the city\u2019s claim to this dish is disputed by the people of the town of Castelnaudry along the canal to the east and the Gascons further north.\u00a0 This hearty combination of white beans, confit de canard<\/em> (duck) and the aforementioned Toulouse sausages has become available in many North American restaurants, but we can assure you that the real thing in the real place can\u2019t be beat.<\/p>\n

Power Tasting doesn\u2019t usually get into restaurant reviews, but we have to tell you that we found that Restaurant Emil serves the best cassoulet in town.\u00a0 Even more, you can buy a large can of it there, enough for dinner for two, put it in your suitcase and have it when the cold winds blow back at home.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toulouse is not a winemaking city.\u00a0 It\u2019s the center of France\u2019s aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus there.\u00a0 But it is surrounded by regions that do make wine, albeit not the most famous in France.\u00a0 There\u2019s Gaillac to the north, Madiran to the south and Minervoix, the best known, to the east.\u00a0 It also … Continue reading Toulouse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2007,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions\/2007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}