Well Albi Damned

Albi, France (Albi, France)

October 2015

Albi's main claim to fame is its cathedral - and what a cathedral to behold! Allegedly it's the world's largest brick building, though that claim is unproven as yet (perhaps no one can decide how to measure it: dimensions or square feet or number of bricks used all seem like good measures to me). Several predecessors came before the cathedral we see today, the first having been burned down in a fire in the year 666. It's the work of the devil I tell you! In order to make space for the ambitious size of the present cathedral, a whole heap of houses in the vicinity had to sacrifice their lives.

Considering the cathedral's construction began in the 13th century, I can't imagine what beautiful houses had been lost to time and wrecking balls. Remnants of similar medieval houses could be seen in the surrounding streets, making for excellent gazing material.

Standing next to these houses, it made you realise just how enormous the cathedral is! How did they build that so long ago? I can just picture the shoddy wooden scaffolding they must have used.
Albi fell under Roman conquest in 51BC, when it was dubbed Civitas Albigensium. Archaeologists have so far found no relics from the time, signifying that it wasn't a flourishing urban centre under Roman rule.

We had a bit of a wander around and found an intriguing triple archway fountain combo. Once again autumn highlighted its awesomeness by throwing fistfuls of rust coloured leaves about.

Our final stop was a patisserie that caught our attention by way of frosted, glazed and jellied fancies. As soon as we stepped into the shop we realised that the pastry lady was packing up for her lunch break and we had rudely invited ourselves in at closing time. Trying to right the situation, we apologised and attempted to leave, but she insisted on plying us with cakes. Hello. 

Today's post was almost called: Throwing A Brick Through Satan’s Window