Come and experience toulouse métropole ! so toulouse

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Come and experience TOULOUSE MÉTROPOLE ! The gateway to an exceptional region Toulouse and Urban Area Travel Book 2015 © D. Viet © Boigontier © K. Lhémon © J. M. Herrador

Transcript of Come and experience toulouse métropole ! so toulouse

Page 1: Come and experience toulouse métropole ! so toulouse

Come and experience TOULOUSE MÉTROPOLE !The gateway to an exceptional region

Toulouse and Urban Area Travel Book

2015

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Contents

4 Toulouse in fi gures

5 Toulouse in full

6 Map of Toulouse city centre

7 Map of Toulouse Métropole urban area

9 From Riquet to the “Laté”. Toulouse, metropolitan melting-pot

13 Toulouse, the city that transports you

17 Epicurean Toulouse

21 Tapas Time in Toulouse

24 Around Toulouse: the major UNESCO sites

25 Toulouse, gateway to an exceptional region

27 Toulouse, European capital of aeronautics and space

31 Toulouse, city of culture and heritage

35 Toulouse beats to the rhythm of live shows

38 The unmissable rendezvous in Toulouse

41 Toulouse, capital of the Oval Ball

43 Toulouse, sporting city

45 Toulouse Convention Bureau: the congress, seminar and incentive industry

46 Index

TOLOPÉDIA

Every article is accompanied by a section

called “Tolopedia”, a fact

box that expands upon the

subject covered.

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Tourist numbers• 453,200 visitors to the Donjon du Capitole (Tourist

Offi ce - 2014).

• 1,135,500 visits to the 10 most popular tourist sites (2013).

• Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (2014): 7,517,736 million passengers, nearly 80 international connections, more than 80,964 individual fl ights (Number 1 business airport in France).

• Toulouse-Matabiau Railway Station: 9 million passengers, 18 TER stations in the metropolitan area.

Average length of stay

for leisure tourism visitors:

4 days.4.7 million hotel nights

(57% paid accommodation and 43%

non-paid accommodation/ Euroêka

surveys –Tourist Offi ce), 68% French

visitors, 32% visitors from abroad.

Figures for the Toulouse urban

area (2013): 172 hotels, 40 tourist

residences, 14,412 rooms and 3,711

apartments

European capital of innovation (aeronautics, space, research)• European City of Science in 2018• N°1 in Europe for the aeronautics industry, N°2 in the world• N°1 in Europe for the space industry• N°1 in France for on-board electronic systems• 10,500 people work in more than 400 research centres

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Toulouse in fi gures

4th largest city in France after

Paris, Marseille and Lyon

• 461,190 inhabitants in the city, 727,016 inhabitants in the metropolitan

area (37 communes), 1.2 million in the wider urban area (73 communes).

• 30 open-air markets

• 16 show venues and 40 cinemas

• 550 sports clubs, 6 of which are professional.

• 160 gardens and parks in the city centre, over 1,000 hectares of green

spaces, 400 hectares of developed green areas.

3rd largest university city in France:

+ 100,000 students.

2nd largest urban centre in France:

19km of shopping streets, 1,600 shops.

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Forget all the clichés about the “Ville Rose”. Toulouse cannot be summed up by its artisanal bricks or by its title as European capital of aeronautics. Seen from above, the ancient city of the Counts of Toulouse stretches far beyond the banks of the River Garonne in all directions and into the surrounding countryside.

Gateway to the entire South-West of France, this regional metropolis pushes outside of the historic boundaries of the province of Languedoc. It speaks English with a fl amenco accent. It bounces in unexpected directions, just like a rugby ball. It conquers nature with the colourful Canal du Midi fl owing to the Mediterranean Sea, whilst its River Garonne rises in the Pyrenees and yearns to reach the Atlantic Ocean. What awaits you is the setting sun and the aroma of the lime trees in the Place Saint-Sernin in the spring. You can fi nish off with a mint tea under a marquee planted in the meadow of the Prairie des Filtres. Start the day off with a coff ee under the arcades of Le Capitole and fi nish gazing at Mars in the Cité de l’Espace. Your feet on the ground, but your head in the clouds.

TOULOUSE in full

Attractive and festive

fff r

Young a

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dynamic

Accessible

Innovative and connected

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Map of Toulouse City Centre©

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Map of Toulouse Métropole urban area

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In 1918, his

company employed

800 workers that

produced up to 6

aircrafts every day.

TOLOPÉDIA LatécoèrePierre-Georges Latécoère (1883/1943) studied engineering at the Ecole Centrale de Paris. He took over the family joinery that was established by his father in Bagnères-de-Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées) and built tramways and carriages for the railway company of the Midi. During the First World War, he contributed to the war eff ort by opening a bomb factory and an aircraft factory in Toulouse. In 1918, his company, based in the Montaudran district, employed 800 workers that produced up to 6 aircrafts every day. After the armistice, he employed pilots such as Mermoz or Saint-Exupéry to handle air mail fl ights to Dakar, and then to South America. The entrepreneur then transferred the management of the Latécoère Airlines to Aéropostale, the

precursor of Air France, and they continued

manufacturing aircraft. In order to cross the

Atlantic, he became increasingly passionate

about seaplanes. In 1939 he sold his company

to Bréguet and set up a new factory in their

current premises on rue de Périole in Toulouse

in order to launch the world’s biggest seaplane,

the Laté 631. The company has only built its

own craft since the 1950’s, but it remains an

important subcontractor for Airbus, Boeing,

Bombardier and Embraer. The runway and the

Montaudran assembly plants have been listed

as Historic Monuments since 1997.

www.memoire-aeropostale.com

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Each year, mischievous acrobats climb the statue of Pierre-Paul Riquet in order to stick a red nose on his face. This former tax collector was, nevertheless, knighted by Louis XIV for having built the Canal Royal du Languedoc. This waterway that is fl anked by greenery and fl ows on and on was listed in 1996 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (www.canal-et-voie-verte.com / www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Discovery). The crowds of walkers, cyclists and roller-bladers that take to the banks of the Canal du Midi every day surely do not even know that Baron Riquet died in poverty in 1680, a few months before his master work reached his home town of Béziers. He is buried in Saint-Étienne Cathedral in Toulouse, just a short hop from the former Port Saint-Étienne where a modest brick building houses the precious archives of the canal.

As surprising as it may seem, there is indeed a port in Toulouse; several in fact, proof of which lies in the great fresco created by the painter Henri Martin in Le Capitole. Here you see the illustrious Jean Jaurès strolling along the left bank of the River Garonne during the last century. Opposite this, the Port de la Daurade is still in use. Today, the boats of the “sand fi shermen” have left the river and the old canal barges now transport tourists or have been turned into restaurants. British or Dutch pleasure boaters stop at the Port Saint-Sauveur, awarded a “Pavillon Bleu” label in 2014 just like the very best seaside resorts along the coast (www.toulouse.fr/web/environnement/port-saint-sauveur).

Behind Riquet, the Marengo Arch overlooks Matabiau railway station. This building prefi gured the future face of the Toulouse Euro-Sud-Ouest district that will welcome the TGV in the run up to 2020 (www.toulouse-eurosudouest.eu). High speed trains from Spain’s RENFE network have stopped at the station since December 2013, putting Barcelona just 3 hours from Toulouse. With over 9 million passengers, Matabiau welcomes more visitors every year than Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. This traffi c is essentially made up of regional trains. The station, listed as a Historic Monument in 1984, remains one of the main points of entry for the inhabitants of the neighbouring departments when visiting the region’s capital (www.toulouse-visit.com/Prepare-your-stay/Practical-guide).

You have to keep following the meanderings of the canal until you reach the scientifi c complex of Rangueil and explore the birthplace of Toulouse’s aeronautical industry. The vestiges of the Latécoère plant can still be seen here and there beside the railway line that crosses a Montaudran district that is now undergoing profound changes. In 1918, the industrialist revamped his aircraft and pilots, creating Aéropostale. A remembrance site will be created in the former airport of “Latécoère Airlines”, whilst the artist-engineer François Delarozière will display his performance machines on the runway (www.toulouse-metropole.fr/projets). Rendezvous in 2018.

From Riquet to the “Laté”Toulouse, the metropolitan melting-pot

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TOLOPÉDIA The Port de l’EmbouchureDuring construction of the Canal Royal du Languedoc (1666/1681), which was renamed “Canal du Midi” following the French Revolution, a lock allowed boats to access the River Garonne. Under the reign of Louis XVI, Cardinal Loménie de Brienne commissioned the building of another canal in order to bypass the Bazacle causeway that bars the river as it passes through Toulouse.

A bas-relief sculpted in Carrare marble adorns the two brick bridges that span the canals. It depicts an allegorical celebration of the union of the Languedoc and the Garonne under the auspices of Occitania. In the XIX Century,

a third canal was constructed alongside the River Garonne, which is diffi cult to navigate, stretching right up to the Gironde.

The dream of Pierre-Paul Riquet, who wanted to link the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, was fi nally realised. But it vanished amidst the steam and smoke of the locomotives of the Bordeaux-Sète railway, which was inaugurated in 1858. In the 70’s, the Garonne lock disappeared during construction work for the ring-road and the Ponts-Jumeaux interchange.

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Discovery

La“CaReRivCathethepa

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31 “Greeters” for Toulouse

They are Toulouse “born and bred” or by adoption, they love travel and

storytelling and they are happy to accompany tourists in order to share

their good ideas and their passions. The “Toulouse Greeters” network

has been growing since 2012, following the example for this new form

of alternative and not-for-profi t tourism service that started life in New

York. Today, 31 well-intentioned people are listed on the mini-site that

was put on-line in 2013 by the Tourist Offi ce. All of them are bilingual,

or even trilingual.

www.toulousegreeters.fr

Did you know? Sleep in Saint-Exupéry’s bedroom.Le Grand Balcon, a family run boarding house where the Aéropostale pilots used to stay, just a short hop from Le Capitole, is nowadays a 4*hotel. The legendary room 32 belonging to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was restored during renovation works. www.grandbalconhotel.com

Riquet’s hydraulic machinePierre-Paul Riquet, designer of the Canal du Midi, had water basins constructed in the park of his château in order to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the water supply system to be used in these works. The estate and the house were purchased by the small commune of Bonrepos-Riquet, 20km from Toulouse in the Girou Valley. Château de Bonrepos-Riquet, open to the public from May to September.www.bonrepos-riquet.fr

The Grand Balcony of MarengoThe top fl oor of the Marengo Arch is equipped with a kitchen and reception rooms. Overlooking the city, this 1000m² space and its 300m² terrace can be hired by businesses or by individuals.Espaces Vanel : www.espacesvanel.com

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Riquet was born in Béziers, Jaurès in Castres, Latécoère in Bagnères-de-Bigorre: over the centuries, the metropolitan area has expanded and has welcomed the inhabitants of the whole region, stretching from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean. This wave of immigration gathered pace with the exile of Spanish republicans in the 1930’s, and then with the arrival of workers from the Maghreb. It continues nowadays with Airbus employees that come from Germany or Great Britain. The university, for its part, attracts students and researchers from across the globe. Every year, 100,000 people sign-up to attend a higher education establishment linked to the academy and 20,000 extra inhabitants set up home in the area. One in four people in Toulouse is a student, 75% of the population of the urban area was not born in the city.

From Riquet to the“Laté”Melting-pot on the Garonne

One in four people in Toulouse is a student.

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The 38 stations of Toulouse’s metro system are unique in that they all house works of contemporary art.

TOLOPÉDIA The VALToulouse was the second city to establish an automatic light rail transit system (VAL) in 1993, which was designed in Lille and developed by the company Matra. The fi rst line (A), running between the Mirail district and Jolimont, was extended out to Balma-Gramont. A second line (B) has linked the Borderouge district with Ramonville-Saint-Agne since 2007. It will be extended out to Labège-Innopole. A third line is being studied that will connect the Airbus factories, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, the forthcoming TGV station of Matabiau and the Montaudran district. Branches of the VAL, now produced by Siemens, operate

also in Rennes, in the airports of Orly and Chicago, in Turin, Taïwan and South Korea. The 38 stations of Toulouse’s metro system are unique in that they all house works of contemporary art, which can be discovered thanks to a guided visit organised by the Tourist Offi ce.

Tisséo (bus-metro-tram) : www.tisseo.frArt in the metro : www.tisseo.fr/tisseo-

lentreprise/page-standard/l-art-du-reseau

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Toulouse, the city that transports you

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In Toulouse, we walk on water. The walkway that has been secured onto the medieval façade of the Hôpital La Grave since 2008 provides a link between the belvedere of the gardens of Les Abattoirs and the former Port Viguerie. It is closed to the public when the River Garonne, which gushes over the Bazacle causeway, swells and does an impression of Niagara. The heavy metal doors riveted to the wall re-mind us that the river’s tantrums can be terrible, as was the case during the fl ood of 1875 that ravaged the Saint-Cyprien district on the left bank. Walkers who love to stroll in the evening above the quays of the right bank, as the sun sets and illuminates the brick façades, can now easily reach the banks of the Garonne from Place Saint-Pierre by descen-ding the new stepped terrace that has been designed in the form of an amphitheatre by Joan Busquets, the Catalan architect who is gradually making the city centre more ac-cessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

The river itself has also been given over to navigation since the late 1980’s. Three sightseeing boats now venture beyond the calm waters of the canal and pass through the Saint-Pierre lock when the weather is fi ne. The passengers on these new Garonne river boats share their special play-ground with the members of the Péniche ski club, who for a long time were restricted to the meadows of Les Filtres, and have joined the rowers of Émulation Nautique on the Ile du Ramier. You can even spot anglers bobbing along on “fl oat tubes”, a type of fl oating buoy that is perfect for catching bullhead under the pillars of the Pont Neuf, helping them compete with the local cormorants.

If you are on a bike you will feel it in your calves that the oldest of Toulouse ‘s bridges across the Garonne – the Pont Neuf – has a slight, uneven slope in order to tackle the height diff erence between the two riverbanks. The fi rst horse-drawn omnibus services started in 1683, cros-sing this bridge that was inaugurated by Louis XIV. The new tram lines now cross Pont Saint-Michel, which has been strengthened for the purpose, and will run as far as Tou-louse-Blagnac Airport from April 2015. The automatic metro system, opened in 1993, passes imperceptibly underneath the Garonne thanks to two separate tunnels. It only sur-faces once it has gone beyond the ring-road, a new mo-torised belt that marks out the city limits as neatly as the ancient ramparts once did, although they have since been transformed into boulevards and planted with plane trees. Only a select few electric minibuses can meander through the intricate network of narrow medieval streets in the city centre. The “home port” of these free shuttle buses is lo-cated in the Cours Dillon, a pleasant and shaded promenade that is a favourite with boules enthusiasts who gather to push the jack just a stone’s throw from the former Château d’Eau, one of the leading art galleries in France dedicated to photography.

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TOLOPÉDIA The Hospices de la GaronnePlague victims, beggars, prostitutes, orphans and paupers have succeeded one another through the centuries as residents behind the brick walls that rise from the left bank of the River Garonne right back to the medieval era. Up until 2003, generations of Toulousains were born in the shadow of the dome of Saint-Joseph de La Grave. The transfer of the maternity ward, and then the geriatric ward in 2010, marked a turning point in the history of healthcare

in Toulouse. The neighnouring Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques is now home to the CHU teaching hospital of Toulouse. Like the basilica Saint-Sernin, this building was listed by UNESCO in remembrance of the time when pilgrims that were on-route to Compostella would be lodged in the Hôpital Sainte-Marie-du-Bout-du-Pont.

http://www.chu-toulouse.fr/-histoire-des-hopitaux-de-toulouse-

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So Toulouse Tourism Pass:

A combined pass that covers transport and museums

Even better than the Toulouse residents that climb aboard public

transport without a ticket and can visit museums with their Carte

Pastel, passing visitors can also travel freely on the entire Tisséo

metro-bus-tram network throughout the urban area and get free entry

to, for example, the Augustins Museum or the Bemberg Foundation

with the Tourism Pass. The card, valid for one, two or three days, gives

free access to 8 museums and off ers reduced rate entry to major

tourist attractions, organised tours, matches and concerts, boutiques…

On sale at the Tourist Offi ce and from Tisséo agencies.

24 h/19,50 euros ; 48 h/26,50 euros ; 72 h/33,50 euros.

www.toulouse-visit.com

Did you know?A tour of the city aboard a panoramic minibusSince June 2013, an open-topped minibus has toured most of the historic sites and monuments of the city. The visit lasts 75 minutes and has commentary in 13 languages via audio-guide. A child version is also available.www.citytour-toulouse.com

Segway ToursIf you want to explore every corner of the city without getting tired, Segway gyro-pods are perfect. After 15 minutes of instruction on how to operate the machine, you strap on a helmet and set off for a fun discovery tour of Toulouse. Circuits from 30min to 2h30. www.mobilboard.com/fr/agence/segway/toulouse

Sail along the canalA small electric boat with a solar panel that can be operated without a licence made an appearance during the summer of 2014 at the Port de l’Embouchure. The rental company, who set up base at the Ponts-Jumeaux in 2013, provides these silent and non-polluting craft for those who want an initiation into sailing on the Canal de Brienne. They also have a fl eet of house boats available for hire from the motorway services at Port-Lauragais, half way between Toulouse and Carcassonne.http://navicanal.com

These activities can be reserved on-line at the Tourist Offi ce website www.toulouse-visit.com 14

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From the beaches of the Atlantic to those of the Mediterranean, this is a new and enchanting cycling itinerary with accents of the Midi that awaits lovers of two wheels. They can pedal along the Canal de Garonne and the Canal du Midi, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before enjoying a thousand and one stop-off s with a cultural or gastronomic fl avour. Toulouse, the Ville Rose, lies at the heart of this cycling route that is fi nanced by Toulouse Métropole and the Tourist Offi ce.

There are two major stages to ride:

■ The Canal de Garonne by bike from Agen to Toulouse (113km)

This section of the Canal des 2 Mers by bike, entirely on greenway routes, allows visitors to appreciate the richness of the lands that they cross. Deviating from the Canal de Garonne, visitors can discover a landscape with Tuscan airs. Moissac and Montauban, “Cities of Art and History” that overlook the Tarn, provide an attractive and gastronomic

detour. The beautiful and vibrant city of Toulouse, a regional capital with multiple fl avours and riches, invites visitors to stroll among its numerous monuments and its districts that are lively by day or by night.

■ The Canal du Midi by bike from Toulouse to Carcassonne (138.5 km)

From Toulouse to Carcassonne, this section of the Canal des 2 Mers by bike plunges riders into the fabulous history of the Canal du Midi, built in the XVII Century to link the River Garonne to the Mediterranean. This stage off ers a tour that is full of charm in the heart of the Pays de Cocagne and in the footsteps of the Cathars from Toulouse to Carcassonne. It should be noted that the section to the south of Port Lauragais, in parts neither paved nor sign-posted, requires cyclists to be vigilant and to have the necessary equipment.

www.francevelotourisme.com/base-1/itineraires/canal-des-deux-mers-a-velo

V80 : the cycle route for the Canal des Deux-Mers

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VélôToulouseInaugurated in November 2007, the Vélô Toulouse self-

service cycle hire scheme is loved by locals.

30,000 people have signed up to use these red and grey

bikes provided by the company Decaux, with a network that

extends to 283 stations throughout the city. The fi rst half

hour is free. The city is looking into extending the scheme

to the outlying communes. It is also possible to hire bikes

for short rides or for even longer breaks from the Maison du

Vélo, based in a former lockkeeper’s house that sits opposite

Matabiau train station or even an electric bike near to Le

Capitole. Two bike-taxi companies have been set up in the

city. Their electric tricycles transport tourists as well as locals,

or even express parcels.

www.velo.toulouse.fr

www.maisonduvelotoulouse.com

www.happymoov.com

www.alternmobil.net15

Toulouse, the city that transports you

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The “Véritable

saucisse de Toulouse”

red label protects local sausage

production since 1992.

TOLOPÉDIA The specialitiesSausages and CassouletToulouse sausage is a charcuterie speciality made up of lean and fatty chunks of pork, roughly chopped and stuff ed into natural casings. The original recipe has become the general appellation for frying sausages that are made by the kilometre in every corner of France. The “Véritable saucisse de Toulouse” red label protects local sausage production since 1992, covering those that have at least 75% of lean meat (shoulder, leg), and contain no colourings or preservatives. Toulouse sausage fi gures prominently in the recipe for cassoulet, an emblematic dish that is also claimed by Carcassonne and Castelnaudary. The recipes may have local or family variations, but it invariably centres on the slow simmering of meats in a “cassole” pot that also contains dried beans, preferably of the Tarbes variety. This stew can be made using lamb in Carcassonne or confi t goose in Toulouse, and should be cooked for a long time in the oven, with the golden crust that forms on the surface being cracked several times before it is eaten. The invention of methods to conserve food has meant that this popular and traditional dish has been exported all over the world.

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Gastronomy

The Toulouse violet The little fl ower that has been cultivated in Toulouse since 1854 is a cousin of the fragrant Parma violet, but one which only fl owers in winter. This variety, which does not produce any seeds but rather reproduces by means of runners ( like strawberry plants), has become a speciality of market gardeners in the north of Toulouse, who established a “co-operative of violet and onion producers” in 1908. They in turn supplied around 600 producers that sent up to 600,000 bouquets per year by train throughout the whole of Europe (!) before experiencing a downturn… Nowadays, we can only fi nd around ten producers. Under threat from years of propagation through cuttings, new hybrid plants have been readied in-vitro by the Chamber of Agriculture, with the help of the city of Toulouse. 130 international types of violet are preserved in beautiful municipal greenhouses and are exhibited every year at the start of February in the Place du Capitole during the Fête de la Violette. The Berdoues company has been making a perfume from violets since 1936 in Cugnaux, the Benoît Serres company produces 15,000 bottles of violet liqueur for two generations in Villefranche-de-Lauragais and the crystallised fl owers, sold in sweet shops since the XIX Century (produced in Toulouse most notably by Candifl or), are still popular today, to be enjoyed on the Maison de la Violette barge, for example (boutique/exhibition venue/tea room), which is moored on the Canal du Midi.

www.toulouse-visit.comwww.parfumsberdoues.com

www.benoitserres.comwww.candifl or.fr

www.lamaisondelaviolette.com

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On sunny days in Toulouse, we gather on the streets for din-ner with our neighbours. The “repas de quartier”, launched in 1991 by the Occitan musician Claude Sicre at his den in the Arnaud-Bernard quarter, have spread everywhere. In the style of a “Spanish Inn”, everyone brings a dish, a drink, sometimes a guitar, and everything is shared with those on your table. The city, that stops traffi c and supplies tables and chairs for the occasion, lists no fewer than 300 of these micro-events in the area from May to October. This formula has since been exported throughout the rest of France.

This culture of conviviality in the open air can be found in the dozen or so outdoor markets that bring the diff erent dis-tricts of Toulouse to life every week. The biggest and most popular, known as the Cristal, is held every morning (except Monday) beneath the plane trees of the boulevards. It has kept the name of the great Café Cristal, which is no longer there, where the market gardeners of Blagnac or Saint-Jory would come to warm up after having sold out of vegetables on their stalls. Small producers from the region make the Sunday market in the Place Saint-Aubin a sure fi re success, the last “farmer’s” market where you can still fi nd a few live chickens in the midst of the troupes of musicians that provide the ambiance. Tuesday and Saturday mornings it is the turn of the producers at the Esparcette organic market, created more than 30 years ago (www.marchebiotoulouse.org), to bring life to the garden at the foot of the Donjon du Capitole. More focused on delicatessens and food pro-fessionals, three covered markets are also on hand to de-light gourmets that have no time for “junk food”. Squeezing together to enjoy lunch at one of the fi ve restaurants on the fi rst fl oor of Victor-Hugo market will allow visitors to understand the real soul of the city, just like a rugby ball underneath a melee of Stade Toulousain.

With over 1,700 places to eat that are listed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Toulouse, the city has reputa-tion as one of the country’s best served in terms of restau-rants. Traditional restaurants or world cuisine, there is so-mething to suit all tastes. Michel Bras, since 2014, has tried his hand at running a quality fast food establishment in the city centre with Les Capucins (Janus Design Pize in 2014). Young chef Yannick Delpech is also an innovator, leaving his gastronomic restaurant (L’Amphitryon in Colomiers, two Mi-chelin stars) to one side for a moment in order to open San-dyan, a tea room on the rue Alsace-Lorraine where guests who are in a rush will fi nd burgers and Japanese bento to take away, as well as the pastries of the house. Michel Sarran, another pair of safe hands for gastronomy in Tou-louse, also leaves his kitchens that lie opposite the ancient ramparts (two stars, boulevard Duportal) in order to spruce up the menus of other restaurants (ex: Toulouse airport, brasserie at the Stade Toulousain, Café Emma in Barcelona) and television programmes (like Top Chef). Toulousains can award their very own stars every year thanks to the Prix Lu-cien Vanel. For its 7th edition in 2014, 161 restaurants took up the challenge. In any case, every year Toulouse throws itself into the Fête de la Gastronomie (www.fete-gastronomie.fr)! After the success of spit-roast beef during the Toulouse à Table event in September 2014, Toulouse provides a new rendezvous for lovers of good food and festivities with a 5th edition of the Fête de la Gastronomie on the 25th, 26th and 27th September 2015, which promises to be full of surprises.

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Gastronomy

Epicurean Toulouse

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TOLOPÉDIA

These small liquorice sweets that are fl avoured with English mint were invented in 1880 by Léon Lajaunie, a pharmacist from Toulouse. The yellow metal box, the size of a pocket watch and that contributed greatly to the commercial success of this herbal recipe, was designed by one of his friends, a watchmaker from Isle-Jourdain (Gers). The Sirven brothers, printers from

Toulouse and makers of the packaging, bought the brand in 1905 and sold the Catechus in tobacconists. Production at the time was 320,000 boxes, but is nowadays more than 10 million. Having passed through several diff erent hands, the company today is owned by the Kraft Group, who also produce Hollywood chewing gum and Kiss Cool sweets.

TOLOPÉ

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One fair for the products of the terroir

The Toulouse Agricultural Fair gave way in 2003 to SISQA, the Food

Quality Fair. Halfway between the Parisian agricultural fairs and

food fairs, the biggest farm in the Midi-Pyrénées serves as the shop

window for quality regional products. From Roquefort to foie gras “of

the South-West”, 120 products are labelled thanks to their quality and

their certifi ed origin in the region. The Midi-Pyrénées region has been

a pioneer in the fi eld of developing quality chains since the 1990.

www.midipyrenees.fr/SISQA

Did you know?A chef at the museumAfter having picked up stars in his gastronomic restaurant, Gérard Garrigues set up Moaï in 2008, a self-service restaurant at the Muséum. This former Michelin starred chef passed the baton to his former apprentices in 2012 in order to concentrate fully on Hémicycle, the restaurant-cafeteria at the Musée des Abattoirs.www.lemoai.comwww.restaurant-lhemicycle-toulouse.com

Focus on farm produce at the centre for agricultureSince September 2014, the Chamber of Agriculture has provided residents of Toulouse with the chance to order farm products on-line every week, before they themselves head out to the banks of the Canal de Brienne or to the agricultural centre at the Domaine de Candie to collect their order. This “geek” formula by AMAP brings together around forty producers who deliver over 200 products.www.drivefermiertoulousain.fr

Violets on the banks of the canalA farm in the Lauragais produces Toulouse violets in greenhouses. Focusing now on agritourism, the Viola 2000 farm in Renneville provides accommodation for walkers and off ers canoe and rickshaw hire for those wishing to explore the banks of the canal in summer.www.bienvenue-a-la-ferme.com/haute-garonne/ferme-viola-2000-193072/contact_plan_acces18

Lajaunie’s Catechus

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Some people consider the Ways of St James to have been the world’s very fi rst wine routes. In fact, as a drink that was essential to mankind (water was very often unsafe to drink) and sacred in the Christian faith, wine rapidly acquired considerable importance. The planting of vineyards quite naturally developed right across the South-West, most notably thanks to the Benedictine and Cistercian monks, along the Ways of St James upon which Toulouse was a major stopping point – with its basilica of Saint-Sernin and the Hôtel-Dieu de Toulouse being listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Its river, the Garonne, and the Canal du Midi have been used for a long time to transport the wines of the South-West to the port of Bordeaux. Due to this history and its geographical location, Toulouse provides the perfect showcase for the wines of the South-West. The wine bars, cellars and restaurants of Toulouse are veritable ambassadors of good living thanks to the gastronomy and the fi ne wines of the region.

Toulouse is the only large city in France that has been growing its own vines since 1976. In the Domaine de Candie, 26 hectares are organically cultivated in front of the Thalès-Alenia satellite factory. The development of the urban area has pushed the city right out to the vineyards of Fronton (their unusual local grape variety, Négrette, surprises people with its fl avours of violet) or Gaillac (Tarn). From the hillsides of Gascony to the wines of Cahors, the region boasts over 300 listed grape varieties, 14 protected geographical indications and 29 protected appellations of origin that are regrouped under the banner of the association “Interprofession des vins du Sud-Ouest” (IVSO). To distinguish themselves from the wines of Bordeaux or the Languedoc-Roussillon, the IVSO focuses on innovation. The Domaine de Candie is set to become a site where visitors can discover a unique local heritage and will also serve as a laboratory for the 120 native grape varieties of a wine-growing region stretching from the Basque Country to the Aveyron.

www.france-sudouest.com

The wines of the South-West

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Le Bibent provides some of the last evidence of the great cafés that

bordered the central square of

Toulouse.

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TOLOPÉDIA CAFÉS in their original stateThe paintings on the ceilings and stucco decorations call to mind the ceremonial chambers of the neighbouring Le Capitole. Le Bibent (“drink well” in Occitan) and Le Florida provide some of the last evidence of the great cafés that bordered the central square of Toulouse during the last century. The brasserie, listed as a Historic Monument since 1975, was bought in 2011 by Christian Constant, a cook who was originally from Montauban and is well-known in Paris, made famous by the programme Top Chef.Le Père Louis is another institution well-known by Toulousains. Between Le Capitole and the Place Esquirol, this wine bar can boast of being the oldest bistro in the city. It has maintained its ancient ensign on its narrow façade, which has indicated its speciality since 1889: Quinine Wine.Whether it is time for an aperitif or a croissant, the zinc counter at the Bar du Matin and its

sunny terrace have been features of the Place des Carmes for generations. This is the popular café par excellence, where regulars are sure to meet old friends without even having had to arrange a rendezvous.A little further out, the café Chez Authié, a short hop from the Halle aux Grains on Place Dupuy, and the Bar de la Concorde, in the road that shares its name in the Chalets quarter, have also known how to preserve an atmosphere of the start of the last century.

www.maisonconstant.com/bibent

www.lefl orida-capitole.fr

www.au-pere-louis.fr

www.chezauthie.fr

www.facebook.com/CafeDeLaConcorde

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In its historic centre or its surrounding districts, the city provides some unforgettable strolls along well-preserved narrow streets fl anked by ancient façades with remarkable décor, brick walls that are shrouded in leaves and branches that leave gaps through which you can spot pleasant gardens. A stroll through the narrow streets of the Saint-Étienne quarter, between Les Carmes and La Dalbade or in the pleasant Chalets or du Busca districts in order to feel the atmosphere of Toulouse is an authentic way in which visitors can immerse themselves in the city. Place Salengro, Place de la Trinité, Place Boulbonne, Place Olivier, Place de la Concorde, here and there, in an architectural setting that is typically Toulousain, little squares dotted with refreshing fountains that provide a lively place to stop where it is a pleasure to savour the sweet life of Toulouse.

It is when the sun goes down that the poetic brilliance of Claude Nougaro is confi rmed: Spain has “pushed its horns” so far into the city that it now sets its watch to Madrid or Barcelona time. When aperitif hour arrives, the tapas come out. The terraces of the bars fi ll up and the drinks are always accompanied by a few things to nibble on. Most bars serve their own tapas, often created using regional products.

The 100,000 students now set the tempo for the city just as the old Spanish refugees used to. They are “sous, sous, sous

la place Saint-Pierre” (on, on, on the place Saint-Pierre), as Nougaro himself might sing. The terraced steps that now descend towards the River Garonne provide a new open-air amphitheatre for them to enjoy. The bars in the square fi ll up every night and the terraces overfl ow more often than the river, especially when rugby matches are shown on the big screen at the Bar Saint-Pierre. Pastis lovers head for Chez Tonton, who has served it by the metre for generations, whilst lovers of beer get in a froth at Bar Basque. The rue Pargaminières, linking this hotspot for student parties with Le Capitole, is the new “thirsty street”, with its kebabs that ease nocturnal hunger pangs. The rue des Blanchers is more like “hungry street”, with around ten small restaurants in the space of just a few metres. The terrace at the Café des Artistes, Place de la Daurade, is the place to go in order to catch the last rays of sun as its sets across the Garonne. At one end of the Pont Neuf, the crowd stands on the pavement outside Le Filochard to enjoy the very last rays of sun. On the other side, the left bank, the Saint-Cyprien quarter provides a village atmosphere that is a big hit on the Place de l’Estrapade (tapas bars like Vasco Le Gama and l’Extrapade, Le Temps des Vendanges wine bar and cellar) or Place du Ravelin (The Dispensary pub, the restaurant Le Bistrologue, Le Ravelin wine bar), without forgetting the Place Olivier that has been recently renovated.

Tapas Time in Toulouse

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Cafes-theatresOutside of the Printemps du Rire, the comedy festival that celebrated its 20th edition in 2015, Toulouse knows how to entertain itself all year round. The Chevaliers du Fiel, a comic duo that have travelled the theatres of France and of Navarre since the 1980’s, opened their very own show venue in their home town in 2010. The 300 seats at the Comédie de Toulouse adds to the city’s already impressive café-theatre off er. A pioneer in this fi eld, the 3T cabaret, opened in 1986 on the banks of the Canal du Midi, presents a number of pieces every evening in its three

studios. The Minimes café-theatre opened a second venue, a short hop from the 57 on the boulevard des Minimes. The Fil à Plomb has seen a procession of comedians through the generations in its pocket-sized neighbourhood theatre in the Arnaud-Bernard quarter and the Grand-Rond theatre has even more aperitif-shows in its two, more “classic”, rooms.

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Outingswww.printempsdurire.comwww.lacomediedetoulouse.comhttp://3tcafetheatre.com/http://lesminimes.com/www.le57.comhttp://theatrelefi laplomb.fr/http://grand-rond.org/

Shows at the CasinoThe banks of the Garonne have been home to a casino since 2007,

built on stilts at one end of the île du Ramier. A veritable multi-leisure

complex that is festive and cultural, with slot machines, gaming tables,

bars and restaurants (including Le Fouquet’s), the casino theatre

Barrière de Toulouse boasts a beautiful contemporary concert hall

seating 1,200, which most notably provided a home to the Théâtre

du Capitole during its recent renovation and hosts around 150 shows

every year. Free shuttle bus every day (including Sundays and Public

Holidays) from 10h40 to 18h, every 30 minutes (no service from 13h55

to 15h), and from 18h45 to midnight every hour.

www.lucienbarriere.com/fr/Casino/Toulouse/accueil.html

TOLOPÉDIA

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The quays of the right bank are not the only ones that come to life in the evening. Between the boulevards and the Canal du Midi, night life thrives all around the rue Gabriel-Péri. Old barrels that now serve as tables ensure that it is always packed at the Connexion Live, a former audio-visual hire shop located in the garage of a multi-storey car park that hosts concerts on the ground fl oor. On the pavement opposite, the beautiful building that used to be home to the Télégramme newspaper at the start of the XX Century has been transformed into a restaurant and tapas bar across three fl oors, with concerts and DJ sets every evening until 2am. The nearby rue de la Colombette is narrower and is quickly taken over by the clientele of the Café Populaire, popping out with little plastic cups to smoke a cigarette. The average age is higher and the ambiance is more relaxed around the pretty Place Saint-Georges and its Wallace

fountain. From the rue Boulbonne to the rue Saint-Antoine-du-T that links the oasis of Saint-Georges to the Place Wilson and its cinemas, right up to the Place Victor-Hugo (with its unmissable J’GO), wine bars off er cheese platters “à la française” as an alternative to the Spanish tapas. All along the rue des Filatiers, up until the Place des Carmes, people of all ages come together joyfully, sitting at a table in a trendy restaurant or sipping a drink on a terrace. Sushi madness has also taken on the challenge of usurping the Iberian model of enjoying a nibble with your aperitif, with notable “afterwork” sessions organised on the roof terraces of Galeries Lafayette every Friday, from 17h to 21h. Here, they serve “tapas Japanese style” with a glass of champagne whilst admiring the view of the “sprinkling of roof tiles” that Nougaro sang of.

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Outings

Tapas Time in Toulouse

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Outings

The city lightsA “lighting plan” launched in 2004 led to most of the city’s monuments

being illuminated at night with coloured, low-energy bulbs. Thanks

to this scheme, a great many monuments and historic sites are

illuminated: the Pont Neuf, the Dôme de la Grave, the church of Croix-

Daurade, the Jacobins convent, the Augustins museum, Saint-Étienne

Cathedral, the municipal electricity company, the EDF Bazacle factory,

the Pont des Catalans, the Place Saint-Georges...

The city has also signed up to the charter that protects the night sky

set up by the Pic du Midi, which aims to fi ght against light pollution.

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1 - The Canal du MidiThis 240km work was built under the reign of the Sun King from Sète to Toulouse and was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1996. The listing extends to its derivations and additional sections (among them the Canal de Brienne) and its 328 works of art, including the barrage-reservoir of Saint-Ferréol in Revel and the “supply channels” in the Black Mountain. UNESCO wanted to recognise in particular that the “care that its creator, Pierre-Paul Riquet, took in the design and the way it blends with its surroundings turned a technical achievement into a work of art”.

www.canal-et-voie-verte.com

2 - The City of CarcassonneThe ramparts of Carcassonne have been on the World Heritage list since 1997 as an example of a medieval fortifi ed town. The site includes the Comtal château from the XII Century, the gothic cathedral and the walls that date right back to Roman antiquity. The classifi cation also highlighted the “lengthy restoration campaign undertaken by Viollet-le-Duc, one of the founders of the modern science of conservation”.

www.tourisme-carcassonne.fr

3 - The Episcopal City of AlbiUNESCO included the city centre of Albi on its World Heritage list in 2010. The classifi cation includes the cathedral of Sainte-Cécile and the episcopal palace of La Berbie, which houses the Toulouse-Lautrec museum, as well as the medieval town of Saint-Salvi and the suburb of La Madeleine, linked by the Pont Vieux across the River Tarn. An “urban medieval landscape that is well-preserved and extremely authentic”, claimed UNESCO’s experts.

www.albi-tourisme.fr

4 - The Cirque de GavarnieThis site of the Pyrenees National Park was also classifi ed as a “cultural landscape” by UNESCO in 1997. The experts saw it as “a pastoral landscape refl ecting an agricultural way of life that was once widespread in the upland regions of Europe”. The Gavarnie classifi cation also included two other, less-frequented cirques on the French side and the canyons of Anisclo on the Spanish side, in the heart of the Mont Perdu massif.

http://ete.gavarnie.com/

5 - The Port de la Lune in BordeauxThe classifi cation of the 1,731 hectares of the Port de la Lune in 2007 highlighted “an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the fi rst half of the XX Century”. UNESCO were particularly impressed by the protection given by the city to 347 buildings that were listed or classifi ed, the largest number of historic buildings in France after Paris.

www.bordeaux-tourisme.com

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5 - The Port de la LLunnee in BordeauxThe classifi cation of the 1,731 hectares of the Port de la Lune in 2007 highlighted

24

Around Toulouse: the major UNESCO sites

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The bronze Occitan cross that is carved into the granite of the Place du Capitole also fl utters above the region’s hotels, from Toulouse to Montpellier. Well before the merger that was announced for 2016 linking the Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon regions, the city has shared common roots that are a combination of history, geography and culture. The eight pink marble columns that have adorned the façade of Le Capitole since the XVIII Century were themselves extracted from the quarries of Caunes-Minervois. “Languedoc marble” can also be found in the Place Carnot in Carcassonne and in the Opéra Garnier in Paris, as well as in the Great Mosque in Cordoba.

In less than two hours, a car that leaves the car park at Le Capitole can pull up at a seaside resort along the Mediterranean coast or in a ski resort up in the Pyrenees. In winter or in summer, it is possible to jump on a train at Matabiau with your skis for a day on the Beille Plateau, the slopes of Ax-3-Domaines or Andorra. Alternatively, you could grab your swimming costume and head to the beaches of Leucate or Collioure. The sea and the mountains are both within reach so that weekends in the country can be enjoyed by all. Do your shopping under the arcades of an ancient fortifi ed town in Gascony or Rouergue, climb up to the hilltop village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie after a stroll in the Causses du Quercy Regional Nature Park, cross the Lauragais by bike along the Canal du Midi until you reach Castelnaudary: the playgrounds of the Toulousain back

country are better than any modern theme park. The Canal des Deux-Mers cycling route, the V80, will delight lovers of two wheels who will be able to pedal right along the Canal de Garonne and the Canal du Midi, stopping off in Toulouse.

Less than one hour from Le Capitole, discover the “little sisters” of the Ville Rose: the chasselas grape variety and the cloister of Saint-Pierre Abbey in Moissac, the Place Sainte-Cécile in Albi or the Place Nationale in Montauban with its superb double row of brickwork arcades. The narrow medieval streets of Albi surround a cathedral that has the allure of a fortress and overlooks the Tarn. They share the same history as the stone ramparts of Carcassonne, taken by storm by Simon de Montfort during the crusade against the Cathars and restored by Viollet-le-Duc. The architect, a friend of Prosper Mérimée, also saved the Jacobins convent in Toulouse from destruction. It belonged to the Dominican order and was founded in Toulouse in order to combat “heretics”.

Toulouse, gateway to an exceptional region

Is Toulouse to be classifi ed by UNESCO?The mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, announced in September 2014 his intention to get the city centre classifi ed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO “in the next ten years or so”. The city’s bid will centre on the 217 hectare protected area that was defi ned in 1986. Stretching as far as the Saint-Cyprien quarter on the left bank of the River Garonne, “the historic escutcheon” marked out by the ancient ramparts is the largest protected zone in France. To this day, only the Canal du Midi has been classifi ed by UNESCO in Toulouse, in addition to the basilica of Saint-Sernin and the Hôtel-Dieu that are listed within the framework of the Ways of St James. Assizes relating to this heritage should, in 2015, outline the project and inform all public and private landowners concerned.

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In 1890 Clément

Ader registered a

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TOLOPÉDIA Clément AderThe prolifi c engineer Clément Ader was born in Muret in 1841. A plaque on the wall of the house where he was born on the street that shares his name describes him as “the father of aviation”. In 1890 he registered a patent for a “winged machine for aerial navigation, known as an airplane”. The craft, inspired by the fl ight of a bat, was christened Éole. He made his fi rst test fl ights in the park of a château in the Paris region. The French army, intrigued by his invention, fi nanced the construction of two prototypes, tested in the military camp of Satory, next to Versailles. The inventor broke the vow of secrecy that the army had made him take in 1906 in order to confi rm the success of an initial fl ight at the end of the XIX Century, a few years before

the Wright brothers in the USA (1903). Having retired to a winegrowing estate in Beaumont-sur-Lèze, Clément Ader published a number of works on military aviation, before and after World War One. He died in 1925 without ever having been able to prove the truth about these fi rst fl ights. His name was given to the assembly plant for Airbus A330 and A340 in Colomiers and to the Clément-Ader Institute, which is the shop window of the research centre for Toulouse-Aerospace in Montaudran.

www.france.fr/17eme-18eme-et-

19eme-siecles/invention-de-lavion-par-clement-

ader-1890.html

www.institut-clement-ader.org

26

The return of the Bréguet XIV

As organiser of several aerial rallies between Toulouse and Saint-Louis

in Senegal, in 1992 Eugène Bellet embarked on the crazy challenge

of building a replica of the Bréguet XIV, one of the planes used by

the Aéropostale airline of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Put together by

a volunteers association, the craft made its inaugural fl ight on 11th

November 2003 at Toulouse-Lasbordes Airport. Certifi ed in 2009,

the Bréguet took on the mythical route from Toulouse to Cap Juby, in

the Moroccan desert, in 2010. There is a book retelling this beautiful

adventure, which will continue in South America in 2015 with a fl ight

that will cover Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. It traces the historic

route taken by Latécoère Airlines, which became Aéropostale in 1927,

as a tribute to everyone who was involved in “The Airline”.

www.breguet14.org

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Toulouse, European capital of aeronautics and space

27

The rounded fuselage of the Super Guppy vies for star billing with the nose cone of the Concorde beneath the vast, curved roof of the new and innovative Aeroscopia museum in Blagnac (www.musee-aeroscopia.fr). The astonishing silhouette of this “fl ying whale” is less well-known than the sleek lines of the only supersonic aircraft to transport passengers, but it is still very familiar to all the Toulousains that have watched the Airbus cargo plane fl y above their city every day for decades. From 1972 to 1996, the hold of this extraordinary aircraft, of which only four where ever built anywhere in the word, has transported parts of aircraft constructed throughout Europe on their way to be assembled in Toulouse. The gaping mouth of this curious cetacean of the sky lets you see its insides, fi lled with cables and pipes. A cinema has been set up in the interior for visitors to enjoy.

Replaced by the Airbus “Beluga” cargo planes, the Super Guppy and its four propeller engines were saved from oblivion by the Ailes Anciennes association, who take care of old civil or military aircraft (www.aatlse.org). The association and all its passionate aeronautics fans petitioned for a long time to have a place in which to keep their collection safe from the elements, which were stored behind the old Dassault-Bréguet factory at the end of the runway at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. Airbus and the local municipalities invested over 21 million euros into Aeroscopia, which opened its doors in January 2015 just a few steps from the assembly plant responsible for the A380, the giant aircraft made by this European company. The original thing about this lively and interactive museum, which is unique in Europe, is that

it supports the collections of nine associations that are focused on safeguarding local aeronautical heritage. This visit can be combined with an exclusive visit to the Airbus factory. It is a bridge between the present and the past of an industry that ensured the economy of the whole local area could really take off .

The 53 metre full-scale model of the Ariane 5 Rocket is in place on the side of the ring-road that encircles Toulouse, opposite the Toulouse-Lasbordes aerodrome. Experts or novices, adults or children, all will be able to enjoy a memorable day of experiences, spectacles and discoveries in the European space adventure park. Since 1997, the Cité de l’Espace, one of the exceptional sites of Toulouse and unique in Europe, has sat between the Kourou launch base and the River Garonne (www.cite-espace.com). Just like the CNES engineers, based a few hundred metres away as the crow fl ies on the Rangueil campus, the general public can follow all the great events taking place in space as they occur. In 2014, over 300,000 visitors came to the 5 hectare site of this Guyanese enclave in Toulouse, also connected to Cape Canaveral and Baikonur. The adventure and the suspense of the Philae mission, that little robot that landed on a comet after a journey of more than ten years, as well as that of the Rosetta probe astonished more than 6000 members of the public and international journalists that were invited to breakfast on the 12th November 2014. The animated full-scale models of Philae and of Curiosity, the NASA “rover” that explored the planet Mars, are on display at the Cité de l’Espace until the end of 2015.

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TOLOPÉDIA

Did you know?Flight simulators open to the publicClose to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport and the Jean-Luc Lagardère factory that is dedicated to the A380, the Aviasim Centre in Beauzelle off ers the opportunity to take command of an A320 in the company of a professional instructor. Two realistic cockpits equipped with a 180° dome screen and Hi-Fi speakers let visitors replicate a fl ight of their choosing. www.aviasim.fr

Fly aboveToulouse in an airplaneHeadquartered at the former Francazal air base, Avenir Aviation is a fl ight school that off ers initiation fl ights of 20 to 50 minutes above the city on board a small Cessna 172.www.aveniraviation.fr

These activities can be booked on-line: www.toulouse-visit.com.

The Jolimont ObservatoryHistorically, Toulouse is home to the second observatory in France, after Paris. It was built in 1841 on a hill overlooking the city, 500m up, in order to replace an observation post that was initially installed in a tower on the ramparts, in rue des Fleurs. This brick building housed the fi rst telescope and was designed by Urbain Vitry, the city’s architect who was also responsible for, among others, Les Abattoirs and the neighbouring Terre-Cabade cemetery. Generations of astronomers have worked here, studying a map of the stars that is made up of 10,000 images. Two other domes would be built to house the new instruments before scientists left this site

for the Rangueil campus in 1970. Swallowed up by the growing city, the observatory was abandoned in favour of the telescopes based at Pic du Midi (2,876m) at the start of the XX Century. The instruments are still used today by the Popular Astonomy Society, who organise regular science initiation soirees in a pleasant garden that is open to the public.

www.saptoulouse.netwww.toulouse.fr/web/la-mairie/decouvrir-la-

ville/balades-d-ete/ces-architectes-qui-ont-fait-toulouse

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François Delarozière’s fi rst giant performance machines will re-join the great hall that has sprung up alongside the historic runway in Montaudran once used by the Aéropostale fl eet. The city of Toulouse commissioned an original work by this artist-engineer that designed the majority of the mechanical giants for the street theatre troupe Royal de Luxe in the workshops of Nantes and Tournefeuille, in the suburbs of Toulouse. His mysterious Minotaur, his very personal interpretation of the myth of Icarus, shouldn’t go on public display until just before 2018 and the centenary of the opening of the Toulouse-Barcelona route. Until then, the historic buildings such as the old radio tower from the city’s fi rst

ever airport and the Château Raynal will be redecorated in order to recall the pioneers of aviation. A garden will link the two sides of the old runway, once just grass and already partially classifi ed as a Historic Monument.

www.lamachine.fr

www.toulouse-metropole.fr/projets/toulouse-montaudran-aerospace

The Giants’ Runway at Montaudran

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Toulouse, European capital of aeronautics and space

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Having earned a

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TOLOPÉDIAPastel / WoadUsed for dyeing and as a medicinal plant since Antiquity, Isatis Tinctoria was cultivated to pre-industrial levels during the Renaissance in the Lauragais, between Toulouse, Albi and Carcassonne. Its blue pigment, obtained from pounding the dried leaves of this small yellow fl ower in mills, was exported throughout the whole of Europe and used as a dye for textiles. Having earned a fortune, the pastel merchants had sumptuous private mansions built in Toulouse. The dried balls of pastel, known as “coques” in the Lauragais language, would form the basis of the legendary “Pays de Cocagne”. This fl ourishing commerce was ended by competition from indigo, or “Chinese pastel”, that was cultivated in India. Pastel production slowly started to re-emerge in the region and its curative properties began to attract the interest of the cosmetics industry (remember: the Graine de Pastel brand has won several awards) and of artisan craftsmen (dyeing, prêt-à-porter, decorations). An unusual complex that com-bines, museum-spa-boutique-restaurant has been showca-sing this plant since 2013 in the south of Toulouse: Terre de Pastel.

www.toulouse-visit.com/Interested-in/Discoveryhttp://grainedepastel.com

www.ahpy.euwww.facebook.com/fl eureedepastel

www.terredepastel.com

Saint-Sernin & the pilgrimage to Santiago de CompostelaMore well-known than the curious Saint-Etienne cathedral, the basilica of Saint-Sernin was consecrated in 1096 by Pope Urban II, who came to Toulouse to preach in support of the First Crusade. The church was built in order to house the re-mains of Saint Saturnin, the fi rst bishop of the city. Catholic martyrology tells us that he was tortured and tied behind a sacrifi cial bull by pagan priests who tried in vain to convince him to honour the Roman Emperor (which is where the name of the rue du Taur originates). Boasting numerous relics, this basilica that is maintained by canons would become an im-portant stage on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Com-postela (situated in Via Tolosana or the road to Arles known as the GR 653 Arles/Pamplona), which earned it an inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list. In 2014, the Association of Friends of the Ways of St James welcomed 1,250 walkers and stamped that many “credentials” (pilgrim’s passport) in Saint-Sernin. The basilica’s octagonal belfry, a masterpiece of southern medieval art, has served as the template for many others throughout the region. It also boasts a monumental organ constructed by one of the leading organ makers of the XIX Century. A native of the Tarn, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll made over 500 instruments throughout the whole of Europe. Classed as a Historic Monument, this instrument is one of the key elements of the Toulouse Les Orgues Festival, which has been attracting organists from all over the world for the last 20 years to come and play on the city’s twenty or so organs. The Saint-Raymond museum is the only remaining trace of the abbey that used to surround the sanctuary in the Middle Ages, located in the suburb that began to spring up outside the ramparts of the city.

www.basilique-saint-sernin.frhttp://compostelle-toulouse.com

www.chemins-compostelle.comhttp://saintraymond.toulouse.fr

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In Toulouse, we don’t discard our old buildings. We fi nd a new purpose for them. The old slaughterhouse of the city, built in the XIX Century in the Saint-Cyprien quarter, nowa-days houses a museum of modern art and the region’s contemporary art fund: Les Abattoirs (www.lesabattoirs.org). The stock of works acquired by Daniel Cordier, former secretary of Jean Moulin turned gallery owner, have come to enrich the collections on the fi rst fl oor of the large brickwork nave that hosts numerous temporary exhibitions. Another enlightened collector has entrusted his favourite works to the city. Georges Bemberg, a wealthy Argentinian art lover, decided in 1994 to put on display his tableaux that cover a vast period in the history of art, from the pre-Renaissance to the post-Impressionists, in the most remarkable private mansion in Toulouse. The Hôtel d’Assézat, constructed in 1555 by a rich textile industrialist who made his fortune in the pastel trade, was entirely renovated in order to house the thousand works of the Bemberg Foundation (www.fondation-bemberg.fr). It is also home to the headquarters of the Académie des Jeux Floraux (established in 1323 and thought to be the most ancient learned society in Europe: http://jeuxfl oraux.fr).

The venerable Halle aux Grains, built on Place Dupuy in 1861 for the trade in grain that was transported up the Canal du Midi, which fl ows just behind it, has become the base for the Capitole National Orchestra (http://onct.toulouse.fr/halle-aux-grains). Since 1974 the musicians have gathered on the site of the old boxing ring, installed when this beau-

tiful building that has the appearance of an arena made of bricks and stone was transformed into a sports pavilion af-ter the war. Today, the city plans to establish a new audito-rium that will house the orchestra in what was the prison of Saint-Michel, abandoned since 2009.

The tower that rises above the Prairie des Filtres is the for-mer water tower, the Château d’eau, which has been trans-formed into a municipal gallery devoted to the photogra-phy of Jean Dieuzaide (www.galeriechateaudeau.org). The exhibitions that hang even from the ancient pipework that is visible on the brick walls are an echo of those that are accessible free of charge in the bowels of the hydro-elec-tric plant of the EDF Bazacle, on the right bank of the Ri-ver Garonne (http://bazacle.edf.com). The old mills from the Middle Ages no longer produce fl our, but the turbines that are visible behind the glass have been lighting up the city since 1888. A small panel that is regularly updated lists the types of migrating fi sh that travel upstream along the spe-cially installed water staircase beneath the new panoramic terrace.

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Picasso is back at Les Abattoirs

50 years of donations!

The masterpiece of the collection at Les Abattoirs, the immense stage

curtain created by Pablo Picasso for a theatre piece by Romain Rolland in

1936, is once more on display in 2015 on a wall that was especially reserved

for the purpose. The piece is too fragile to be on permanent display. The

artist had donated his Minotaur dressed as Harlequin to the city in 1965.

www.lesabattoirs.org

Did you know?A new look for the Jacobins Convent!After several months of renovation work, the Jacobins Convent (founded by the Dominican order and the resting place of the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas) now provides visitors with a new « welcome and boutique » space within the superb La Vierge chapel, which has been closed to the public until now and has been recently renovated. Another major new feature is that, since May 2015, tourists can take advantage of an interpretation trail with information panels and multi-media stations presenting the history and the architecture of the site, including the famous « Palm tree ».The Jacobins Convent still plays host to the Marathon des Mots and the Passe ton Bach d’abord music festivals in June, as well as the Piano aux Jacobins festival in September. 2015 marks the start of the commemorations for the 8th centenary of the Dominican order. www.jacobins.mairie-toulouse.fr

Lightbulbs for the capitals of the AugustinsJorge Pardo has totally reimagined the look of the capitals at the Augustins Fine Art Museum. The artist, originally from Cuba, has designed coloured lighting, a geometric fl oor and new colonnades for this forest of sculpted stone. Commissioned for the fi rst edition of the new Toulouse International Art Festival (FIAT), this work took six months to install and will remain in place until 2016.www.augustins.orgwww.toulouseartfestival.com

The Museum’s Skeleton WallOnce a year, the 75 skeletons are displayed in dynamic poses behind the 120m long curved window, surging outwards as if in a fi lm and illuminated by x-rays during Museum Night. This display is unique in the world, taking years of hard work to achieve, and is one of the stand-out features of the lengthy programme of extensions and renovations at the Muséum de Toulouse. After ten years of work, the reopening in December 2007 of this temple to science, housed since 1796 in the former Carmes convent and now the 2nd museum in France, inaugurated the redevelopment of the buildings around the faculty of medicine and of Paul-Sabatier University (threatened with demolition). In 2015 the spotlight will once again shine on the allées Jules-Guesde with the relocation of the Federative University of Toulouse having been announced and the opening of a resource centre for scientifi c and technical culture: The Quai des Savoirs.www.museum.toulouse.fr www.toulouse-metropole.fr/projets/quartier-des-sciences

Jean Dieuzaide & the Château d’Eau

32

Jean Dieuzaide (1921/2003) is a photographer from Toulouse who has devoted his life to promoting his art. Working in publishing as much as in advertising, he had his fi rst photographs published in the press under the pseudonym of “Yan”. In 1974 he inaugurated in Toulouse the fi rst ever gallery devoted solely to photography with an exhibition dedicated to his friend Robert Doisneau. The sons of Jean Dieuzaide and the daughters of Robert Doisneau organised a joint exhibition of their fathers’ pictures to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Château d’Eau. The city of Toulouse has committed to

purchasing the funds and archives of the photographer, stored at present in the studio next to his home. They should be put on public display in the Saint-Cyprien quarter, thanks to the opening of a new venue dedicated to humanist photography.

www.galeriechateaudeau.org

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Toulouse is without doubt the only city in the world where the town hall is also an opera house. The Capitouls who were responsible for administration in the city at the time of the Counts of Toulouse (from 1190) chose the name of what was their common house from the XII Century onwards. The current building, constructed in 1759, has eight marble columns that evoke the memory of these distant predecessors of the municipal councillors that each represented a district of the city. These Capitouls wore long red and black robes, colours that were later adopted by the Stade Toulousain rugby club (www.stadetoulousain.fr). The adjoining theatre has been renovated several times over the course of history. Temple of the “bel canto” during the XIX Century, today the Théâtre du Capitole is a hotbed of opera.

The fi rst fl oor of Le Capitole is also a “museum” that is free to visit, and that should not be overlooked by virtue of its large tableaux (by Paul Gervais, Henri Martin, Benjamin

Constant…) that cover the walls of the sumptuous reception rooms , including the Salle des Illustres, which depicts the major events in the city’s history. The 29 tableaux hanging beneath the arcades of the Place du Capitole since 1997, known as the “Galerue”, keep alive this tradition. They were created by Raymond Moretti, the artist who was also responsible for the large bronze cross adorned with the twelve signs of the zodiac that was erected when the square was renovated.

www.toulouse-visit.comwww.theatreducapitole.fr

www.toulouse.fr/web/la-mairie/decouvrir-la-ville/patrimoine/l-art-dans-la-rue

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This great celebration

of music that is

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TOLOPÉDIA 20 years of Rio LocoBack to the source for this festival established in 1995 on the banks of the River Garonne. The Nile, the Danube and the Mississippi are all invited to come and mingle on the left bank of Toulouse’s river, just as they were when this festival of world music was known by its former name of “Garonne”. Claude Nougaro, Joan Baez, Jimmy Cliff , Johnny Clegg, Youssou N’Dour and Paco de Lucia have all performed on the big stages that are set up on the Prairie des Filtres as the summer solstice draws near. The programme aims to bring together the most iconic artists to have performed here

over the last 20 years. From June 17 to 21, this great celebration of music that is “made in Toulouse” is also a temporary village, with its exhibition pavilions, restaurants and play areas for children. Screenings of fi lms in the open air, circus arts performances and installations by visual artists are also on the agenda. There is also the return of Senegalese sculptor Ous-mane Sow, whose Masai warriors and Nouba fi ghters were exhibited during the fi rst edition of the festival on the Pont Neuf.

www.rio-loco.org

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Toulouse beats to the rhythm of live shows On Thursday at midday there are free concerts. Every week, musicians turn up around lunch time for a “musical interlude” that is open to everyone, with no ticket required. This formula, launched in September 2008 by Joël Saurin, bassist with local band Zebda, has quickly grabbed the public’s attention. The eclectic programme attracts a crowd of curious spectators in the municipal hall of the Sénéchal in winter and in the courtyard of the Ostal d’Occitania when the weather is fi ne (www.cultures.toulouse.fr/thematique/toulouse-bonsplans/pause-musicale). Music lovers that are regulars at the Halle aux Grains (http://onct.toulouse.fr/halle-aux-grains / www.grandsinterpretes.com), a rock crowd at the Bikini (www.lebikini.com) or French chanson afi cionados at the café-concert hall Le Bijou (www.le-bijou.net) get together here informally to share a few tunes.

Tugan Sokhiev, the young Russian conductor from Saint-Petersburg, has quickly won over a public that was accustomed to following the swing of Michel Plasson’s baton, the iconic musical director of the Capitole National Orchestra (http://onct.toulouse.fr/). The band Zebda, hailing from the northern districts of the city, have succeeded Claude Nougaro in singing with a Toulouse accent all over France. The combination of cultures is a hallmark in the city of Bombes 2 Bal and the out of the ordinary Fabulous Trobadors, a duo of so-called “tchatcheurs” and originators of “patois rap” that are managed by Claude Sicre (http://escambiar.com/). The love of lyrics and the taste for rhythm have inspired “No Landais” singer Dick Annegarn (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Annegarn) to follow this lead in organising “poetic jousts” that are improvised on the Place

du Capitole. Perched on a stepladder and armed with a megaphone, anybody can recite a few verses or a piece of prose, just as it was with the ancient eloquence contests that were held in the times of the troubadours.

The young musicians of the band Cats on Trees (http://catsontrees.com/) or the singer Manu Galure (www.manugalure.com) have taken up the mantle of their predecessors, the thunderous Juliette (http://juliette.artiste.universalmusic.fr/) or Jean-Pierre Mader (www.jeanpierremader.com), King of the Charts on the FM radio during the 1980’s.

We also dance the tango in the streets of Toulouse once the summer arrives. Since 2009, the Tangopostale festival (www.tangopostale.com), founded by around twenty associations of enthusiasts of this Argentinian musical genre, organises open-air balls in the city of Carlos Gardel’s birth, a veritable “star” in South America. In honour of this son of a washer woman from the rue des Sept-Troubadours who had to emigrate to the pavements of Buenos Aires in 1892, the Tourist Offi ce has dedicated a touristic itinerary to him (www.cultures.toulouse.fr/-/un-itineraire-sur-les-pasde -carlos-gardel). In homage to another great, the TouristOffi ce off ers guided visits “in the footsteps of Nougaro”,from the house where he was born on boulevard d’Arcoleright up to the mural of him that was painted by RaymondMoretti under the arcades of Le Capitole and his statueclose to Le Donjon that was sculpted by Sébastien Langloÿs(inaugurated in 2014 / www.sculpture-nougaro.com andwww.assonougaro.com).

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TOLOPÉDIATOLOPÉ

Nougaro is still with us

The Claude-Nougaro Hall was inaugurated during his lifetime by the

great Toulousain singer himself. Open to everyone, this concert hall

belonging to the Airbus work’s council programmes jazz and French

chanson performances. Cécile, the daughter to whom this artist

dedicated a very famous song, opened the Maison Nougaro in 2015. It

is at the same time a fl oating stage, a living museum and a riverside

café in memory of her father, located on the Sanctanox canal barge

that is moored at the Port de l’Embouchure on the Canal du Midi.

http://sallenougaro.com

www.maison-nougaro.fr

Did you know?A circus educationThe Lido circus school celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013 in its new home in the green area of Les Argoulets. Initially based at a local neighbourhood cinema, this municipal school is open to amateurs and professionals alike. The circus artists can also put on performances at La Grainerie de Balma, on the other side of the ring road (easily accessible by metro).www.circolido.frwww.la-grainerie.net

L’Usine: the show factoryThe spectacular street performance machines by François Delarozières are dreamed up in Tournefeuille (in the suburbs of Toulouse), in a workshop that this artist and engineer wished to maintain when the Royal de Luxe troupe moved to Nantes. Other street theatre companies are housed in L’Usine, a performance venue that is also home to troupes in residence.www.lusine.netwww.lamachine.fr/visite-des-ateliers

The monthly fl ea market in ToulouseOn the fi rst weekend of every month, from Friday to Sunday, 120 professional stallholders take over the space beneath the plane trees of the allées François-Verdier, in between the Monument to the Fallen and the Grand-Rond. It is a rendezvous that delights bargain hunters, who happily combine it with a visit to the museums, free on the fi rst Sunday of every month (now free every weekend for Toulouse residents).www.toulouse.fr/-/vide-greniers

The Rotation association fl oated the idea of a free festival dedicated to electronic music in 2001. The very fi rst Siestes Electroniques were held on the Prairie des Filtres, and later in the Raymond VI gardens with the support of the Les Abattoirs contemporary art museum. The festival has also made use of disused churches, the Théâtre Garonne or the former halls of La Cartoucherie, before being exported to Egypt, Japan, Berlin and Paris. This Toulousain association has been involved for four years with the Musée Branly and has also launched a revue devoted to Pop music

In the same spirit, since 2010 the Saint-Raymond museum has hosted a festival that brings together contemporary art installations and antique statues. The Jardins Synthétiques clears out other unusual exhibition spaces for each edition, such as the chapel of the former Carmelite convent.

www.les-siestes-electroniques.comwww.jardins-synthetiques.org

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The gateway to France for Hispanic culture, Toulouse also celebrates fl amenco every year on the banks of the Garonne. The “Toulouse l’Espagnole” Festival most notably celebrated 70 years of the “Retirada” in 2009 at the Port Viguerie, which was renamed the “Republican Exiles quay” especially for the occasion (www.cultures.toulouse.fr/-/toulouse-l-espagno-1).

Just like the photographs that are on display outdoors or in unexpected venues during the “Mois de l’image” in September, the street performances and circus festivals come thick and fast whatever the season. This adds to the off er provided by the 27 theatres that are dotted across the city. In 2014, young acrobats and tightrope walkers decided it would be fun to restage, 60 years after the event, the famous photograph by Jean Dieuzaide that immortalised in black and white the marriage of two tightrope walkers at the Place du Capitole in 1954. The crossing of circus arts and theatre has led to the creation of numerous street performance companies, which take to the streets across France and sometimes even further afi eld. The success of the 111 company belonging to Aurélien Bory (www.cie111.com), a stage director with the precision of a choreographer who was trained at the Circus Arts Centre of Toulouse that is known as Le Lido (www.circolido.fr), illustrates perfectly the new forms of performance art created by this overlapping of cultures that makes Toulouse bubble with life.

The renaissance of the carnivalThe Toulouse Carnival was ready for the fortieth edition of its

new incarnation, which took place on 28th March to 4th April

2015. More than 100,000 people took part in the grand parade

that brought colour to the last event, with the ritual burning

of the effi gy of M.Carnaval and his fat cigar on the allées Jean-

Jaurès. Toulousain artists make a new giant statue every year

that is destined to be burned at the end of the cortege, whilst

the districts, the associations and the larger schools prepare

fl oats and costumes. President since 2012 of the C.O.C.U that

organises this major popular event, Julien Laff ont took over from

his father, who today is a lawyer but was formerly the head of the

University’s Carnival Organisation Committee, bringing life to the

city’s streets in the 1980’s, prior to a long winter of almost twenty

years. It is worth noting that Claude Nougaro was King of the Carnival

of Toulouse in 1987 and performed a song on that occasion whilst

perched on the roof of Le Capitole.

www.carnavaldetoulouse.fr

Toulouse beats to the rhythm of live shows

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C’est de la Danse Contemporaine

(CDC, January/February)

www.cdctoulouse.com

Fête de la Violette (February)

www.toulouse-tourisme.com

Zoom Arrière (March)

www.lacinemathequedetoulouse.

Le Printemps du Rire comedy festival

(March)www.printempsdurire.com

WEAC weekend of contemporary art –

PinkPong network (March)

www.pinkpong.fr/evenements

Carnival of Toulouse (March/April)

www.carnavaldetoulouse.fr

Flamenco Festival of Toulouse (April)

www.festival-fl amenco-toulouse.fr

Made in Asia (April/May)

Toulouse International Art Festival

(FIAT – biannually/May)

www.toulouseartfestival.com

Museum Night (May)

www.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr

Caravane de cirques circus festival

(May/June)

www.la-grainerie.net

Passe ton Bach d’abord ! (June)

www.baroquetoulouse.com

Marathon des Mots literary festival

(June) www.lemarathondesmots.com

Rio Loco music festival (June)

www.rio-loco.org

Toulouse en piste street performance

festival (June)

www.culturemouvements.org/

Fête de la Musique (21st June)

www.fetedelamusique.culture.fr

Siestes Électroniques (June/July)

www.les-siestes-electroniques.com

Tangopostale tango festival (June/

July)www.tangopostale.com

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14th July www.toulouse-tourisme.com

Toulouse d’été music festival

(July/August)

www.toulousedete.org

Cinema in the open air (July/August)

www.lacinemathequedetoulouse.com

Toulouse Plages (July/August)

www.toulouse.fr/web/sports/

toulouse-plages

Festoval rugby festival (September)

www.toulouse.fr/web/sports/grands-

rdv-sportifs/rugby

Heritage Days (September)

www.journeesdupatrimoine.culture.fr

Piano aux Jacobins festival

(September)

www.pianojacobins.com

On Cartoon, the festival (September)

http://festival.on.cartoon.free.fr/

Toulouse à Table food festival

(September)

www.toulouseatable.com

Mois de l’Image photography festival

(MAP, ManifestO,Biz’art Populaire…/

September) www.map-photo.fr

www.festival-manifesto.org

www.bizartpop.com

Festival Occitania (September /

October)www.festivaloccitania.com

Cinespaña Spanish fi lm festival

(October)www.cinespagnol.com

Toulouse les Orgues organ music

festival (October)

www.toulouse-les-orgues.org

Jardins synthétiques art festival

(October)www.jardins-synthetiques.org

Des Étoiles et des Ailes – Stars and

Wings festival (November)

www.desetoilesetdesailes.com

Christmas entertainment (December)

www.toulouse.fr/web/la-mairie/

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19 French

championship titlesand 4 European

Cups.h

TOLOPÉDIA Stade ToulousainStade Toulousain is a club that covers all sports, born out of the merger of the city’s student clubs in 1907. The rugby team of this club is the most famous and the most successful, with 19 French championship titles and 4 European Cups to date. The club owns its own stadium, demolished in 1980 when the Ponts-Jumeaux bypass was built. Reconstructed a few hundred metres away, in the Sept-Deniers quarter, it bears the name of Ernest Wallon, professor of law and director of the club who invested 10,000 francs in order to purchase the 7ha plot that was the site of the fi rst stadium. The rugby club grew in the traditional way and wearing the red and black strip (in honour of the Capitouls). It boasts 29 international players among its ranks, 17 of which have been selected for the French national team (2014/2015 season). The Brasserie du Stade welcomes amateur gourmets and supporters of all nationalities.

Among others, the club has opened boutiques on rue Alsace-Lorraine in Toulouse and at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, selling products related to the club. It has the biggest budget of any Top 14 club (€35million in 2014). Its training centre, opened in 1988, welcomes 24 trainees that play alongside the professional team and the club’s associative teams. The women’s team of Fonsorbes joined with Stade Toulousain in 2014. The club also took in the Blagnac baseball team (ex-Tigers) in 2004. The Tourist Offi ce off ers regular guided visits entitled “Allez le Stade!” to help visitors immerse themselves into the heart of the melee.

www.stadetoulousain.fr

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Toulouse, capital of the Oval Ball

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Every year, the Place du Capitole transforms into a giant rugby fi eld. The turf and the posts of Festoval (a fun rugby event/www.toulouse.fr/web/sports/grands-rdv-sportifs/rugby) remind everyone that Toulouse is the French capital of the oval ball. The Gods of Stade are certainly from Tou-louse when it comes to rugby, but the “Red and Blacks” are not the only rugby gods in this land. If the players of Stade Toulousain have already taken the Brennus Shield onto the balcony of the mayor’s offi ce in Le Capitole 19 times as French champions, their rugby league counterparts from Toulouse Olympique had the honour of plastering their names across the façade of the town hall in 2014 (www.to13.com). The rugby league club took home a league and cup double. The semi-professional team also has its sights set on Europe and has already abandoned the French championship in order to test itself against the elite clubs in Britain. Following the lead of the Catalan Dragons of Per-pignan, the TO XIII hopes to join the Super League cham-pionship after development work on their historic stadium in the Minimes quarter has been completed, raising the ca-pacity of the Stade Arnauné to 12,000, all seated.

On the île du Ramier, the Stadium is already undergoing re-novation. This stadium, which regularly hosts the football

matches of Toulouse Football Club (known as TFC and foun-ded in 1937), has been put in line with UEFA regulations and will be able to hold 33,500 spectators by the time of the 2016 European Championships (www.tfc.info / www.uefa.com). The city’s largest sporting facility is often compared to a miniature version of the old Wembley Stadium in Lon-don. It hosts prestigious matches (European cup, Top 14) for Stade Toulousain. It will also host major open-air concerts after its rebuilding works are completed at the end of 2015.

The construction of the Stadium started in 1937 in the wake of the building of the Nakache swimming pool by the city’s architect, Jean Montauriol, who was also responsible for the fi rst low cost housing estates (HBM) in Toulouse. Swimmers from the Dauphins du TOEC club, who come here to train in all seasons, are to the history of swimming what Stade Toulousain is to rugby (www.lesdauphinsdutoec.com). The club, who became independent from the TOEC Omni sports club in 1938, boasts 280 French championship medals and 400 national records. It has over 2000 members, including a great many athletes that are regularly selected for the Olympic Games.

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TOLOPÉDIA

Oxford/Cambridge

on the GaronneOrganised for the fi rst time in 2013 between the Pont Neuf and

the Pont Saint-Pierre, the Garona Cup brings together more than

500 rowers from the universities and great schools of the city. This

new sporting challenge may, one day, be considered alongside the

legendary race that pitches the universities of Oxford and Cambridge

against one another on the River Thames.

http://garonacup.com

Did you know?Water skiing without a boatEstablished in an old quarry to the north of the city, the Sesquières water sports centre is equipped with a water-ski cableway that delights fans of wake-boarding, knee-boarding and water skiing from April to the end of October. Enthusiasts are welcome and equipment can be hired on site. www.teleskitoulouse.com

Wild River and NatureBased at a camp site in Merville, just before Toulouse, Patrice Sanchez, a canoe-kayak (and even Dragon Boat) excursion guide looks for new discovery trails along the watercourses of the area. Get active, discover, feel and learn is also the credo of Granhòta, who off er a link between sport and nature on the doorstep of Toulouse (trails, Nordic walking, climbing, canoeing, mountain biking, orienteering or urban rally’s in the centre of Toulouse), with half-day, after work or instructional courses all available. www.canoe-garonne.comwww.granhota.fr

The Nakache swimming pool is a monumental ensemble of buildings that includes five pools, constructed from 1931 to 1936 on the Ile du Ramier in the middle of the River Garonne. Its great 150m long summer pool, with its “cascade” running over rocks, was the precursor to the “Toulouse Plages” event at the time of the Front Populaire. This hygienic pool was built in order to provide swimming facilities to as many people as possible, whilst the swimming club at the start of the century based itself at the Canal de Brienne or at a floating pool that was moored on the River Garonne at the quai de Tounis. The Dauphins du TOEC club has trained in the Castex pool since 1936, an 50m open-air Olympic pool.

The whole of this aquatic complex, rounded off by the large building that houses a covered pool, gymnasium and a great hall for municipal events (salle Mermoz), bears the name of Alfred Nakache, a former champion of the Dauphins who was deported to Auschwitz. Built by the Public Office for Low-Cost Housing, the pool was part of a bigger ensemble that covered 25ha and was christened the “parc toulousain”, which was intended to be the equivalent of the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. The pool and its curious façade, decorated with a sort of concrete minaret, were classified as Historic Monuments in 1993.

www.toulouse.fr/web/sports/piscines

The Nakache swimming pool

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The departure of the Toulouse Métropole Marathon, which boasts the international label awarded by the French Athletics Federation, is traditionally held on the Pont Pierre-de-Coubertin that links the Stadium and the Nakache swimming pool (www.marathon-toulousemetropole.fr). The route of this marathon, which gathers over 6,000 runners, crosses 5 communes of the north of the metropolitan area before reaching the Place du Capitole. To mark the occasion, the turf laid for fans of rugby is replaced by a pink carpet.

For lovers of other varieties of team sports, rendezvous at the André-Brouat sports centre in the Compans-Caff a-relli quarter, close to the Pierre-Baudis conference centre. Since 2006, after having been entirely rebuilt, it hosts the matches of Fenix Toulouse Handball Club (www.fenix-tou-louse.fr/3 of its players – Cyril Dumoulin, Jérôme Fernandez and Valentin Porte – were part of the French team that be-came world champions in 2015) as well as Spacer’s du Tou-louse Volley-Ball Club (www.spacerstoulouse.fr). This mul-ti-sports centre also boasts an innovative architecture: the façades are entirely made of glass and the roof has been covered with plants by architects Jean Guervilly and Puig Pujol, helping to improve the heat insulation properties and reducing noise for residents of the riverside areas.

Close to the city centre, easily accessible by tramway, the Hippodrome de Toulouse welcomes horseracing enthusiasts to its leafy 34-hectare site (www.hippodrome-toulouse.com). With over 380 races every year, its programme makes it France’s 3rd racecourse, and its infrastructure allows it to compete with the biggest and the best. Visitors par-ticularly like the restaurant facilities, the reception areas and, not forgetting, the festive and free the-med soirees that are perfect for families.

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84 holes in the grassThe Toulouse urban area boasts 8 golf courses across 7 diff erent

sites. The Golf de Seilh, somewhere between Toulouse and

Grenada, has two 18-hole courses covering 140 hectares. It

regularly gathers the elite of the European golf tour for the

Toulouse Métropole Open, sponsored by Allianz. The historic

course for the golfers of Toulouse can be found on the borders

of Old Toulouse, with an unbeatable view over the city. In the

direction of the Tarn, the Palmola golf club was designed by an

English architect on the edge of the Forest of Buzet and the

Téoula course is located in Plaisance-du-Touch, in the direction of

Gers. The only course actually inside Toulouse was established

around La Ramée Lake, on a common green area of Toulouse,

Tournefeuille and Cugnaux. Two 9-hole courses in Drémil-Lafarge

(Estolosa) and Montrabé (Saint-Gabriel) complete the off er.

www.toulouse-visit.com/interested-in/leisure

Toulouse, sporting city

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Toulouse is abenchmark with

regards to scientifi cbusiness travel.

TOLOPÉDIA Competitiveness Hubs and Labex (Laboratories par excellence)

Toulouse boasts 4 competitiveness hubs, one of which is world class:• Aerospace Valley, the global hub forAeronautics- Space – On-board systems (120,000employed in the industry, 8,500 researchers/www.aerospace-valley.com),• The Cancer-Organic-Health Hub (3500researchers/www.cancerbiosante.fr),• The South-West Agricultural Innovation Hub(5,000 employed in R & D, 121 laboratories/www.agrisudouest.com),• The Global Water Use Mission (present inLanguedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, €72.5 million of projects fi nanced/www.pole-eau.com)

The scientifi c and university communities in Toulouse also boast 7 Labex, including CIMI (mathematics/www.cimi.univ-toulouse.fr), Toulouse White Biotechnology (www.toulousewhite-biotechnology.com), Tulip (environmental impact/www.labex-tulip.fr), TOUCAN (cancer/www.labex-toucan.fr), Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse managed by Jean Tirole (Nobel Laureate for Economics 2014/www.iast.fr).

The competitiveness hubs position themselves in terms of R & D and technological innovation, relying on a close cooperation between public research and private business. This research and innovation ecosystem and the presence of numerous advanced technology companies make Toulouse a benchmark with regards to scientifi c business travel.

Did you know?ESOF: Toulouse, European City of Science in 2018Toulouse proudly bears the title of “European City of Science” in 2018 by welcoming the European science meeting EuroScience Open Forum, to be held for the very fi rst time in France.www.euroscience.orgwww.esof.eu/media-room/press-releases/press-release/toulouse-organizes-esof-2018.html

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The European capital of the aeronautics and space industry, headquarters of Airbus Industries, Toulouse is proud of its place as a destination par excellence in terms of research and of innovation, recently awarded the French Tech label (www.frenchtechtoulouse.com). In 4 years, Toulouse has experienced a meteoric rise as a congress city in the latest league table published in 2013 by ICCA: 79th at world level, 42nd in Europe and 3rd in France!

This destination has known how to innovate when it comes to business travel thanks to its distinctive positioning brought about by the So Toulouse Convention Bureau that values unity and synergy in terms of all the supplier partners that operate within this sector (www.so-toulouse.com). In fact, this body has reorganised and federated the sector since its inception in 2009. A telling factor is that Toulouse launched the Alliance GSCA (The Global Science & Convention Alliance) at the end of 2011 in order to unite the convention bureaus of Adelaide (Australia), Hyderabad (India), Daejeon (Korea) and Prague (Czech Republic), sharing the same scientifi c positioning on itinerant congresses.

In addition to the current facilities, the future establishment of a new exhibition park (70,000m² of built-up surface area and 40,000m² of outdoor exhibition space) should confi rm how accessible Toulouse has become for the major congress and corporate events market (www.toulousemetropole.fr/projets).

Among the destination’s major projects, Aerospace Valley and the Montaudran Aerospace hub will occupy 355,000m² and bring together 2 research centres in the fi elds of aeronautics, space and on-board systems. In terms of the Cancer-Organic-Health Hub, as well as a new conference centre on the site of Purpan Hospital, Toulouse boasts a major European centre for the fi ght against cancer: the Oncopole, unique in France (www.oncopoletoulouse.com). Inaugurated in November 2014, it brings under one roof the private and public sectors, research, care and teaching.

Since January 2015, Aeroscopia, the new museum dedicated to aeronautic and scientifi c discovery that is home to some legendary aircraft, completes the incentive travel off er with an unusual 506m² events space that can be privatised in the evenings (www.musee-aeroscopia.fr).

45

Toulouse Convention Bureau:the congress, seminar and incentive industry

the evenings (www.musee-aeroscopia.fr).

So Toulouse Convention Bureau:

A one-stop service for event organisers!

Before your event:• Help with venue fi nding and sourcing suppliers

• Assistance contacting the relevant professionals

• Organisation of study trips

• New tool dedicated to requests: “Intranet Client”

During your event:• Mobile Application

• Supply plans and documents

• Access to an image database in order to illustrate the

event support materials

• Dedicated signage at the reception sites

After your event:• Satisfaction survey via the app

So Toulouse Convention Bureau

Arche Marengo - Allée Jacques-Chaban-Delmas31500 Toulouse

Tel : +33 5 81 31 30 20/Email : [email protected]

www.so-toulouse.com

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Toulouse offersbusiness and R&D

opportunitiesin Life Sciences,

Digital, Aerospace,and IntelligentTransportation.

TOLOPÉDIAFast growing and vigorous economy Toulouse is proud to be the 1st French metropolis for:

• Strongest economic growth :+2,9 % of GDP over the last 10 years

• Strongest demographic growth:20,000+ inhabitants pa

• Highest creation of jobs in the private sector:4000+ (CAGR in the past 5 years)

• Highest job creation rate: +1.6 %(continuous growth in the past 10 years)

• Most attractive city where to invest in France (magazine Explor’Immo - 2015)

• Working and living preferred by executives(APEC - 2014)

• Highest rate of strategic metropolisexecutives (INSEE - 2014)

• Boosting economy (Challenge – 2015)

• Jean Tirole, 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics

• It’s international airport makes an easyaccess to European cities, counting 100 dailydepartures to 86 international destinations.

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Did you know?Toulouse is the world Capital of aeronautics and space.Two main areas in the Metropolis are devoted to aeronautics: Aéroconstellation, the largest aerospace manufacturing site in Europe with 260 ha and Toulouse Aerospace Innovation campus with 56 ha.

25% of the French aeronautics and space research is regrouped in Toulouse.Airbus Group global headquarters are located here, with more than 22,000employees. They inaugurated their new headquarters « Wings campus » in June 2016.

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If you’re thinking of setting up your business in Europe, Toulouse is a prime business location in France for Foreign Direct Investment, innovation, advanced engineering, ae-rospace and quality of life.

European capital of the aeronautics and space industry in-cluding the headquarters of Airbus Industries, Toulouse is proud of its place as a destination par excellence in terms of research and innovation, recently awarded the French Tech label (www.frenchtechtoulouse.com). The aerospace industry in Toulouse represents 85,000 jobs with more than 600 companies and 130 aeronautics degrees, including em-bedded systems and space applications.

Besides the aeronautic stream, digital and life sciences are also key fields of excellence in Toulouse. Toulouse repre-sents 25 % of the European spatial workforce. The sector consists of renowned Research Centers, multiple world lea-ders (such as Thales Alenia Space or Airbus Defense and Space) and one of the leading global aerospace clusters, Aerospace Valley.

Toulouse is the European Capital of Embedded Systems with 250 companies on this fields, this contributes to the acceleration of the skills towards a new major sector in Tou-louse: Intelligent Transportation Systems.

3,000 IT companies are located in the city. As a part of the French Tech initiative, Toulouse keeps developing its digital field with several clusters as well as with private and pu-blic incubators for start-ups (as Bizlab from Airbus, Orange

Lab, Ekito…). 10 000 sqm are dedicated to IT companies on the territory. Indeed, according to the Echos classification, Toulouse is the 2nd French city in terms of the number of start-ups and is home to several emblematic companies: Sigfox, Paynayme, Antabio…

The Oncopole is a 220 ha campus bringing together all the actors involved in health innovation : a hospital dedicated to cancer patients, actors of the pharma industry with Pierre Fabre, and international CRO, Evotec, academic research, biotechs, multiple services for R&D and more than 300,000 sqm of real estate capacity (30,000 sqm available now). Built on the site where a chemical explosion occurred in 2001 that required 13 years of transformation and 1.2 billion euros of public investment, the Oncopole was inaugurated in 2014 and brings together all the actors involved in health innovation, notably in the fight against cancer.

From basic research to clinical assays, the Oncopole is a translational research campus. Academia is represented by the CRCT Cancer Research Center of Toulouse, the ITAV, Institute for Advanced Technologies and the French Blood Institute. Main private research actors are the Pierre Potier incubator that houses 7 start-ups, Pierre Fabre and Evotec. Together, private research represents 900 collaborators on site.

These world-class research & development centers can rely on Toulouse’s wide-ranging academic excellence : 10 en-gineering schools, 7 specialised schools and 4 universities.

Invest in Toulouse: free and confidential assistance during each step of your set-up and development in Toulouse

Invest In Toulouse provides free and

confidential assistance during each step of

your set-up and development in Toulouse.

Check your idea• French company laws and tax information

• Sector information (potential suppliers, customers, R&D, spe-

cific training..)

• Financial simulation (social wages, utilities, optimizing your

cost structure…)

Launch your project• Presentation of real estates options, pre-selection of most

suitable sites

• Investment engineering and pooling with public support

• Assistance in recruiting and company services

• Facilitating administrative formalities, family housing &

schools

Develop your project• Support in company promotion and communications

• Local networking (corporation clubs, competitiveness clus-

ters…) • Supporting commercial development with potential partners

Arche Marengo

Allée Jacques-Chaban-Delmas

31500 Toulouse

Tél. +33 5 34 25 58 20

[email protected]

www.invest-in-toulouse.fr

47

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Index14th July P39A380 P27Abattoirs P13, 18, 28, 31, 32, 36Académie des Jeux Floraux P31Clément Ader P26Aéropostale P8, 9, 10 26, 29Aeroscopia P27, 45Ailes Anciennes P27Airbus P8, 11, 12, 26 27, 45Alliance GSCA (The Global Science& Convention Alliance) P45Alsace-Lorraine (rue) P17, 40Altern’Mobil P15AMAP P18Amphitryon P17André-Brouat Sports Centre P43Dick Annegarn P35Antoine-du-T (rue) P23AHPY P30Arche Marengo P9, 10Argoulets P36Ariane 5 (rocket) P27Arnaud-Bernard P17Avenir Aviation P28Aviasim P28Augustins P14, 32

Bar du Matin P20Bar Basque P21Basilica Saint-Sernin P14, 30Bazacle (espace EDF, gué) P10, 13, 23, 31Eugène Bellet P26Bemberg (fondation) P14, 31Benoît Serres P16Berdoues (Maison) P16Bibent P20Bijou P35Bikini P35Bistrologue P21Bombes 2 bal P35

Blanchers (rue des) P21Brasserie du Stade P40Boulbonne (rue) P21Michel Bras P17Bréguet P8, 26, 27Joan Busquets P13

Cabaret 3T P22Cachou Lajaunie P18Café des Artistes P21Café Populaire P21Canal du Midi

P5, 9, 10, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 36Canal de Brienne P10, 14, 18, 24, 42Canal Royal du Languedoc P9, 10Candie (domaine de) P18, 19Candifl or P16Canoë P18, 42Capitole

P5, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 25, 31, 33, 35, 37, 41Capitole National Orchestra P31, 35Capucins P17Caravane de cirques P38Carmes (place des) P20, 21Carmélites (chapelle) P36Carnaval P37, 38Casino théâtre Barrière P22Cassoulet P16Cathédrale Saint-Étienne P9, 23, 30Cats on trees P35C’est de la Danse Contemporaine P38Château de Bonrepos-Riquet P10Château d’eau P13, 31, 32Château Raynal P29Chevaliers du Fiel P22Chez Authié P20Chez Tonton P21CHU P14, 45Cité de l’espace P5, 27CityTour Toulouse P14

Club des dauphins du TOEC P41, 42CNES P27Colombette (rue de la) P23Comédie de Toulouse P22Compagnie 111 d’Aurélien Bory P37Compans-Caff arelli P43Competitiveness Hubs P44, 45Concorde (bar) P20Concorde (avion) P27Connexion Live P23Constant (Benjamin) P33Christian Constant P20Christmas P39Cours Dillon P13

Daurade P9, 21Yannick Delpech P17Des Étoiles et des Ailes P39Jean Dieuzaide P31, 32, 37Cyril Dumoulin P43Dupuy (place) P20, 31

Émulation Nautique P13ESOF 2018 (EuroScience Open Forum) P44Espaces Vanel P10Esquirol P20, 22Esparcette organic market P17Estrapade (place de l’) P23Extrapade P23

Fabulous Trobadors P35Fenix Toulouse Handball P43Jérôme Fernandez P43Festival Flamenco P38Festival P30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39Fête de la Gastronomie P17Fête de la Musique P34, 38Fête de la Violette P16, 38Fil à plomb P22Filatiers (rue des) P23

Filochard P23Fleurée de Pastel shop P30Florida P20Fouquet’s P22Francazal (old military base) P28François-Verdier (allées) P36French Tech P45

Galeries Lafayette P23Galerue P33Manu Galure P37Carlos Gardel P37Garonne P5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 25,

31, 34, 37, 42Garona Cup P42Gervais (Paul) P33Golf P43Graine de Pastel P30Grainerie (la) P36, 38Granhòta P42

Halle aux Grains P20, 31, 35Happymoov P15Hémicycle P18Henri Martin P9, 33Hippodrome P43Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques P14, 19, 25

Île du Ramier P13, 21, 41, 42

Jacobins (couvent des) P23, 25, 32Jardins Synthétiques (festival) P36, 39Jean Jaurès P9, 11, 22, 37Jean-Pierre Mader P35J’Go P23Juliette P35

Laboratoires d’excellence (Labex) P44Laté 631 P8Latécoère P8, 9, 11, 264

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Le Grand Balcon (Hôtel) P10La Grave P13, 14, 23Le 57 P22Lido P36, 37Lighting Plan P23

Machine (La) P9, 29, 36Made in Asia P38Maison de la Violette P16Maison du Vélo P15Marathon des Mots P32, 38Marché du Cristal P17Marché Saint-Aubin P17Marché Victor-Hugo P17Market(s) P4, 17Métro VAL P12, 13, 14Mermoz P8Moaï P18Mobilboard P14Montaudran P8, 9, 12, 26, 29, 45Monthly fl ea market P36Monument aux Morts P36Raymond Moretti P33, 35Muséum de Toulouse P18, 32Museum Night P32, 38Musical Interludes P35

Nakache (swimming pool) P41, 42, 43Navicanal P14Négrette P19Nobel P44Claude Nougaro P21, 23, 34, 35, 36, 37

Observatoire de Jolimont P28Occitanie/occitan P10, 17, 20, 25, 39Olivier (place) P21Oncopole P45Open-air cinema P38Ostal d’Occitania P35

Pargaminières (rue) P21Pastel (Isatis Tinctoria) P30, 31Passe ton Bach d’abord ! P32, 38Père Louis P20Péri (rue Gabriel) P23Piano aux Jacobins P32, 39Picasso P32Pierre-Baudis Convention Centre P43PinkPong P38Ponts-Jumeaux P10, 14, 40Pont Neuf P13, 21, 23, 34, 42Pont Saint-Michel P13Valentin Porte P43Port de l’Embouchure P10, 14, 36Port Saint-Sauveur P9Port Viguerie P13, 37Prairie des Filtres P5, 13, 31, 34, 36Printemps du Rire P22, 38Prison Saint-Michel P31Prix Lucien Vanel P17

Quai des Savoirs P32

La Ramée P43Rangueil P9, 27, 28Ravelin (place du) P21Ravelin (bar) P21Raymond-VI Garden P36Rio Loco (festival) P34, 38Pierre-Paul Riquet P9, 10, 11, 24

Saint-Cyprien P13, 21, 25, 31Antoine de Saint-Exupéry P8, 10, 26 Saint-Georges (place) P23Saint-Pierre P13, 21Saint-Raymond (museum) P30, 36Salle des Illustres P33Sandyan P17Santiago de Compostela P14, 19, 25, 30Michel Sarran P17

Saucisse (sausage) P16Sébastien Langloÿs P35Segway P14Sept-Deniers P40Sesquières (water sport centre) P42Claude Sicre P17, 35Siestes électroniques (festival) P36, 38SISQA (food quality fair) P18Ski club de la Péniche P13Spacer’s Toulouse Volley-Ball P43Tugan Sokhiev P35So Toulouse Convention Bureau P45Stade Arnauné P41Stade Ernest-Wallon P40Stade Toulousain P17, 33, 40, 41Stadium P41, 43Super Guppy P27

Tangopostale P35, 39Taur (rue du) P30Télégramme P23Téléski P42Temps des vendanges P21Terre-Cabade (cemetery) P28Terre de Pastel P30The Dispensary P21Théâtre du Capitole P22, 33Théâtre Garonne P36Théâtre du Grand-Rond P22Théâtre des Minimes P22Jean Tirole P44Tisséo P12, 14Toulouse-Aerospace P26, 44, 45Toulouse à table P17, 39Toulouse-Blagnac Airport P4, 9, 12, 13, 27 Toulouse en piste P38Toulouse Euro-Sud-Ouest P9Toulouse d’été P39Toulouse Football Club (TFC) P41Toulouse Greeters P10

Toulouse Handball P43Toulouse l’Espagnole P37Toulouse International Art Festival (FIAT)

P32, 38Toulouse-Lasbordes Aerodrome P27 Toulouse les Orgues P30, 39Toulouse-Matabiau Railway Station

P4, 9, 12, 15, 25 Toulouse Métropole Marathon P43Toulouse Olympique XIII (TO XIII) P41Toulouse Plages P39, 42Tourism Pass P14Tourist Offi ce P8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 28, 35, 40Tram P8, 12, 13, 14

UEFA 2016 P41Unesco P9, 14 15, 19, 24, 25, 30Université Paul-Sabatier P32Usine (L’) P36

V80 véloroute du canal des Deux-Mers P15, 25

VélôToulouse P15Victor-Hugo (place) P23Violette P16, 18, 19, 38Viola 2000 P18Urbain Vitry P28

Wallace (fountain) P23WEAC (week-end de l’art contemporain)

P38Wilson (place) P23Wines of the South West (IVSO) P19

Zebda P35Zoom Arrière P38

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Page 50: Come and experience toulouse métropole ! so toulouse

ContactSo Toulouse - Tourist Offi ce Square du Général-Charles-de-Gaulle - BP 38001

31080 Toulouse Cedex 6 – FranceTel. from France: 0892 180 180 (€0.34 inc. VAT/min)Tel from abroad: +33 540 131 531/Fax: +33 561 23 74 97Email: [email protected]/Web : www.toulouse-tourisme.com

Press Contact: Mélissa BUTTELLIDirect Tel: +33 561 11 02 36/Email : [email protected]

Trade and press area: www.toulouse-tourisme.com/Pro-presse

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