There is so much to say about this village and why we are here, but I will start with some pictures. Of course. We are deep in the Tarn, so the signs are all bilingual French and Occitan. When I first came here a lot of the older people did not speak French, but today’s older people are the last who are fluent in Occitan, and I don’t know how many. Someone said the attempt to reintroduce the language is a generation too late. But on the other hand, the amazing group Cocanha sing almost exclusively in Occitan, so maybe . . . (also in 2015, this region was renamed Occitania, combining the two provinces that used to be called Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc).
Notice the version of the Cathar cross (the cross of Occitania), which I’ll talk more about in another post. And finally, below the sign you might notice the announcement that the street lights are extinguished between 23 hours (11pm) and 6 every day. If you were doubting your French, that is what it says. At 11pm on the dot all of the street lights go out in this area. So glad that cell phones come with a built in flashlight because on a moonless night it is very dark! The lights come on at 6am when the nights are long enough to need them, and then go off once the sun comes up.
Anyway, to the right of the tree you can see what is left of the castle, now apartments and municipal buildings, and a few other houses on that edge of the village (the reflected sun is making the cream coloured stones look pink). More about this later.
