Saturday, August 1, 2015
I had a great day in Castres, but "Getting there is half the fun" is not something I would ever say about driving there over La Montagne Noir this morning. There was heavy rain yesterday, and the weather report spoke of further rains, but I thought the weather in the area I'd drive would clear, based on the weather in Caunes. So I set my GPS for the fastest route.
The fastest route took me halfway down the main street in Caunes, Avenue du Minervois, then made a right turn for Citou and Lespinassiere, two progressively more remote mountain villages. From that point on, the fog took over, along with the rain. I was the only person on the road for most of the trip, which lasted two hours, rather than the normal hour and fifteen minutes. At times, the visibility on the narrow road was one foot with high beams on, the next white strip being all I could see, rolling at a pace of 10 kilometers an hour. I drove on, and at one point, turned right rather than left. The GPS told me, "Make a U-turn, if possible." Ha!
A few feet further on, however, there was a turn-off to a private house where I did make a U-turn. However, while I was doing so, two large black hounds bounded, barking, down to where I was. My window was open, so I pushed the "close" lever as fast as I could, protecting myself against an unknown as best as I could. I need not have worried: the dogs came over, sniffed, then lifted up their legs, satisfied they had done their duty.
At one point, the rain pouring down, I decided to stop the car to get my bearings before going forward. A few minutes later, a lonely white camionette approached which I hailed with all my might.
The young man who stopped had a "hoodie" on, the hood of which he lowered to speak with me. His handsome, bearded face was a good sign. When I asked whether I was truly on the road to Castres, he answered, "'Yes' it's about another fifteen to twenty minutes."
It took me about twice that long to get down the mountain, but once I did, I was glad. Castres is a beautiful town, the building materials made of ivory stone, and the city is immaculately maintained. Market day on Saturday is a good time to go: there are at least three fromagers, each commanding long lines for their products. I bought two logs (bucques) of goat cheese from Albine, a nearby village, along with a raw milk Camembert from Normandie, and a small slice of another cheese, a Gabach Vieux cow's milk cheese with a crinkly rind.
I also bought some beautifully colored tomatoes and grape tomatoes, Norwegian-style bread and a half dozen fresh figs.
The Place Jean Jaures, where the market is held, also features a cafe, Tendance, which makes some of the best coffee I have ever tasted. Cleanly modern in design, it conserves the standards of coffee-making that held sway before the days of "pods" and "K-cups", as well as providing exquisite teas of many varieties.
Castres has several bookstores, and a few antique dealers with exceptional offerings. One, off Place Jean Jaures, was selling a pen and ink sketch of a hussar made by none other than the man who would be Napoleon III. The quality of clothes and shoes on sale was also far superior to that on offer in Carcassonne and l'Aude generally. The Tarn department, which includes Albi, another town with high-quality offerings, seems clearly better off than l'Aude.
And I cannot speak of Castres without mentioning Le Musee Goya, a museum of art from the Spanish-speaking world housed in a former bishops's palace designed by Mansart and gardens designed by Le Notre. La Musee Goya has three Goyas, one a knowing self-portrait, another a portrait of a friend, and finally, a gigantic group portrait of a meeting of The Company Of The Philippines presided over by King Ferdinand VII, painted in 1815 (Autoportrait aux lunettes, Portrait de Francisco del Mazo et La Junte des Philippines) .
What is interesting about The Company Of The Philippines is not its size --it must be twenty feet long-- but the back story. Goya was commissioned to memorialize a meeting of the board of governors of the colony of the Philippines over which the king, Ferdinand VII presided. In the original sketch for the painting, Goya placed the head of the board beside the king, as he had been when the meeting took place.
However, after the meeting, Ferdinand VII fired the chairman and in the painting Goya, with the consent of the Board, placed the now former chairman off to the side, in the shadows by the door on the right, a pointed commentary on his fate. The company was dissolved not long after the commission was delivered. The painting ultimately made its way to Castres, where it was purchased by another painter, Marcel Briguiboul. Briguiboul perceived rightly that the Spanish influence on French painting was enormous and gave his entire collection, containing paintings by Murillo, Zurbaran, Ribera, Goya, and others, for the creation of the museum. Standouts in the collection are Ribera's Saint Augustin, the Goyas and the medieval retablos.
My errands completed, the ride back took me back through La Montagne Noir again. If you ask the GPS for the fastest route to either Castres or Albi, it will take you through La Montagne Noir. Driving the same road where I had inched, white-knuckled a few short hours before, confirmed the wisdom of taking it slowly on the Circuit de la Montagne Noir. Next time though, I'm taking the long way around.
No comments:
Post a Comment