Shopping in France Toulouse: Boat loads of history

WHERE?

WHERE?

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France's fourth largest city is situated on the River Garonne and is well known for its role as an aeronautical and space centre, as well as home to many research institutes and university students. Its prosperity has ebbed and flowed with demand for its successive staple products or trade in woad - used as a blue dye until supplanted by indigo - and violets. For most of the last 2,000 years the city has also been a prominent administrative and religious centre, bequeathing a fine architectural legacy.

The city is known as "la ville rose" because of the colour of the bricks made from the area's clay-rich soil. The setting sun brings out the glorious colours of the brickwork, which was used even in the cathedral's bell-tower and the arcades of 14th-century cloisters. Toulouse's architectural heritage is rich enough to warrant simply wandering the streets.

The heart of the city is Place du Capitole, its eastern side occupied by the vast façade of the City Hall or Capitole, which was completed in 1759. In the Hall's bust-lined gallery and frescoed reception rooms, the Duke of Wellington celebrated the end of the Peninsular War in 1814 following its last battle, fought nearby. The historic rooms are open 9am-7pm weekdays and from 10am on weekends. Behind the square is the main tourist office in the restored Tour du Donjon of 1529. It is open 9am-7pm from Monday to Saturday, 10.30am-5.15pm on Sunday, closing earlier from October (00 33 5 61 11 02 22; www.ot-toulouse.fr).

To the north of Place du Capitole, Rue du Taur leads to the largest Romanesque building in France, the basilica of St Sernin, built to commemorate the martyrdom of St Saturnin in Toulouse. The church is open 8.30am-6.15pm Monday to Saturday, and until 7.30pm on Sunday. To the west of the square lies Les Jacobins, the mother church of the Dominican Order, which was founded in 1215 to counter the Cathar heresy. Open daily 9am-7pm (00 33 5 61 22 21 92; www.jacobins.mairie-toulouse.fr).

There are 149 hotels to choose from in Toulouse. Catherine Deneuve and Pavarotti have stayed at the Grand Hôtel de l'Opéra, located in a former 17th-century convent at 1 Place du Capitole (00 33 5 61 21 82 66; www.grand-hotel-opera.com). Double rooms from €161 (£115), with €16 (£11) for breakfast. Hôtel Mermoz, decorated with French airmail service memorabilia, is at 50 Rue Matabiau (00 33 5 61 63 04 04; www.hotel-mermoz.com). Doubles from €101 (£72), breakfast €10 (£7). In the heart of La Ville Rose at 8 Rue Rivals is Hôtel Albert 1er (00 33 5 61 21 17 91; www.hotel-albert1.com). Doubles from €60 (£43) plus €10 (£7) for breakfast.

Toulouse brags of a cassoulet (a stew of pulses, poultry and sausage) to rival those of Carcassonne and Castelnaudary, and a broad gastronomy. At the top end of price, quality of setting and cuisine is Les Jardins de l'Opera at 1 Place du Capitole (00 33 5 61 23 07 76; www.toulousy.com) where the set menus start at €38 (£27) and rise to €98 (£70) for the "Degustation" menu of seasonal specialities. Of comparable standard is Le Pastel at 237 Route de St-Simon (00 33 5 62 87 84 30; www.lepastel.com) where the €38 (£27) four-course menu includes dishes such as gigotin of lamb with a puree of celery and truffles. Among the specialities at Le Bon Vivre at 15 bis Place Wilson (00 33 5 61 23 07 17; www.lebonvivre.com) are Gascon-style food in set menus from €12 (£8.60). Organic ingredients are used at Saveurs Bio in 22 Rue Maurice Fonvieille (00 33 5 61 12 15 15) where the most expensive dish won't set you back more than €15 (£11).

WHY?

The city has worked hard to enhance the setting and accessibility of its many attractions by creating new parks, pedestrianising streets, creating riverside walks, floodlighting landmarks, building a metro and creating over 200km of cycle routes. Take Jardin Raymond VI: this riverside park has been created as part of the refurbishment of a once-unpleasant area around the abattoirs, but now has collection of wild plants as well as a terrace offering one of the best views of Toulouse. It can be reached by crossing the city's oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf.

The city has been equally imaginative in adapting redundant industrial buildings to new uses: a former water tower has been converted into one of France's foremost photographic galleries: Galerie du Château d'Eau at 1 Place Laganne is open daily 1pm-7pm, except Monday (00 33 5 61 77 09 40; www.galeriechateaudeau.org).

WHAT?

As befits a large city, Toulouse has some outstanding art galleries. Works by 18th-century Venetian painters, Van Dyck, Tintoretto, Corot, Manet and 36 canvases by Bonnard are located in the beautiful 16th-century town house of Hôtel d'Assézat. It's open daily except Monday 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-6pm (00 33 5 61 12 06 89; www.fondation-bemberg.fr).

Musée des Augustins is one of France's oldest museums, established in 1795 in a former priory at 21 Rue de Metz. Its collection spans the Middle Ages to the 20th century and includes over 4,000 sculptures as well as works by Rubens, Delacroix, Ingres and Corot. It's open daily except Tuesday 10am-6pm (00 33 5 61 22 21 82; www.augustins.org).

Other museums include Musée Paul Dupuy at 13 Rue de la Pleau (00 33 5 61 14 65 50) on graphic and decorative arts, weapons and musical instruments. It's open daily except Tuesday 10am-6pm.

For more information contact the Toulouse tourist office on 00 33 5 61 11 02 22; www.ot-toulouse.fr

TOP FIVE: SHOPPING

Maison Busqets at 21 Place Victor Hugo (00 33 5 61 21 46 22; www.extrawine.com) has been enticing gourmands since 1919. The delicatessen sells wines, charcuterie, foie gras, cassoulet, amuse-gueules and a host of French oils and vinegars.

Cheeselovers should head to Xavier at 6 Place Victor Hugo (00 33 5 34 45 59 45). A native of the Jura, Xavier has brought his love of cheese to Toulouse and is happy to send his high-quality cheeses such as brie truffé, cantal "gouttieré" and reblochon, to the UK.

With over 115,000 students in Toulouse, the city is second only to Paris for second-hand bookshops. Ombres Blanches at 50 Rue Gambetta (00 33 5 34 45 53 33) is one of the best, covering most subjects.

For the best ice-creams and sorbets in Toulouse, visit one of Octave's three branches: 9 Place du Capitole, 11 Allées du Président Roosevelt and in the market at Place Victor Hugo.

For Maison Pillon chocolates head to 23 Rue Languedoc (00 33 5 61 55 03 08) of for their pastries try 2 Rue Ozenne (00 33 5 61 52 68 14). For the delicatessen, which also sells pastries, visit 2 Rue d'Austerlitz (00 33 5 61 22 96 51; www.maison-pillon.fr). Besides selling a host of pastries, macaroons, nougats, marron glacés, ice creams and caramels, this famous manufacturer produces a registered "speciality of France" - the boxed Pavé du Capitole made of orange praline and soft chocolate.

CITY SHOPPER: BORDEAUX AND LE HAVRE

BORDEAUX

Packed with glorious 18th-century buildings, such as the Grand Théâtre opera house, the place de la Bourse, place Gambetta and the palatial Hôtel de Ville, Bordeaux is just made for flaneurs and window shoppers. Recently it has begun to make the most of its heritage: façades have been cleaned and old warehouses cleared away to open up the banks of the Garonne, while the innovative tramway has made remoter corners (like the train station) much more accessible. The river is celebrated in the Fête le Fleuve, which takes place 23-26 June, with nautical parades, rowing regatta, waterskiing, concerts and riverside dance halls.

Bordeaux's most upmarket shops are concentrated within the "Golden Triangle" bordered by Cours Clemenceau, Allées de Tourny and the Cours de l'Intendance. Here you'll find Bernardaud porcelain, Christofle silverware, Baccarat, Lalique glass and all manner of fashion labels. Don't miss the cannelés, the small, sticky fluted batter cakes that are a Bordeaux speciality, from Baillardran (55 cours de l'Intendance) or the much-loved kitchen and hardware shop Béjottes on place des Grands-Hommes. And for stocking up on what Bordeaux does best, visit L'Intendant (2 allées de Tourny), where bottles beautifully displayed around a spiral staircase rise from everyday drinking at the bottom to grands crus and old vintages at the top.

Semi-pedestrianised Vieux Bordeaux, stretching south of Cours de l'Intendance towards the Gothic cathedral of St-André, has plenty of clothes and shoe chains, gift shops, department store Galeries Lafayette and massive bookshop Mollat, with younger funkier designers on rue du Pas St-Georges and rue du Parlement Ste-Catherine.

Bordeaux is also a good city for antiques hunters. Many lie along rue Notre-Dame in the Chartrons, the old wine negociants district north of the Quinconces. The Village Notre-Dame (61 rue Notre-Dame) is a collection of around 30 antiquaires. A junkier, more bric-a-brac assortment can be found south of Vieux Bordeaux in the Passage St-Michel by the Eglise St-Michel.

Bordeaux tourism (00 33 5 56 00 66 00; www.bordeaux-tourisme.com)

LE HAVRE

Like Bordeaux, Le Havre is another historic port, although time has not treated it so gently. Much of the city was flattened during World War Two. However, its 1950s reconstruction by Auguste Perret is considered exemplary, laid out on a grid plan, with warm tinted concrete, garden squares, colonnaded arcades and the tall church of St Joseph rising up like a beacon. And the city still has the dynamic feel of a working port with its huge modern docks (Le Havre is France's leading container port) and the old Vauban warehouses gradually being turned into an area of bars and entertainment.

Le Havre played an important role in the origins of Impressionism. In 1873 Monet painted Impression, Soleil Levant here and you can admire some of his works, as well as those of Courbet, Boudin, Dufy, Renoir, Vallotton and Van Dongen, in the light-filled 1960s Musée Malraux, the first museum devoted to Impressionism outside of Paris.

Le Havre's maritime history is echoed by its shops, from the daily (depending on the weather) fish market on quai de Southampton to numerous coffee and spice importers, a legacy of the colonial trade with Martinique. Try Cafés Duchossoy at 39 parvis St-Michel and the Comptoir des Aromes inside the Halles Centrales shopping centre. Le Havre tourist office (00 33 4 67 60 60 60; www.ot-montpellier.fr)

Natasha Edwards

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