Summer solstice in the City of Music
In front of the hotel where I stayed, perhaps because the area teems with bars, the spot for techno was set up. By early evening, with the sun still high, the area was packed, mostly with young people dressed skimpily for the 36-degree-Celsius summer heat, dancing to the ear-splitting, pounding music. A bar across the hotel featured San Miguel beer—yes, made in the Philippines, although the French bartenders were clueless about the beer’s origin.
The little prince
Locals note that Toulouse, the heart of France’s aviation industry, has long had a vibrant nightlife, catering to the pilots who passed through the city. All those pilots needed a place to sleep, and to entertain themselves.
The Hotel Le Grand Balcon in the city center started out as a small pension owned by three spinster sisters, who strictly prohibited male guests from bringing women into their rooms. The sisters of course could not stand guard 24/7 over the entire pension. Locals say three pilots in particular who loved dancing the tango in the hotel’s dining room would carry their female guests on their backs up the stairs to their rooms so the sisters would not hear too many footsteps and become suspicious.
Among the three was one of France’s most famous aviators, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, writer and illustrator of the children’s classic The Little Prince.
After World War I where Saint-Exupery served as a military pilot, French warplanes were put to civilian use. Saint-Exupery was among those who flew the first commercial mail flights for Aeropostale, from France to its colonists in Spain, Africa and South America.
Saint-Exupery stayed in Le Grand Balcon whenever he was in Toulouse. Today his Room 32 has been restored to what an antique dealer thinks it might have looked like when Saint-Exupery was still a client. The room is open for bookings.
Christian pilgrimage site
Toulouse is also a stop for those undertaking the walking / biking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.
The first Christian community in Toulouse was recorded in 250 AD. In 257 AD, its first bishop, Saint Sernin or Saturnin, refused to worship the invading Roman forces’ gods, and was dragged by a bull through the streets of Toulouse until he died.
Where the bull stopped became the burial site for Saint Sernin. This in turn became a site dedicated to prayers for the first Christian martyr of the city. A century later, Christianity was allowed in Toulouse, and an abbey was built on the site.
As pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago route began flocking to the abbey, a bigger structure was built. Finished in the 11th century, the Basilica of Saint-Sernin became the largest church in the Romanesque style in France, and one of the largest in Europe. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among its attractions is a relic believed to be a thorn used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Near the basilica is the medieval Jacobin Convent, a towering structure made of bricks, which houses the relics of St. Thomas Aquinas. Designed in the Southern Gothic style, its construction began in 1230. It served as a monastery of the Dominican friars, and is renowned for its main vaulted ceiling that’s shaped like a palm tree.
Pink and violet
Terra cotta bricks are widely used in Toulouse, giving it the moniker the Pink City. But it is also famous for the flower called the Toulouse violet, which has come to symbolize the city. The flower is widely used in the city to produce fragrances and cosmetics. The Graine de Pastel shop specializes in violet cosmetic products.
Toulouse violet is also used in delicious food items including preserves, sugared petals for cake toppings and violet liqueur.
As in the rest of France, delectable cuisine draws visitors to Toulouse, with its signature dish a slow-cooked casserole called cassoulet, which typically includes beans, pork, goose confit and Toulouse sausage.
The city is home to numerous cafes, bakeries and Michelin-starred dining places. There’s always a big crowd at places such as Restaurant Emile (one Michelin star) where I savored pate de foie gras and cassoulet with duck leg confit. The meal was capped with lemon souffle and of course coffee.
Tourists visit Toulouse not only for the cuisine, aviation history and Christian attractions, but also for music. Toulouse holds 400 music festivals a year, although this is down from the pre-pandemic 600, according to Jean-Clause Dardelet, Toulouse deputy mayor for international relations.
The city is also made vibrant by its large population of students. Dardelet points out with pride that Toulouse opened the first academy in France, as well as the newest, which specializes in—what else—aerospace.
He quotes a French proverb from the 16th century: “We go to Paris to see, we go to Lyon to have, we go to Bordeaux to spend and we go to Toulouse to learn.”
Locals, however, stress that today, all these things can be done in Toulouse. With the music of your choice in the background, while worshipping the sun during the summer solstice.
