La Couvertoirade

After a few days hanging out at Xander’s dad and Jenny’s place we decided that we should get out and do at least a little exploring.  Usually when we are going somewhere I will scour the internet to find places I want to visit but this trip was mostly about spending time with family so I didn’t make any other plans.  That left us a little lost when we were trying to figure out where we wanted to visit.

Jenny suggested that we go visit La Couvertoirade, which I’ve never heard of but everyone else at the table agreed, so we agreed to get up the early the next morning and set off before it got too hot out.  I charged my camera batteries and was ready to go!

A little info about La Couvertoirade, in case you are like me and had never heard of it.

From Wikipedia:

La Couvertoirade is located on the Larzac plateau.

This well-preserved fortified town was owned by the Knights Templar, under orders from the Commandery of Sainte-Eulalie, from the twelfth century. The Templars built the fortress there during the 12th and 13th centuries; its two upper floors have since been removed. Following their dissolution in 1312, the Templars’ property in the causses was taken by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who were responsible for building the curtain wall at La Couvertoirade between 1439 and 1450.

Like other Larzac villages, the population fell rapidly in the 19th century, to as few as 362 by 1880. Today, it is largely inhabited by craftsmen working with enamel, pottery, weaving and similar crafts.

Here is a scan of one of the postcards I bought, wrote and never did get around to sending.  I know, I’m a slacker… but at least now I have something to show the village from this angle!

As you can see it’s not very big, but it’s very nice and there are a lot of cool shops in there with different crafts and foods.  We got there at about 9am and it turned out that none of the shops were opening until 10am.  It was quite good though because it was already very hot and we got to walk around while the village was practically empty so I could take photos without a lot of people in the way.

Prepare yourself… you know I have very little control over myself when it comes to limiting the amount of photos I add.  I try, I really do, but I fail.  Let’s all just try to live with it.  If you have trouble loading it, get a new computer… you’ll thank me for it later!

Once everything opened up we decided to go into the tourist office in the village, where a young girl came up to us offering us loads of info about La Couvertoirade and the surrounding area of Aveyron.  She asked if we wanted to walk along the ramparts of the village, and there was no way I could say no.  I knew that going up there would give a great view of the village itself plus the valley all around it.

Before you go up to the ramparts you go into a little room where they show a movie about the history of the village with the Knights Templar and how it was restored afterward.  There is a small museum room as well before you go up onto the walls.

It was so nice in cool inside the stone buildings, I was tempted to hang around in there a while longer just to escape the heat, which was already stifling at only 10am!  I wanted to see the village from above though, and the walk along the walls really didn’t disappoint.

When I got up there I thought to myself how thankful I was to have shaved a few inches off my hips before our holiday, because some of the walkways were quite narrow!

Other parts had only a small metal rail, not sure I would be comfortable taking children up there.  Although, depending on how the kid was behaving, it might be worth the risk for these views.

After we came down off the ramparts we shopped around a little.  We didn’t buy much as it was quite expensive and aimed at us tourists.

We stopped at a little ice cream shop and sat in the shade to cool off. It was coming along lunch time and it was hotter than a… hot thing.  We were both absolutely cooking and couldn’t wait to get back to the house so we could jump in the pool and cool off.

On the way out I came across small workshop with a man doing some wood carvings.  I had to stop and have a look!

When he saw us looking in I asked him if he’d mind if I took some photos of him and he said go ahead.  I was sort of surprised as most people don’t really like getting their photos taken.  Also, almost every shop in the entire village had signs up saying that you were not allowed to take photos.  I found this so strange in a place that is made for tourists, but what can you do?  I assume they are worried that someone, somewhere, will copy their crafts?  I don’t know.

Anyhow, he was very cool about it and just kept on working and let me do my thing.

We really liked the carving in the middle of the man smoking, and thought it would make a great gift for my father in law, until we asked how much it was and he told us 300 euro.  We settled for taking a photo of it for him instead!

I loved this village and am so glad Jenny recommended it to us.  I had such a good time walking around, looking at the crafts and taking photos.  I was in heaven!

I’m not sure Xander felt the same though, having already been there a number of times in the past it was nothing he hasn’t seen before.  Even though he was warm and bored, he kept a smile on his face and let me take my time exploring the village.  He even offered to be my pack mule and carried my camera bag around for me all morning.

Isn’t he just the greatest?  I mean, I may be a little biased, but I’m pretty sure he’s the best husband that ever lived.  He’s the best one I’ve ever had anyway!

I know it’s hard to believe, but there actually are more photos than what I’ve shown here.  You can see them here on Flickr.