Castres, Languedoc’s Little Venice

Another little family weekend trip turned out to be a discovery of a new town and region in Occitanie. Located far from our beaches, nestled in the mountains, we reached Castres, aka the little Venice of Occitanie, known throughout the country for its rugby team and its pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturing. So, after 2 hours of driving through stunningly winding roads past the Montagne Noire we found Castres.

Located north of Carcassonne and east of Toulouse, Castres was built on the ruins of a Roman village, giving the city a history well over 2000 years. The brightly coloured houses with corbelled facades and basements immersed in the river, built alongside the Agout River in northern Occitanie. The alignments of the facades along the river are reminders of the city’s first vocation linked to the textile industry. Here tanners and leather makers worked along the banks using the water source not only for shipping, but also for their trade. Second and third stories were used for drying their work and the top stories for living quarters. Read more ...