Albi has three great attractions: the Cathedral of Sainte Cécile, the Palais de la Berbie (housing the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum) and the Old Bridge, as well as its charming streets (UNESCO World Heritage).

In the morning light they are a bright pink, in the evening, dark red and, at the hottest part of the day, they are almost empty. There are houses with half-timbering, with corbelled vaulting, narrow passageways, cobblestones, all the picturesque charm of the Middle Ages in the warm colours of the south.

Wander around, glance into every little opening: the Hôtel Reynes with its extraordinary loggia, built by a very wealthy pastel merchant in 1530; the 13th-century cloister of Saint Salvi, with its green triangle and series of twin columns… Beyond the well-known or famous sights, Albi likes to keep a few surprises in store as a reward for visitors who are not in too much of a hurry. From the Old Bridge – the oldest in France – you can watch evening fall, as the shadows creep down the stairway, from the bell-tower keep to the nave, from the nave to the ramparts and from the ramparts to the river.