Two days in Toulouse, France

I visited Toulouse, a city in the South of France, about a month ago on the weekend from Milan. Toulouse is the capital city of the Southern region of France, near the Midi-Pyrenees hill range. I travelled to Toulouse to visit my relatives who are residents of the quaint, largely unexplored city, since a few years.

The city of Toulouse is mostly known for being home to the headquarters of the world famous airplane manufacturer Airbus and the multi-national organization of Infosys. It is home to many international citizens, living there for work in these two huge companies. Recently, the city has become well-known for its universities and has seen a greater surge in its student population, thus enhancing the student and youth culture in the city. Since the city is consisted mostly of families and international employees, and students, the culture is quite relaxed and laidback.

I have been there once before, where I stayed with my relatives for a month, to complete a small internship. The first trip I made to Toulouse for over four years ago, and involved work during the day, so I usually visited the main city during the evening or in the weekends. I was working in Cornebarrieu, which is a residential area in the surburban town of Toulouse, so I explored a lot of outskirts, which had some really good cafes and patisserie's as they were local, handmade and fresh. This time around was more about exploring and relaxing in the main city, which any new traveller or tourist would do. 

FROM MILAN TO TOULOUSE

Toulouse is about nine hours away from Milan by road, so the easiest and most affordable option for travel was Easyjet. The round flight trip cost me around 32 euros only! Easyjet has its own terminal in the Milan-Malpensa Airport, which is Terminal 1. I took the Malpensa Express from Milan Centrale station and got off at the last stop, which is next to the Terminal 1 of the airport.

DAY ONE

I reached Toulouse in the afternoon, around 15.00 hours. Getting out from the airport was easy, as the airport, called Toulouse Blagnac, is not that big. From outside I took the tram that has its first stop as the airport and travelled for some distance, before I was picked up by my relative and driven towards their house in Colomiers (residential area in the suburbs of the main city).

We had lunch at home and then drove to the main city. The central plaza in Toulouse is called Capitole de Toulouse, which is near to the Garonne river that passes through the city. The Capitole is home to a lot of shops, restaurants and museums. The main sight is the historical landmark of Place du Capitole, which is a majestic neoclassical palace housing lavish ceremonial rooms painted with frescoes and a major tourist attraction. The Toulouse University, and other private colleges, are also nearby.

We roamed around the Capitole, where the main square (that has the Place du Capitole) streams into smaller cobbled streets marked with local shops and international brands, and welcoming restaurants and bars. We had a quick lunch in one such takeaway counter (burgers!) and walked towards the West, towards the river. It was genuinely perfect timing, as we reached the river banks right when the sun started setting! Since I am a sucker for beautiful sunsets, I was really glad that on the banks of the river there are big steps to sit and relax on, or walk down from the wide plaza to the stone deck below next to the river. This area, called Pont Saint-Pierre de Toulouse, derived from the name of the crossover bridge connecting the city on either side of the river, is a really lively plaza. Surrounded by colorful and inviting bars on three sides, and the beautiful wide river Garonne on the other, it is the perfect evening spot, to lay back and chill with a glass of wine or beer after a hard day of work or study! 

We walked further on the main road next to the river, from the crossover bridge of Saint-Pierre towards the next bridge, called Le Pont Neuf. This is a bigger, more historical and renowned bridge since the river gets wider below it. It is an architectural marvel, and very mesmerizing! 

We walked back towards Saint-Pierre after getting our full of the beautiful sunset taking place in front of us. The long day of walking culminated into an evening of relaxed drinking and conversations, for which we chose to sit at Le Bar Basque, right on the plaza of Saint-Pierre. What a beautiful place! REALLY recommended for anyone who travels to Toulouse. They have both an indoor and outdoor space - and the outdoors is really well made. Hidden well from the street outside by a small gate, the outside bar is shadowed by large trees decked up with colorful fairy lights, and a combination of sitting areas. For a laidback evening, this was perfect - made better with a glass of lager.

The weather was really good as well. (September to March is a good time to go!) From Le Bar Basque, we made our way home, as we had already prepped for our dinner at home.

DAY TWO

Day two, being a Sunday, was a relaxed affair in the morning. Having brunch at home, we then decided to make our way to the famous V&B bar of Toulouse, which had recently opened their outlet in Colomiers. V&B bar is another recommened must-visit, as they have both a retail outlet as well as a bar, offering an extremely well curated and large collection of beer and wine, from Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal - all countries famous for producing these drinks - and some other options as well. It was a hot day (in February! Unexpectedly!) so the cold Belgian beer was welcomed. 

From V&B, we took the highway to travel to the lake at L'isle Jourdain, or the Grand lac de L'isle Jourdain. It is a big lake, perfect for sunny days, about 30 kilometres from Colomiers. Surrounded by skating parks, small beach-houses, bars, a park and garden for kids, it is frequented by both families and students, and lets you boat over the lake as well (Sidenote: Sundays are not good for any activites, as I unfortunately found out). The day was nice and the sun was out, so we spent some time just walking around the banks of the lake and observing other families and kids enjoying and lazing around. 

After an hour or so, we left to drive towards the airport. Since there was still time for my flight back, we stopped at a big mall near the airport, called the Blagnac (named after the airport and the area). It is a collection of shops, restaurants, bar and the big French brand supermarket, Carrefour. We sat at a bar for tapas and drinks, passing the time by and admiring the setting sun. 

Since this was my second trip to Toulouse, I would like to recommend some dishes from my first trip - be sure to try the famous Foie Gras (it is duck fat and extremely delicious) - I tried it in the cafeteria in one of the Airbus buildings, along with a really tasty creme brulee with whipped cream. (This second trip included Indian food made at home, so I did not really try anything different in any restaurant!)

I do think Toulouse is really beautiful! It is a small, peaceful town, and the locals are really sweet and helpful. It is definitely worth a trip, maybe a bigger one towards the South of France - the French Riviera, or towards Spain - in which Toulouse can be one stop! (Barcelona is 4 hours away by road from Toulouse, but that is another article).