Attractions and Places To See around Auragne - Top 20

Very nice windmill by the side of the road.

It is absolutely essential to notify the Toulouse town hall, highway department.

Very beautiful church, typical of the southwest.

A pilgrims' hostel run by the Association of Friends of the Way of St. James Occitaine in a former lock keeper's house. Since April 2023, pilgrims with ID / Credencial can stay here for €17 per night. Breakfast is available for a donation. There are 14 places. It is advisable to reserve the evening before. The surroundings are very beautiful. Unfortunately, the traffic from the nearby motorway is very loud outside. ---- Gîte d'étape à Ayguesvives Ecluse du sanglier 31450 AYGUESVIVES Tel : +33 5 34663009 https://www.chemins-compostelle.com/hebergeur/fiche/1256/ayguesvives-gite-d-etape-haute-garonne-occitanie

Be careful on the descent from Montbrun towards Lacroix Falgarde!!! The equipment services or I don't know which service provider had the great idea of digging a mini trench for the optical fiber or something of that kind on the right lane, therefore in the direction of descent. It's very poorly sealed, there are lots of hills or potholes. It's extremely dangerous for cyclists given the speed reached on this steep descent. I would even say more, it's criminal to do such a disgusting job. I don't know if there are plans to fix this road, but it would be really urgent. And this type of trench is found on several roads in this sector. On the D35 in particular, be careful!

A castle village The village was born from a feudal castle dating back probably to the beginning of the 10th century. A very old document reveals that in 1162, the town bore the name of “Monteschivum”, made up of “mont” and a qualifier from the German word “esquiu”, which in Old French gave “eschiu”, c ' that is to say: wild, hostile, fierce. The village was called "Montesquieu" until 1797, then "Montesquieu-sur-le-Canal" and finally Montesquieu-Lauragais since 1889. At the top of the hill ... Montesquieu was installed on a height, to be easy to defend and favorable to the surveillance of the surroundings. Until the 13th-14th century, the region was covered by a thick forest (from Montaudran to Naurouze), a landmark for many brigands. The systematic clearing of this forest began with the installation of bastides in the 13th century, such as those of Villenouvelle, Saint-Rome and Villefranche. In the 18th century, the Hers pipeline accelerated its disappearance. A turbulent history In the 12th-13th century, Montesquieu was a hotbed of Catharism, with a dozen Cathar “houses” and even a Cathar cemetery, perhaps located in Le Rouquet. During the religious wars of the 16th century, the village was Protestant like many others in the region. After a siege of ten days, the Duke of Joyeuse and his Catholic troops reconquer it and completely destroy it in 1586. The inscription preserved next to the entrance to the sacristy proves that the work of reconstruction of the church , and undoubtedly from the village, began as early as 1600. Pastel blue In the 15th and 16th centuries, the pastel grew in a land of Laurentians certainly better than today, impoverished by the wheat-corn rotation which made the glory of the Toulouse region from 1820 to 1880. Written sources mention Montesquieu as a place of purchase of pastel between 1450 and 1540. They indicate the existence of “botigas del pastel” and pastelier mills. They numbered 16 at the beginning of the 15th century and another 9 in the 17th century.

Source Wikipedia: The Church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Montgeard was built for the most part between 1522 and 15612, during the heyday of pastel culture in Lauragais. It has benefited from large donations from local families enriched by this business. In this, this "pastel church" testifies to the golden age of the "land of plenty" during the Renaissance. A funerary case intended to house the tombs of the main pastoral merchant families in the area, the church was in particular to celebrate the rise of the most powerful of them, the Durands, who at the same time became Lords of Montgeard. Following the southern Gothic style, the building surprises with the contrast between its very stripped and defensive exterior and the richness of its interior decoration, in particular sculpted. Its vault, painted in the 19th century in imitation of that of the cathedral of Sainte-Cécile d´Albi, earned it its nickname "Little Albi". The church of Montgeard and its bell tower were classified as a historic monument by decree of April 25, 1890.

A very pleasant single, rather rolling, shaded. Can be wet ...