Toulouse, Random Street Photography in May

Our brief day visit to Toulouse was packed with activities, but while walking from place to place, I managed to take a few informal shots on the streets.

First, I am continually reminded how few green spaces there are in the old Mediterranean cities other than trees which somehow manage to extract water that slips through paving stones.  Young children simply must be accompanied by an adult in major cities, which was certainly not the life I knew growing up in a small town in Ohio.  When I was their age, we thought nothing of my walking by myself through a large treed cemetery when going to school.

Carriage entries are still useful and often elegant passageways to inner courtyards.  Of course graffiti crops up everywhere.

Brick was important to the Romans and continues to be used throughout Toulouse.

Too many young people still take up smoking in France.  Fortunately, smoking is now absolutely banned inside all French restaurants and pubs.

Some of the ancient passageways seem even too narrow for a medieval horse-drawn cart, but they do provide shortcuts through some of the city's oldest sections.

Artists abound throughout France, though I had to wonder how this shop makes a living.

Toulouse, La Basilique Saint-Sernin

This gorgeous Romanesque basilica takes us back to May 24, 1096 when Pope Urban II was joined by other 14 bishops to consecrated its altar.  The Basilica Saint Sernin is named after Saint Saturnin (3rd century, now known as Sernin), the city's first bishop who was martyred by the governing Romans for refusing to offer sacrifices to their customary gods.  His feast day is celebrated each November 29th by the Bishop of Toulouse. The basilica is associated with Saint Sernin's relics and is now a very active parish church.

In the first two photos, we are approaching the basilica, looking at the exterior of the beautiful apse with its smaller protruding chapels.  The interplay of red brick and stone/cement is just wonderful, so unlike what one finds in most French cathedrals and basilicas, particularly those closer to Paris.  Of course the Empire's Roman engineers had introduced brick and mortar into the architecture of the occupied south of France many centuries earlier.

The care given to creating colourful designs makes the exterior truly attractive, especially now that it has been carefully cleaned.  Emphasis is placed on design, reminding me of Muslim interest in creating intricate patterns rather than human likenesses.  Typical for the Romanesque style of ecclesiastical architecture in this area, the windows are not all that large, so they do not require the external flying buttresses that will predominate church exteriors during the later Gothic style. Here (below) you can see the occasional oculus ("eye" or round window), an additional small piercing of the sturdy walls which does not weaken the integrity of the structure while admitting a bit more light.

The central tower climbs majestically, though it cannot be viewed from inside the basilica.

The brick masonry is continued inside the basilica.  This closeup shows how they draw trowel lines to help demarcate the rows of bricks or larger stones.

However, it seems likely that some of this beautiful work in brick was once covered with intricately painted plaster.  If you click on the following picture, you will see painting on the small arches in the upper archways on the right.

The nave, where the laity would gather to listen to the worship service (observing it from afar), is quite long.  In fact, its relatively narrow dimensions, combined with its pronounced height, accentuate this impression.  The ceiling of the nave, like that in each aisle, is essentially a barrel vault, forming the upper half of the 'barrel'.  This concept is derived from the old and well-tested Roman arch which still endures throughout Europe.  Each archway is also rounded in this old, or "Romanesque" style.

The following view is distorted by the 16mm lens.  If you click on it, you can see that there are essentially two outer aisles across the way, and the upper level walkway is above the inner of those two outer aisles.  This uppermost level also has openings to the central nave, using double arches in order to span the same distance as the lower, larger arch.  By using two outer aisles on each side, the height of the nave could be considerably increased.

In fact, the central supports for these higher arches are double columns in a style recalling Roman architecture.

The following photo gives us another view (with a corrected perspective) from one side of the basilica to the other (north to south as I recall), looking through the tall archway, across the nave and into the opposite aisle with its (hidden) vaults.  Although this is beautiful in its own right, the basilica is obviously oriented by the tremendous length of its nave (rather than across the nave).

Now we are looking down the length of a smaller (outermost) aisle, a view which shows the continual intersecting in the aisle's double-barrel vaulting.  It is as though we have one long archway (barrel) running the length of the aisle, which is then intersected by other barrel vaults which lead from each archway to the corresponding window. 

You can enlarge the following photo to see the informative overall plan which is displayed in the basilica.  The church is built in the shape of the cross, as was true for so many pilgrimage churches located along routes leading Santiago de Compostella in Spain, where St James is presumably buried.  Saint Sernin would eventually become wealthy from donations of pilgrims. 

 This statue honours Sanctus Silvius, the fourth bishop of Toulouse.  He is prominently honoured in this basilica in recognition of his constructing the first shrine over the burial site of St Sernin (also known as Saturnin).  This was to prove an initial step toward the eventual construction of this Romanesque basilica many centuries later.

I am always intrigued by cathedral lighting.  Originally only natural light and beeswax candles would have been used.  With the adoption of electricity, these church interiors are now freed from the stains of candle smoke.

The choir follows the monastic plan of the monks being divided to sit on the sides of the cantors and the deacons, facing each other.  The wooden choir stalls are beautifully and elaborately carved.

Finally, a photo of the pulpit, which is built some distance from the ancient altar.  It is placed at the side of the nave so that the laity could hear the sermons spoken in their dialect, not in liturgical Latin.  The acoustics of the hard surfaces would be challenging for audibility, but a good set of lungs, a few gestures, and communication would be possible. 

Marché, Market Day in Toulouse

The citizens of France have so much to teach North Americans about food, the joy of eating excellent food, devoting a high percentage of your income to quality food, spending hours over a leisurely meal while savouring food and conversation, the excellence of simplicity when using the best ingredients . . . .

I would imagine that if we could return to most French cities 300 years from now, we would find open air markets still operating on the same mornings throughout the week as they did centuries ago.  This is a European tradition which grew as town life increasingly detracted city dwellers from planting their own vegetables and raising their own meat.  Strict rules and regulations govern the precise locations and times when each market operates, and the city prepares the space and cleans up afterward.

Almost magically, vendors descend with their trucks laden with tables, aprons for the tables, scales, cash registers, signs with prices, transparent plastic bags for the more delicate perishables, and box upon box of fresh items purchased from importers and distribution centers just hours earlier.  Tents are sometimes erected and everything happens quickly.  Some markets are operating by 7:00 a.m. and nearly all are packed up and gone by 1:00 p.m.  At most, an open air market would be open three days a week at a given location, but sometimes only twice or even once if drawing customers primarily from the countryside and other smaller villages.

I really enjoy these marchés.  Having insufficient courage, I tend to stroll around with my camera held waist high, shooting without really knowing what I am getting.  This seems to disturb customers and vendors far less than when I hold my SLR to my eye, frame and shoot.

On this chilly Saturday in mid May, I was really intending to visit the cathedral, but on the way I paused to see this flower vendor setting up under tents on a narrow triangular corner which featured Toulouse's version of the flatiron building.  The road sign points the way to the Place Victor Hugo, which has the largest market in this capital city.  However, I went instead to a smaller market which was obviously servicing the local neighbourhood.

 

I first noticed people carrying the sort of bags one gets at these markets, so I walked over to see where the action was.  It was about 11:30 a.m. when things were in full swing and folks were shopping quickly before vendors started to think about finishing.

 

Tables were laden with fruits, winter root vegetables and a few tables (shown later) featured the season's very first gariguettes, the first strawberries available from French farmers.  In my opinion, they are also the best, by far.

People don't just shop, they also pause for conversation, laughter and stories.  Customers obviously frequent the same vendors week after week and develop friendships.

 

I wish I knew the source of these tomatoes, possibly Morocco, Algeria, Spain, hothouses in Provence?

 

The oranges looked superb, possibly because of the bright spring light, but they were also plump and juicy.

 

 

This vendor is testing the relative ripeness of the avocados for her customers.

These men talked for some time, clearly enjoying themselves.

White asparagus was just starting to appear, a delicacy created by continually mounding the soil to keep light away from the stalks, making them unbelievably tender.  To the left we see the Gariguettes, my favourite strawberries, period. Each region has its own traditions.  In Toulouse, vendors supply customers brightly coloured round plastic baskets they can use when selecting their own produce.  It is assumed that you bring your own bags.  There is certainly no room for North America's large four-wheel grocery carts!

 

Some vendors have trucks/trailers which can open, becoming refrigerated cases for meat or cheeses.  Sausages hang from the metal ceilings.  Meat throughout France is excellent, their standards are very high.

 

Baked desserts are also available.  A large ring of coffee cake can be sold in portions, as much as you wish for the evening's meal. 

 

This vendor's truck offers a wide variety of French cheeses, nearly all of which are more or less local to that particular district.  To find cheese from other countries, you have to go to specialty import shops.  But these people know their cheeses, sometimes asking when you will be eating it--today, or tomorrow.  It makes a difference.

Eggs are generally not refrigerated.  They sell quickly and are fresh to begin with, unlike eggs available in our North American supermarkets (which are 'super' only in quantity and price but almost never in true quality).

 

Every neighbourhood must, by law, have a bakery open within reasonable walking distance every day of the week.  Even so, some specialty bakers make a business of selling more unusual traditional and non-traditional breads either made in special ways or having whole grains.  Local bakeries are increasingly moving in this direction as well.  The traditional white-flour baguette is still available everywhere, but most shelf space in bakeries is now devoted to other breads which are becoming very popular with the health-conscious French .

I also like to look behind the scenes in some open air markets, seeing how much produce has been brought, how well things are selling (which cases are empty).  People continually clean up as the brisk sales continue.  At the close of each market, large motorized street cleaners go through and wash down the sidewalks and streets, all cartons are tossed into large garbage trucks, and once the sidewalks dry, you would never know anybody had been selling anything there.