DESTINATIONS TOULOUSE | EUROPE

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Toulouse 48Joanna Booth plans two days exploring the historic and futuristic sides of ’s southern gem

ith its magnificent boulevards lined by elegant, 19th-century buildings in rose-tinted brick, Toulouse, wat first glimpse, seems a city steeped in history. But its colourful past is matched by a bright future. This is the home of France’s aviation industry, and a European centre for space exploration. In a weekend here, you can pilot a virtual , walk through the Mir

space station and ride on a giant Minotaur, before refuelling with Shutterstock cassoulet and a glass of Languedoc red. ➣ PICTURE :

travelweekly.co.uk 4 JULY 2019 61 DESTINATIONS TOULOUSE | EUROPE

STAY: MAMA SHELTER TOULOUSE

Created by a scion of the Club Med dynasty, Mama Shelter hotels combine a wealth of hospitality experience with a desire to do things a little differently, and the new outpost CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: in Toulouse is a perfect example Halle de la Machine; Mama of the brand’s stylish but Shelter Toulouse; Flight of affordable offering. the Pioneers; Cité de l’espace Conveniently located in the old centre, behind an PICTURES: Chloé Sabatier/Agence d’Attractivité; Francis Amiand; Manuel Huynh/l’Envoi des Pionniers; Cité de l’espace/Laurent Garcia unassuming facade, lies real individuality. Public spaces are key in Mama Shelter hotels, and immediately beyond the DAY ONEi At the former aerodrome, watch Cafe, which overlooks the reception desk is the pivotal, actors deliver dramatic accounts machines (€16 for entrance and sprawling bar and restaurant. 09.30: Take a stroll along the of their exploits and achievements ride; halledelamachine.fr). The ceiling is one giant Canal du Midi to the city’s (in English as well as French). Then chalkboard mural and there’s a imposing main station, Toulouse- test your flying skills on a custom- 13.30: Just 10 minutes in a taxi living wall, an orange foosball Matabiau. It’s just a four-minute designed simulator, piloting a – Toulouse has Uber – will take table and bright furniture. It’s ride by TER regional train to the Breguet 19 biplane over the desert you out of this world, at Cité a sociable spot, from breakfast suburb of Montaudran, where where Saint-Exupéry crashed – de l’espace. This extraordinary time – when you can tuck into the city’s connection with inspiring him to write Le Petit Prince. space museum will give you an everything from Toulouse aviation began. insight both into the city’s role sausage to granola and green 11.30: Next door, engineering – the Mars rover Curiosity was juice – until the early hours, 10.00: Visit Flight of the Pioneers, takes a quirky turn. Street-theatre partially developed and piloted when you can drink your cocktail a new museum commemorating company La Machine has built a from Toulouse, and this is where by the bar, or outside on the the trailblazers who spearheaded permanent home for some of its young French astronaut Thomas large terrace (perfect for balmy long-distance flight from Europe mechanical creations, including Pesquet studied – and into the summer nights). (entry €8; lenvol-des-pionniers. a gigantic spider and a winged, wider history of space exploration. Upstairs, rooms are simple com). After the First World War fire-breathing Minotaur, which See a live feed from the window but idiosyncratically furnished, ended, aeronautical engineer paraded through the city streets last of the International Space Station, with lamps in the shape of Darth Pierre-Georges Latécoère used year at the exhibit’s launch. Watch journey through the galaxy in Vader’s helmet, pink lighting, the former military aircraft and operators work smaller machines in the planetarium and learn how and handwritten messages on aviators – including aristocratic the hall, then take a 45-minute ride astronauts go to the loo in zero the mirrors. author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – up and down the former runway on gravity. Outside, you can see Book it: From €79 per room to carry mail to the French colonies the back of the 15m-tall Minotaur. a real-size model of the Ariane per night. in and South America. Finish up with lunch at the Minotaur 5 rocket, walk through a prototype ➣ mamashelter.com

travelweekly.co.uk 4 JULY 2019 63 DESTINATIONS EUROPE | TOULOUSE

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Le Capitole; Marché Victor top tip Hugo; Church of the Jacobins; Musée des Augustins; Aeroscopia Find out more about Toulouse PICTURES: Antoine Collas/HapTag; Patrice Thebault/ and get ideas for what to see in Grands Sites Midi-Pyrénées; Dominique Viet; Chloé Sabatier the city at toulouse-visit.com of the Mir space station, and even known for full-bodied reds and paintings and even colourful, get some lunch. Start with a few climb into a Soyuz launch capsule aromatic whites (n5winebar.com). modern works by contemporary oysters and a glass of wine at one (€21, cite-espace.com). artist Jorge Pardo. It’s all set of the fish stalls, and then head up DAY T Wo i around a beautiful cloister, to the first floor where a handful of 16.30: Head back to central colonised by gargoyles rescued restaurants cook with the freshest of Toulouse and browse for an outfit 09.30: Take a wander through from other religious buildings ingredients (marche-victor-hugo.fr). for the evening. The city is the the streets of the old town, full (€2, free the first Sunday of every birthplace of many a cutting-edge of tall, 19th-century, pink-brick month; augustins.org). 15.00: Ahead of your flight home, fashion brand, from Le Comptoir buildings that have given the head out towards the airport in des Cotonniers to The Kooples. city its nickname, La Ville Rose. 12.00: Visit Le Capitole, its Blagnac and visit Aeroscopia. This There are branches of both near Street names in both French and magnificent neoclassical facade aeronautical museum is a plane- the Esquirol Metro station. Occitan highlight this region’s stretching the whole length of the spotter’s dream: you can climb into historic refusal to bow to the rule square that shares its name. Inside, the cockpit of a Concorde – the 19.30: Toulouse is a university of , and the mishmash of you’ll find gilded reception rooms first prototype of the supersonic jet city with a bright, buzzy nightlife. architectural styles visible in St and a series of giant canvases by was built and tested in Toulouse – Enjoy a lively atmosphere and Etienne Cathedral is evidence of local Impressionist Henri Martin, and see everything from a nippy sample some local specialities a 13th‑century clash between showing the city throughout the MiG fighter jet to an enormous, at Cosmopolitain, a bustling, dominant Catholicism and the seasons. swing-nosed Super Guppy cargo central restaurant specialising rebellious Cathars. plane (entry €12.50; musee- in Occitan-style tapas 13.00: Walk to the Marché Victor aeroscopia.fr). (cosmopolitain-toulouse.fr). 10.30: Enjoy one of the city Hugo, where the region’s finest Anyone with an interest in centre’s most tranquil spaces, produce can be found. Shop for how planes are made can book 22.00: Time for a nightcap. and get an overview of fine supplies to take home, including a tour of the huge Airbus factory Choose your grape at N5 Wine arts from the Middle Ages right specialities such as foie gras, next door, where you can see Bar – there are 500 wines through to the 20th century. The Toulouse sausages, cassoulet in tall the assembly line for the giant available by the glass, including Musée des Augustins is a former jars, Roquefort and crisp, almond of the skies, the A380 (reserve a wide choice from the local Gothic convent, with rooms of Croquant biscuits. With your at least two days in advance at Languedoc-Roussillon region, Renaissance sculptures, Romantic appetite well and truly whetted, manatour.fr). TW

64 4 JULY 2019 travelweekly.co.uk