The magnificent city of Auvillar, between Toulouse and Bordeaux, overlooking the Garonne valley in the south-west of France, is one of the most beautiful villages in France, a tourist and artistic center of the Occitan region. It is also a stopover on the roads of Saint Jacques de Compostela. A very famous and comfortable communal holiday cottage offers 16 beds for pilgrims.
Services :
A hotel, guest houses and cottages. Many possibilities of lodging are thus offered, and also places to restore you (5 restaurants), as well as a service of snacks. The city has all the necessary shops: grocery store, bakery, hairdresser, pharmacy, but also dentists, a doctor, not to mention the Sunday morning farmer’s market.
Arts:
Auvillar has 3 art galleries: Artkads (paintings, sculptures), Bleu Réglisse with Toutain works in red thread (paintings, sculptures, snacks, drinks) and Espace 213-Auvill’Art (paintings, wood carvings and boutique candles, coffee and tea).
Tourism :
After centuries of history, Auvillar lost its castle and its walls, but remains today a very dynamic village, which is pleasantly visited, in its beautiful renovated lanes. The events are numerous from spring to autumn and finally, the museum hosts an extraordinary collection of earthenware dating from the eighteenth century for the oldest, and were manufactured in Auvillar from 1739 to 1909. The Friends of Old Auvillar organize tours commented on the village and museums (05.63.39.89.82).
https://auvillar.museum
Monuments:
The clock tower, monumental door of the XVIIth century allows a unique access to the historical center of the village. It nowadays hosts the museum of the shipping.
The triangular square, lined with rich brick and stone houses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, testifies to the prestigious past of the merchant city, forming a real jewel for the circular grain market, whose Tuscan columns give an elegance and a unique cachet to this classified monument which houses the Sunday morning farmer’s market.
Stroll in the cobbled streets to discover the half-timbered and corbelling houses, the Consuls’ Palace, the laundry and of course, the unmistakable viewpoint over the Garonne valley and the Quercy slopes located on the Place du Château.
Saint Pierre church, one of the largest in the Tarn-et-Garonne, is decorated with an exceptional baroque altarpiece (currently in restoration). The parvis, recently renovated, allows to appreciate the splendor of the west facade of the monument.
The ancient path of Peyrat, section of the path Podiensis that leads to Saint Jacques de Compostela, is a link between the village and its port located below, along the river Garonne.
The boatmen’s houses face the watercourse and rub shoulders with the Sainte Catherine chapel, patron saint of the sailors, rebuilt in the 14th century on the orders of Pope Clement V.
This historic site, of Carolingian origin, has just been renovated under the aegis of the buildings of France.
A walk is necessary on the quays, witnesses of the intense activity of this port from which were shipped the famous earthenware auvillaraises with the decoration and the solidity appreciated (rich collection to see with the museum of the Friends of Old Auvillar) as well as the quality goose feathers for calligraphy.
