Castres
Around 45 minutes south of Albi is the city of Castres, which developed around the Benedictine abbey of Saint Benoît, founded in AD 647. Don’t miss the Saturday morning market which fills the whole of Place Jean Jaurès. From Quai des Jacobins there's a striking view of the medieval multi-storey tanners' and dyers' houses lining the River Agout, known as the Venice of Languedoc
All have basements, opening directly onto the river where animal skins were cleansed and rinsed and then put in tanks full of lime. The ground floor was occupied by the workers with the masters living above. On the top two floors were the drying sheds, with shuttered openings protecting the hides from the sun during summer and from the frost during winter. Under the roof, the “soleiller”, or second drying shed was left wide open to let the air and light in.
The Bishop's Palace is now the town hall and has immaculately laid out gardens by Le Notre, a famous 17th century landscape gardener who also laid out the gardens at Versailles. It’s also home to the Goya museum, dedicated to Spanish artists, and contains a handful of works by the master himself. Don’t miss their Picasso, the "Bust of Man Writing", on loan from the Picasso Museum.
Royal School-Abbey of Sorèze
Half an hour south west from here is the Bastide village of Sorèze. The Benedictine abbey became a Royal Military School under Louis XVI, then a college for the rich and famous and only closed in 1991.