Day 26 - Irish Hospitality on the Chemin Saint-Jacques : Exploring Moissac

We work up late (7 am), and had a cool and relaxing morning in the gite, complete with a typical French breakfast in the kitchen.  Today is a rest day, so we were able to leave our bags at the gite, even though we were moving from a room to the dormitory.

After breakfast we set off to explore the city.  We began by walking to the nearby church of St. Martin.  It is a Romanesque building which is rumored to have some elaborate frescoes inside.  When we arrived there we found a beautiful building, but although it has an interpretive sign outside it clearly isn't maintained, and it was closed up tight.

It was already getting very hot, so we wandered downtown and along the shaded path beside the canal.  As we wandered we saw a steady stream of pilgrims heading out, all looking very determined.  It seemed like some of them were so focused on the act of hiking that they didn't notice the beauty of the morning, or Napolean's bridge.  Perhaps today's lesson is to slow down and appreciate what the world has to offer.

We spent some time wandering along the river, and walked along to the raised boat bridge, which allows boats in the canal to cross over the river.  It was a very interesting structure, but sadly no boats were passing over it while we visited.

After enjoying the cooling breezes by the water for as long as possible, we headed back into town to look for the Chapel of St. Jacques and explore the old part of town.

Sadly, when we found the Chapel of St. Jacques it was closed, but it looked like an interesting building.  Across the street was a bakery that was very much open, and since we seem unable to bypass any French bakery without picking up at least a small morsel, we selected a nice peach tart to be getting on with.

After this brief snack, we wandered down into the art deco district.  Here we found hidden courtyards lined with art studios and filled with interesting pieces of art.

Next our wanderings took us back to the main square outside the cathedral.  Since the cloister was closing at noon, we decided not to go in again until it reopened.

Instead we wandered back to the park, where we sat on a bench and did some administrative catching up on the blog and our reservations for the coming days.  We also visited the post office and mailed a couple packages off.  After that we paid the cloister another visit, and spent some time admiring and trying to interpret the intricate carvings on the tops of the columns.

It was an enjoyable and lazy day.  We headed back to the gite at 3 pm, checked back in, and did our chores for the day.  We shared an evening meal with many interesting fellow pilgrims.  There was a young Swiss man who was getting funded to do the Camino as part of his professional development.  Man, we live in the wrong country!  And there were several others who ending their Caminos in Moissac.  

Sitting in the cool garden at Ultrea Albergue, surrounded by amazing company and a cute curious dog, was an enjoyable ending to a good day.

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Practical Information:
Distance travelled: 0km (rest day)
Accommodation: Ultreia