Toulouse on Spanish time in early December
On the Toulouse Christmas market, Place du Capitole, it is sometimes even the traders who practice their Spanish, because the customers come from the Pyrenees are very numerous. Like Paola, Girona’s place for the weekend: “We are in Toulouse to visit, see the Christmas decorations, the lights … It is a pleasure to discover the city”, smiles the young woman with the big sunglasses. Lana, she was on vacation in the Aude and, “Toulouse is only one hour from Carcassonne! So we took the opportunity to come. It’s very beautiful, and it’s true that a lot of people here speak Spanish in the street!”
This does not bother, of course, market traders, like Kathia, who sells products made from violets: “They are nice, talkative, we will not go into clichés, but they are talkative, expansive, they are a good clientele, who buy something to please everyone, let’s say! “
A wealth worthy of an August
And this influx of Spanish tourists, it is verified at the Toulouse tourist office, where every day, in the first days of December, nearly 1,500 people crowded among them at least half a place on the other side of the Pyrenees. “It’s at the level of an August, it’s exceptional”, wonders the director, Jérôme Gorisse. “It must be said that the Spaniards were limited in their movements, and at the beginning of December they have a bridge, which is called the puente de la imaculada, so several holidays. They have the opportunity to move, but not too far either, Toulouse is becoming ideal. “ The tourist office lists requests for stays between two and four days. “And the attractiveness of the Lantern Festival is added, says Jérôme Gorisse. On a press release in Catalonia, around Madrid, around the event. “
What attracts, perhaps more than in other years, tourists from Spain, Those who couldn’t come last year.