The cutest towns always seem to be the ones you discover by accident, in passing. Saint-Girons qualified for that distinction today! It has an advantage in also being one bisected by a river, with pretty bridges connecting the two sides. The town is in an area called the Couserans, a forested area of southern France where the Gascony plains meet the Pyrenees. The river you see In the first few photos is the Salat, but it is joined upstream by the Lez River. There is a family of ducks swimming downstream in the second photo. We sat in a restaurant on the river, watching the ducks, and the sound of the water was the only noise we heard, our view that of the beautiful river on a warm and sunny day. The river was like glass…you can see the reflections of the bridge, buildings, and clouds very clearly! The Church of Saint-Girons was lovely, and bigger (inside and outside) than we imagined for such a small town. The bell tower dates to the 15th century, but the church dates only to the 19th. People were walking across the bridge with packages, but not hurrying. It was that kind of place. You just slow down and enjoy the river, the trees, the bridges, and views of the church.
There a few shots of the bridge, church, a beautiful colonnade of trees, some old buildings, and we found a monument in memory of those who died in the World War II Resistance/Deportation movement. The last photo looked quintessentially French to us, with shutters over the windows. We loved that they were purple!
