Toulouse City Centre

August 2005

In the city centre, the Place du Capitole takes centre stage. The large square is surrounded by cafes and restaurants which overlook the beautiful facade of the Mairie, with its pink marble columns and red and white bricks.

The main strip of cafes is under a long arched corridor with painted ceilings. One of the must-try places here is Octave, an ice-cream shop which only serves ice-cream and sorbet — no drinks, except for water. Only in France could a cafe get away with such obsessiveness around food that they can claim that drinking anything with their ice-cream will interfere with the taste.

Secretly smoke-free places in Toulouse

Terra Nova Librairie/Cafe, rue Gambetta

At least once a week I go to Terra Nova Librairie/Cafe. I host my English Conversation in Toulouse group there and regularly meet people for coffee there or just go by myself if I happen to be in town. The cafe is non-smoking, peaceful and comfortable with very friendly staff, great food and excellent coffee. What more could you ask for?

Okini, rue des Tourneurs

On the topic of quiet, relaxing, smoke-free places in Toulouse, there's also Okini. It is a Japanese tea salon and is a great place to go for a cheap, wholesome lunch or simply a refreshing hot cup of green tea. Inside, it's like you've been transported to another world.

Grand Albert Cafe, place du Capitole

A place I frequent along the corridor which faces the grand capitole building, is the Grand Albert. It's not a particularly great place, foodwise, but I go there solely for the reason that they are non-smoking inside between 12noon and 6pm. When you're tired and need a refreshing drink after a day of shopping, it's nice to know that there's a place you can go to relax away from tobacco fumes.

Shopping in Toulouse

The main shopping streets in Toulouse are rue Saint Rome and rue Alsace-Lorraine. Of course, there are loads of other streets to shop on, but somehow they all lead back to these two streets. Rue Saint Rome is particularly confusing because it is a small pedestrian street which stretches on for at least 3km but it sneakily changes its name after each block. To make matters more confusing, every 10 metres or so is an alley or street which leads to another great little street for shopping.

By the time you've turned a couple of times down different alleys and come back on to rue Saint Rome, you have no idea which street you're actually on, nor which direction you were following, nor how to find any of the shops you found the week before. But it's fun trying to find them all over again!