Travel Guide La Louvière-Lauragais

(COUNTRY LAURAGAIS Country lauragais) The origin of the name «Lauragais» comes from a feudal ensemble, dominated from the th century by the lords of Laurac-le-Grand, a locality near Fanjeaux-en-Aude. Stretching from both sides of the old route to the Ariège and beyond the Tarn, the Lauragais of the time corresponded roughly to the «Country of Caucanha», the famous country of Cocagne. It had its golden age in the th and th centuries with the culture of pastel, whose blue pigments were extracted and which until the end of the th century would remain the sole source of blue dye available in Europe! Later, the development of trade routes to the Far East would allow for the arrival of indigo, less expensive, and thus ruin the country of Cocagne… now the Lauragais brings together 153 communes on horseback over three departments and two regions. Becoming a country of cultures, the large plains that make it up welcome fields of wheat or mainly sunflower and rape. The trees are therefore rare, sometimes straight lines, unless they rise to the north, where the west end of the Black Mountain is found.In the centre of the country, Castelnaudary has become famous thanks to its cassoulet, which can be tasted in different ways in and around the restaurants of the city. At the western end, the threshold of Naurouze, which marks the border between Mediterranean and Atlantic, is the dividing line of the waters…