Saint-Bertrand de Comminges

May 31, 2026 – near Saint Pé d’Ardet to Saint-Bertrand de Comminges – 21 kms – Hotel Candide

June 1, 2026 – Saint-Bertrand de Comminges to Labastide – 31 kms – Chez Baptistète

Gordon:  The UNESCO designation of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France includes 71 specific structures, mostly churches.  We have been fortunate to see four of them in the past few days.  

The first, the former cathedral, cloister and episcopal palace at St. Lizier, and the second, the church in Andressein, have previously been pictured in our blog.  We visited the third and fourth ones yesterday in the town of Saint-Bertrand de Comminges.

In the flat farmland outside of Saint-Bertrand the Basilica Saint-Just with its enormous bell tower is visible for many kilometres.  It is a remarkable 12th century basilica that has had minimal restoration.  It was a treat to wander through the interior and around the exterior looking for the various sculptures that decorate the church.

Unmissibly prominent behind Saint-Just is the fortified town of Saint-Bernard de Comminges, which from a distance looks like an enormous church with a few houses nestled at its base.  Formerly a Roman city, the Cathedral of Sainte Marie was started as a Romanesque cathedral in the early 12th century, and completed in the 14th as a Gothic structure.  Inside the former cathedral is a beautiful 16th century pipe organ that is 16 metres high.  There is also an extraordinary wooden choir carved in the 16th century.  Each of the 66 seats is unique, with a mix of religious, popular and Roman subjects.  Some of the images are rather naughty, so we spent considerable time looking for these.

I am frequently amazed by the extraordinary sites that we pass through on our pilgrimage walks and rides.  These are often in small towns, and see few visitors.  In an age of over-visited destinations, it is wonderfully relaxed to be one of five visitors in an historical and artistic gem such as Saint-Just.  In the case of the church in Andressein, we may have been the only visitors that day.  While we have more or less decided that we may never visit over-touristed destinations like Venice and Florence, the less well-known sites will keep us coming back to Europe for the indefinite future.