Port Viguerie

In past centuries, if you came to stand on this side of the Garonne, you were on the wrong side of history. This neighborhood housed the sick, the exiled and the plague-stricken. As always, time has worked its magic and today you find yourself on the cosmopolitan side of the Saint-Cyprien district. Port Viguerie was part of a major urban redevelopment project meant to unite the right banks of the Garonne with the historic heritage of this ancient district. Today, it hosts major summer attractions such as the Toulouse Plage, an artificial river beach, and the Ferris wheel! It’s also a great place to get a bird’s-eye view of the city, which seen from here, is undeniably pink! The dykes you see here have also been refurbished. They were first built between the Hôtel Dieu and the Hôpital de la Grave, to protect the area from the flooding of the Garonne River. The port was originally called Saint-Cyprien. It was renamed in the 19th century after the Toulousian surgeon Charles Viguerie. It primarily served as a sandpit where sand fishermen would unload their goods. This activity, which may seem rather unusual nowadays, was commonplace on the Garonne until the early 20th century. Sand fishermen used flat-bottomed boats to scrape the bottom of the river during low-water periods to remove the sand. The sand was then mixed with lime to make a cement that held the bricks together. A back-breaking trade, long since extinct in France, but still practiced in some countries. If you’d like to further explore the district, or perhaps revisit later, note that from here you can reach the Viguerie footbridge that connects the esplanade you’re currently in, to the Promenade du Dr Rose. This new metal structure opened to traffic in 2008, allowing pedestrians to stroll along the Garonne, admire the Bazacle dam waterfalls and reach the former abattoirs, now home to an exceptional contemporary art museum.