La Toussaint

La Toussaint, or All Saints, is a Catholic holiday celebrated on November 1st, in which the Church honors all the saints, known and unknown. Allegedly, during the period of Toussaint, peasant families would gather to harvest potatoes. Many children would miss school, which led to the progressive introduction of the holiday.

This may or may not be true, but the fact is nowaday French schools take a 10-day break around La Toussaint, which this year is from October 24 to November 2. So we're forced to go on holiday.

When we started planning this holiday we decided to stay in France and head south. First we'll be in the southwest of France, in the town of Souillac, near medieval treasures such as Sarlat and Rocamadour, and the famous Lascaux caves and other prehistoric sites. And later in the week we´ll head to Cabrières, in the southeast, near Nîmes.