Today was our last day in Montrozier and we got gorgeous weather. So we did a bit of research and decided to accomodate Christopher’s dreams of cheese tourism: we’re going to drive to Roquefort and visit its famous caves.
We drove along the same gorgeous route that we used when first coming over the mountain pass. The first time, we had seen signs for Micropolis: La Cité des Insectes. From the road, it felt literally in the middle of nowhere. Just a sign and a turnoff that went into the country. And with a car full of luggage, we passed up this roadside attraction. But this second time, coming across it again, we couldn't resist—carpe diem.
Truthfully, we didn’t expect much, and the entrance fee of €60 for the four of us seemed expensive. But wow! It was marvelous—the best insect museum we’ve ever been to, and we’ve been to a few. The London and San Francisco Zoos both have impressive live collections, but I think Micropolis beat them both.
The museum had interesting art work and presented its collections with a sense of humor.
Housed in a beautifully designed modern building, the collection was extensive and included hundreds of live specimens in addition to a very complete library of preserved ones. It was a little jewel of a museum, located in Saint-Léons which is the birthplace of the famous 19th century French naturalist and entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre.
Here, Christopher and Nick watch the lab technician work through the peep hole, while Tim gives me the stink eye. Tim calls me a “creep photographer.” They all hate having their pictures taken.
Through the peep holes, we watched the museum keeper remove the live stick insects (Phasmatodea) to put fresh greenery into the tanks. She would just place the insects on a wall and they would stick to it. But it certainly looked like it would be easy to make a mistake and accidentally throw away a living insect together with a dead plant.
We drove again over the beautiful Viaduct de Millau and arrived in the town of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
There are fractures all through these caves that provide the air circulation necessary for cheese production.
We managed to go on two cave tours—Société Roquefort and Papillon—and visited the showroom of Gabriel Coulet, which Christopher thought had the best cheese, Papillon coming in a close second.
The most touristy was the Société Roquefort caves. We paid to go on their tour—how’s that for salesmanship?
At the end of the tour, we got to eat samples. The tour leader went out of her way to explain to me with a few words and many gestures that a particular cheese we were tasting was not pasteurized and Americans don’t get any of it! It was delicious.
These people are so into cheese that they even have cheese-themed jewelry.
After climbing up and down endless stairs, we drove back home by a different route. We went through the valley over which the Viaduct de Millau spans. And what a pretty valley, split by the Tarn River. We all took photos.
In addition to cows and sheep, the road back had many wind farms. The french countryside is lovely and, unlike America, seemingly no one litters.
We went back to our bowling alley for another great meal and were home by dusk for one last night at our beautiful rental in Montrozier.
We had to share this lovely Airbnb review from our hosts in Montrozier.
Aren’t we awesome?