VILLEMUR SUR TARN

is a truly fascinating place in the Haute-Garonne. The river Tarn is capricious and unpredictable and often floods. In Villemur the left bank is low-lying and very vulnerable; most of that side of the town was destroyed in a disastrous inondation in 1930. The buildings of the right bank, on the other hand, are set on a bluff. The balconies in the picture are at the back of the houses in the main street, well above flood level. The staircases at the bottom lead up to basements out of the river's reach.

There's also a rather magnificent Royal Granary and, of course, a thirteenth-century castle. For a few photos, see 

https://www.franceinpictures.com/villemur_sur_tarn.html