Things to Do in Midi-Pyrénées - page 2

Part of the Haut-Languedoc regional park and the southwestern tip of Massif Central, Montagne Noire is a mountain range that overlaps four French departments: Tarn, Hérault, Haute-Garonne and Aude. It is called the Black Mountain because of the dense forest that covers its entire northern slope, an extreme contrast with its typically Mediterranean southern slope, capped in scrubland and olive trees.

Montagne Noire culminates at 3,969 feet (1,210 meters) high with Pic de Nore, from which visitors can admire the splendid panorama that extends all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees on clear days. The mountain is home to several sites of archaeological interest, starting with Grotte de Limousis, the most impressive developed cave in the department. The cave is made up of eight chambers (one of which contains an exceptional formation of aragonite crystal in the shape of a 13-foot-high (4-meter-high) chandelier) and a series of five stalagmite barriers.