September 2023. Oriol and I are flying to Toulouse for a road trip in Occitania and (French) Catalonia. We include the Principality of Andorra, which I can finally tick off the bucket list, and Llívia, Spain‘s exclave in France. Besides Toulouse we visit Mont-Louis, Villefranche-de-Conflent, Perpignan and Carcassonne.

Toulouse is France’s home for aerospace industry so it’s fitting the city’s suburb Blagnac hosts an aerospace museum, which is called Aeroscopia. It opened in 2015.

Aeroscopia’s location near Toulouse is significant because Toulouse is a major hub for the aerospace industry in Europe. The city is home to several aerospace companies, including Airbus, and is known for its aerospace research and development activities. This proximity to the heart of the European aerospace industry enhances the museum’s connection to the world of aviation and space exploration.

The building

Designed by the firm Cardete & Huet Architectes, the hall housing the planes has an ovoid section and forms an arc of a circle around a body of water, and is extended by an uncovered surface of 5,000 m2 allowing the exhibition of other devices.

It is connected by a corridor to the Showroom, a 1,000 m2 rectangular building.This houses the reception, the shop as well as the Telemetry Room which introduces the visit of the Airbus factories. The hall was designed as a response to the Airbus A380 assembly lines it faces, so its rounded lines and black color contrast with the rectilinear shape and mirror effect of the factory doors.

At the end of 2018 a new tarmac was created on the site representing an area of approximately 2 hectares and a new building making it possible to visit one of the aircraft hosted on this tarmac, the A380-800. 

The museum

Aeroscopia offers entertaining and interactive areas, an exhibition of legendary aircraft such as the Concorde, the Caravelle, the Super Guppy, the Airbus A300B. As Toulouse is the headquarters of Airbus, it’s no surprise Anglo-French-European constructor is well represented.

The hall is obviously large but not cramped. Let’s be honest. Aerospace museums are for gazing at big machines and making photos. And Aeroscopia facilitates that nicely.

It is a bit chauvinistic. If you’d believe the timeline wall, the French are thé worldwide aerospace pioniers. But fine.

Let’s visit Airbus

Under the name ‘Let’s visit Airbus‘, you can take a take a factory tour of Airbus. Unfortunately when we planned this trip there weren’t dates available. A week before travel there were, but not on days when we were in Toulouse.

So?

Aeroscopia is certainly worth a visit. At the ticket office the attendant said a visit is about two hours and she was right.

Railway and transport museums 

• MONTREAL | Exporail – Canadian Railway Museum in Saint-Constant.
• REVIEW | Motion and emotion at the London Transport Museum.
• BAVARIA | Lokwelt – Locomotive World in Freilassing .
• TRAIN WORLD | ‘Royals & Trains’ exhibition from 10 May 2022 until 22 January 2023.
• REVIEW | Orient-Express exhibition at Train World, Brussels’ railway museum.
• REVIEW | Train World exhibition ‘From Peking to Hankow: a Belgian adventure in China’.
• PHOTOS | Train World railway museum in Brussels.
• Railway and transport museums (not) to visit.
• Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum. 
• Slovenian Railway Museum in Ljubljana. 
• VIDEO | Mail Rail and The Postal Museum in London. 
• Plans for a steam train heritage service between Brussels and Mechelen shelved.
• PHOTOS | Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid Delicias railway museum.
• VIDEO | Museu del Ferrocarril de Catalunya – Catalonia Railway Museum in Vilanova.
• REVIEW | Romanian Railway Museum ‘Muzeul CFR’ and Bucharest.
• PHOTOS | UK’s National Railway Museum (NRM) in York.
• PHOTOS | Swiss Museum of Transport Verkehrshaus in Lucerne.
• PHOTOS | Het Spoorwegmuseum – Dutch Railway Museum in Utrecht.
• VIDEO | Return to Spoorwegmuseum Utrecht for the dining car exhibition ‘Tosti’s, truffels, treinen’.
• VIDEO | Stoomtram Hoorn – Medemblik steamtram light rail in Holland.
• Visiting Odense and the Danish Railway Museum.
• Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.

2023 Occitania – Andorra – Catalonia Road Trip

1. TOULOUSE-BLAGNAC AIRPORT | Arrival, ID check, car rental and unusually strict security at departure.
2. REVIEW | Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport.
3. Circuit Andorra.
4. HOTEL REVIEW | Eurostars Andorra.
5. REVIEW | Caldea hot spring spa and treatments in Andorra la Vella.
6. Andorra la Vella & Escaldes–Engordany.
7. QUEER ANDORRA | Entre Nous, the only gay bar in the village.
8. ANDORRA PARLIAMENT HOUSE | Casa de la Vall.
9. Andorra.
10. Llívia, Spain’s exclave in France.
11. LE TRAIN JAUNE TERRITORY | Mont-Louis and Villefranche-de-Conflent.
12. REVIEW | Dali Hôtel Perpignan.
13. Perpignan during the Visa pour l’image international photo journalism festival.
14. PERPIGNAN | The Palace of the Kings of Majorca or Palais des Rois de Majorque.
15. North Catalonia, Northern Catalonia or French Catalonia: Catalan presence in France.
16. FRANCE | Carcassonne and its Counts Castle.
17. REVIEW | Neméa Appart’Hôtel Toulouse Concorde.