Tarbes

Tarbes (alt. 320 m/1,050ft; pop. 49,343), originally a Roman town, later the capital of the County of Bigorre and now chief town of the département of Hautes-Pyrénées and a busy industrial and commercial center, lies on the Adour in a fertile plain. In the west of the town is the Cathedral of Notre Dame de la Sède (12th-14th C.), with a massive dome. In the north of the town is the beautiful Jardin Massey, with a layout designed by a director of the gardens of Versailles and a 40 m/130ft high lookout tower. In the gardens are a cloister from the abbey of St-Sever-de-Rustan (15th-16th C.) and a museum (pictures, folk art and traditions, history of horse-breeding in Tarbes).

Tarbes was the birthplace of Marshal Foch, and the house in which he was born is now a small museum.