Saint-Girons' paper industry dates back three centuries. There are four paper manufacturers here, including Job. The capital of the Couserans is thus the third-ranking producer of cigarette paper worldwide. Aristide Bergès, a famous native of the Ariège, was the mastermind behind the hydroelectric industry: he had the idea of exploiting the energy of water as it rushed down from the peaks, nicknaming it "la houille blanche" - literally "white coal".

Old houses are reflected in the waters of the Salat		Saint-Lizier cathedral

Saint-Lizier

	Perched up on a hill, Saint-Lizier -Saint-Girons' pretty neighbour- is thought to have been founded at the same time as Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, around 72 B.C. There remains of the Roman occupation 750 metres of ramparts dating back to the IIIrd century. After the Barbaric invasions of the Vth century, Saint-Lizier became the seat of a powerful bishopric which ruled the region for 600 years. The cathedral was built in the XIIth century: it contains fresques of the same period and a superb Romanesque cloister. The bishop's palace now houses a fascinating museum of Popular traditions and arts.

Bethmale valley

		In Bethmale, you will find the villages on the sunny slopes. Rural depopulation is gaining ground: the two communes in Bethmale each have less than 100 inhabitants. Today the valley is counting on "green" tourism and its famous cheeses to breath life into the area.

			It's said that a Bethmalais, on learning that his fiancée had left him for another, killed them both - staking their hearts on his pointed clogs...
		Bethmale fashion In the XIXth century, the superb folk costumes of Bethmale were reputed throughout the region: they were greatly admired at the Universal Exhibition in 1889, and served as models for opera costumes. If you ask a Bethmalais where those strange pointed clogs come from, he or she will tell you the story of the jealous fiancé who staked his deceiving fiancée's heart and his rival's heart on the end of his pointed clogs! Before becoming an object of folklore, the clogs were not so pointed, but they did have a point, used when walking in the mountains to scrape snow or mud off the other clog.

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