Accommodation

Accommodation in Taize is very simple. There are areas set side for camping and in the summer huge tents are raised to house some of the thousands of young people who come to spend time here.

Catherine's first visit in 1988 was marked by a brief but ferocious storm which lifted the tents - and everything in them - scattering them across the Hill. She and our friend Marion then spent 2 days searching for their belongings - drying them out - and sleeping in the church until the French Army arrived with replacement tents! Doesn't it say a lot about Taizé that they ever went back.... though always to dormitories thereafter!

One of the dormitories in Taizé. Unfortunately, we took the photograph when we had packed away - they do become very homely when they have been lived in for a few days!

Dormitories house between 6 and around 20 people.There are also smaller rooms in El Abiodh (where those making longer visits stay) and Olinda (a house in the nearby village of Ameugny)

Large groups are split between dormitories to encourage people to meet and learn to live together. This can be fun when few of you share a common language! During our visit in October 1999, another storm (no, the weather isn't always like this!) blew the lighting circuit... and so we, and the three ladies with whom we were sharing - & with whom we have no common spoken language - had to rise/ shower/ dress in pitch darkness. Truly a tribute to mutual co-operation!

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