Carcassonne and Surrounds

Carcassonne - The Fortified Town

43.2122° N, 2.3537° E

Ever since I rode past Carcassonne in a bus on the way to a ski holiday in Andorra in 1978, I have been keen to visit the Fortified Town.  The fortifications were first established by the Romans around 100BC, although the region and the hill on which Carcassonne was built had be inhabited from around 3500BC onwards.  The Romans were followed by the Visigoths and then a period of relative independence until the locals were driven out in 1209 as part of the Albigensian Crusades (to divert the Cathars from their heresy) and the city eventually came under the French crown in 1247.

During a siege of Carcassonne by Charlemagne (around 730AD) things were getting desperate. Dame Carcass succeeded her husband Ballak, King of the Saracens who had been killed in the siege. She was in charge and decided to take action.  The Carcassonne tourist office takes up the story:-

"In the city, there remained just one small pig and one measure of wheat to feed the population. So Dame Carcass force-fed her pig with the rest of the wheat and hurled it over the walls. The pig burst open on hitting the ground and from its torn belly poured a veritable flood of good grain.

Charlemagne immediately abandoned the pointless siege: there was clearly so much grain in Carcassonne that they even fed their pigs on it!

Before the large army disappeared, Dame Carcass called on Charlemagne to make peace. 

She had the trumpets sound (“Carcass sonne..” ) The Emperor retraced his steps to receive her allegiance!"

Although this story is only legendary, Madam Carcass still had the town named after her and her trumpet sounds.  Her face gracing the front walls of the city.  Or it may be someone else entirely, who knows?  Here she is.

Carcassonne remains largely intact, with continuous walls from the Roman Fortification and the later Medieval fortifications surrounding the town. All is not what it seems, however, as much of what is visible in the city today is the result of a restoration by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1853, and he was less than faithful to the original architecture.  Nonetheless, he deserves credit for saving the now UNESCO Listed Site from becoming a quarry and giving the modern visitor at least a sense of the scale and style of a fortified city.

  

During our visit in July 2018, the city was celebrating its 20^th year since the UNESCO listing by hosting an artwork by contemporary Swiss artist Felice Varini.  Varini, who apparently specialises in creating illusions on large objects using yellow stripes, chose concentric circles on the outside of the walls.  This is apparently some reference to the defensive nature of the fortress by covering it with a target. Who knows what art is?  Maybe this.

 

The Target - Controversial Art work

Carcassonne has two significant structures within the walls.  Château Comtal and the Baslique St-Nazaire.

The Château

The Château, like all castles, seems to have been built over the span of a few hundred years.  However, the heart of the building was established on the site of an old Visigoth fort during the 12^th century by the Trencavels, a very powerful family in the south of France, which had the misfortune to be Cathars at the time Pope Innocent 3 launched a crusade against what was described as a heresy.  After the fall of Carcassonne in 1209, the castle became an ideal site for the local inquisition hearings, and carried on life over subsequent years as a dungeon.   Today the outer walls, which lead to the ramparts of the town, are intact, and the building is largely functional.  Nonetheless, there are large courtyards inside the structure which used to be rooms, but no longer have a roof or a floor!

The Basilique St-Nazaire was once a Romanesque Style Basilica but was made over in Gothic style later in its life.  The only remarkable feature is the stain glass window.  There is also a very aggressive ancient nun who roams the corridors of the Basilica chastising people who are eating, men wearing hats, women under dressed and people making too much noise.  She is very busy.

 More of my photos from around the fortified town are here.

La Bastide Saint-Louis – Tour de France

43.2124° N, 2.3505° E

After the King (now Saint) Louis completely demolished the town around Carcassonne in an effort to eliminate the Cathars, he is now remembered locally as the generous king who rebuilt the town.  It is built on a square grid between the river and the Canal around the bastide of St Louis. A bastide is a town built to one plan, usually a grid, by one founder and usually contains a large central square and small lane between blocks.  That describes the town precisely.

For some reason, after our earlier deliberate focus on the Tour de France, it started following us around.  We found ourselves in Carcassonne (city) when the tour arrived one afternoon, rested the next day and left the following morning.  The first day finish was at one end of the grid near the Canal du Midi and started just down the street using a controlled start through the town streets until the open road allowed free competition.

The town was dressed up for the Tour.

And then they came

For more tour photos try these.

The town provides many vantage points to see the old city which towers above it. The connection between the town and the fortified town is via an old bridge over the river, although there are now a few other road bridges to choose from.

Limoux

43.0533° N, 2.2181° E

Limoux claims that the locals developed the method for producing a Champagne like sparkling wine and still produces Blanquette de Limoux in large quantities today.  This sparkling wine was produced in the Limoux region in 1531, by the monks at the abbey in Saint-Hilaire. We stopped here for lunch, bought the Blanquette de Limoux and branched out to the local red wine which only found its local identity after an Appellation d'origine contrôlée was established in 2005.

Limoux has a large square, but it is not the Centre Ville.  That can be found in front of the Council Chambers (Hôtel de Ville) with the only discerning feature being a very large disabled parking space.  We asked a lady where the Centre Ville was and she simply replied “ici”.  We went a little down the road and found that the town opened out into the large square.  While the square was impressive and there were many cafés to choose from, it must be the town with the least imagination when naming them.  We found the Café Commerce, Le Grande Café, Café de la Terrassee and at least five other names which are found all over France.

It seems that the only thing in town is the wine, and they sell a lot of it.

Puivert Castle (what’s left of it)

42.9211° N, 2.0553° E

High up a cliff, with a single lane road to a car park, the castle is nearly derelict.  It was possible to walk around inside the building up and down dark stairs to see rooms not used since the revolution.  

Could do with some work

Showing signs of wear

Signs say that there are people living there, so please respect. We only saw a horse.

The horse waiting to greet us at the entrance.

The ramparts afforded a spectacular view of the surrounding valley, and the opportunity to stretch the legs a little!

The valley floor below

Stretching - don't lean back!

Location, Location, Location!

Canal du Midi

Between Trèbes (43.2097° N, 2.4428° E) and Écluse d'Herminis (43° 14′ 14″ N, 2° 17′ 18″ E)

The Canal du Midi was built to provide a transport link across the southern section of France.  Today it provides for two types of transport – leisure boats cruising up and down riding through the locks, and bike riders along the tow path.  We set out from Trèbes a small town South West of Carcassonne, and rode to Ecluse around 10km upstream of Carcassonne along the canal.  

Riding the Tow Path of the Canal

Ecluse is a series of locks of a design exclusive to the Canal du Midi, constructed in 1674.  Today there is a restaurant there which allows leisurely diners the opportunity to watch the tourists struggling with the process of passing through the locks. We decided to join in the fun for lunch, and for one of the few times in my life, I could not eat it all. Chastened by the experience, when I tried to take my bike for the return trip, I could not find the key to the security chain locking the two bikes together and securing it to the bike post concreted into the ground.  After some mild panic, the waiter came to our aid and found the keys in the grass. Lucky, because when we returned the bike to the hire shop, they made it clear that they would not have been able to help us because they had no spare key.

Ecluse

Trèbes

Meet the happy tourists

The bike ride covered some of the best tow path and some of the not so good path, for a total of around 38km, at 33°C. We met plenty of boats and everyone was friendly.  They are on holidays after all. 






I nearly fell in three times. 

The only wild life we saw was a flock of very calm ducks and one water rat.

Some of the confident ducks

For more of the canal photos see here.

Rennes le Chateau

42.9270° N, 2.2642° E

Rennes le Chateau in the Aube Valley did find itself in the Da Vinci Code which made it briefly famous, but its greatest claim to fame is the range of conspiracy theories around the local priest Bérenger Saunière who managed to renovate the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene and construct a tower with no external funding.  

He was eventually convicted in an ecclesiastical tribunal of trafficking in Masses, but the locals have promoted the idea that he had a treasure and it was buried in the town.  Treasure always pulls the tourists.

The renovated church

A statue of the devil who was believed
 to be guarding the treasure.
Someone had a look.

The tower

For all the pictures of the region around Carcassonne, try here.