Carcassone (Tuesday, 24 June 2014)

On the return journey to Uzes from Andorra we visited Carcassonne, famous for its medieval fortress or ‘old city’, which was restored in the 1850’s and is now listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  The farming lands around Carcassone reminded us more of Australia than anywhere else in the south of France (moderately sloping ground with large cereal plantings and small copses of trees).

Surprisingly it took us quite a while to find the 'old city', because our direction of entry required us to pass through quite a lot of the new town first.  However, once in sight of the spectacular walls and turrets, it was clear we were in the right place, and after the challenge often common to well known tourist towns - finding a car park – we ventured into the walled fortress on foot.

Our first task was to find a place for lunch, and eventually settled on a restaurant in Place Marcou, where we could eat outside.  We normally resist the temptation to eat at places in central/prime locations as they often offer inferior food at higher prices, but this time we were quite pleased with the food, and we enjoyed the energy and people watching opportunities it exposed us to.  The most interesting dish was Andrew’s Moules et Frites, with the mussels being very tasty.

After lunch we commenced wandering around inside the 'old city', admiring the views and taking a look in several of the shops.  The first major place of interest was the Musee de l’ecole (school museum), which Elle and Grace paid to go and see, while Andrew ‘monitored’ the post-lunch energetic boys outside.

Musee de l’ecole text from Elle.??????

While ‘monitoring’ the boys, Andrew took a look at a large amount of temporary seating being erected, and then noted the sign below advertising the upcoming Carcassonne Festival.   With headline acts including The Jacksons, Status Quo and James Blunt, over 6 weeks, we expect it is probably very well known to ‘older’ music lovers across Europe.

Once Elle and Grace had completed their Museum visit we continued wandering the streets until we came to the Château Comtal (Count's Castle), which forms part of the double wall defence system.  It was here that we met up with our Melbourne-Uzes friends, the Christofiedes.  While we were enjoying our weekend in Andorra, Tanya, Terry, Poppy and Zoe were in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and we independently decided to conclude our long weekend trip in Carcassonne.  A quick text message on arrival had indicated we would be inside the old city at the same time.

After a quick catch up on respective weekend experiences, over coffees and ice creams, we parted company; they off to the 'Musee de la Torture', and we into the Castle to walk the walls and better understand the history of the ‘old city’.

The history of the medieval fortress, including the Castle, is amazing.  Built between the 11th and 13th centuries, it hosted and withstood numerous groups from different regions, countries and religions.  Most notably it was a Cathar stronghold during the Albigensian or Cathar Crusade (1209-1229), but was captured somewhat easily by the Catholic Crusaders partly because they were able to turn off the fortress' water supply.  In the years that followed the fortress hosted the Catholic Inquisition (hence the Musee de la Torture), was a key outpost for France on the border with Aragon, and was involved defending France against England in the 100 years war.

The photo below shows the entrance and moat of the Castle.

Once inside, we followed marked paths and steps which took us up to the turrets, and other key features.  The diorama below gave a good ovcerview of what the fortress would have looked like upon completion in 1234, before it was filled in by many buildings, which now house cafes and tourist shops.

The view below shows a nice section of the twin walled system, along with some of the 53 turrets and barbicans, plus the Basilique Saint-Nazaire in the background.                                        

The explanation board and photo below describe some of the design features of the Castle entrance, which was heavily fortified and protected by multiple gates, walls and moats.

The main rooms inside the Castle were used to house sculptures and other artefacts from many centuries ago, descriptions of the extensive restoration works in the 1850s, and the ubiquitous medieval focussed tourist shop, where on this occasion we did escape without purchasing a sword or a dragon (although this did come at a price, with a very public meltdown from Xavier).

After exiting the Castle we walked through the centre of the ‘old city’ to the Porte Narbonnaise which led to our car, to commence the remaining 2 hour drive home.  As we exited the gate, a passer-by took this family photo for us (all kids smiling – gold).

Although very much overrun with tourists and the shops they mostly seek, the ‘old city’ of Carcassonne is an amazing place.  We are indebted to all those who fought the French Government decision in 1849 to demolish the fortress, and those who supported and conducted the restoration works in the 1850's.