Carcassonne, fairy tale city

When we arrived in Carcassonne, we took an afternoon walk around the outer town that surrounds the medieval walled city/castle, and then walked up to the walled castle for dinner. These are some buildings from the walk.

Now for the good stuff – crossing the river toward the castle walls:

The Castle!

We ate at this awesome little restaurant inside the walls, that was built about 500 years ago. (Also a picture of it we took the next day – it was one of our best meals!)

Saw Neptune on the walk back to our pension before calling it a night.

The next day… Time to explore the castle! (and it was cold!)

There are two walls surrounding the walled part of the city. The inner wall was originally built by the Romans around 2000 years ago. Those walls held up until the siege of 1209 – the siege was an attack ordered by Pope Innocent III as a crusade against Cathars/Albigensians. The Roman foundations of that wall can still be seen. In 1226, a new outer wall was built. The site has seen many periods of re-building (and sieges/destruction), and it was reconstructed (during the 19^th Century) its 13^th Century form.

The city really was built for protection – there was a lot of warring going on. Here’s an illustration of the city. The second picture is of a perfectly to-scale model that took years to make by hand in the 19^th Century.

There were a lot of systems built for defence – Here’s the moat and a drawbridge:

If an attacking army got past the moat and 2 walls, there was a semi-circular barbican…

… And another moat with a narrow bridge (protected by archers from the towers.)

On the inside of all the protective walls, is a “lordly residence” with courtyards, chapels, and rooms with intricate carvings.

The rest of the town, that is outside of the walled part was built across the river (in its current location) in 1240. Here’s the story: In 1233, Raymond Trencavel tried to recapture his own home/castle (which had earlier been attacked & taken by the crusaders - Trencavel was friends with some of the aforementioned Cathars, so he was one of the targets of the Crusade. And the Crusaders/Pope/king stole his castle). His siege to get his castle back was unsuccessful, and Louis IX (Saint Louis) punished him by imprisoning & killing him – and Louis IX burned the rest of the town down and did not allow people/families to re-build for 7 years. But 7 years later (1240) he allowed people to re-build – but across the river. No word on how people survived (or how many died) during those 7 homeless years. Why is this Louis guy a saint?!?

There's a basilica inside the walls:

There are these weird gargoyle carvings:

The inside is pretty standard, in terms of “grand medieval cathedrals.” It was built in the 11^th Century, and remodeled in the 14^th Century. The stained glass is ornate and impressive.

We meandered through the rest of the walled city, which is very pretty:

Leaving the castle…

The next day, we rented bikes and set off for a “French countryside” adventure, riding along the canal.

There were so many beautiful views – we think we biked about 40 km/25 miles – at a pretty relaxed, meandering pace.

Interesting bridges,

Some horses…

A dog that ran along with us for a while…

Curves in the canal…

And some locks, always with a house/office beside it.

Oh, to live in the French countryside… It wasn’t even spring and green yet when we were there, I can’t even imagine how pretty it is when all the leaves are green and in bloom.

Carcassonne is magical, with its medieval castle and surrounding countryside.