Monday May 20, 2019

From the Old Bridge

Since our hotel was across the street from the train station, we have a fairly early departure of 0853. The train ride is less than an hour and we are in Carcassonne at 0935. Carcassonne is divided into the lower town or Ville Basse, where we get off and the upper old city fortress.

St Michel

Since it is early, we decide to walk to the lower town TI and see the church of St Michel. Then we will walk up to our hotel about a mile away and leave our packs before exploring further. Today, we had also planned a boat tour of the Canal Midi, which is near the station. The weather, however, is not great, with clouds, and some rain showers in the forecast so we may change these plans. We find the right street and make it to the TI where we gat a detailed map and use the facilities. The lady tells us that the church is closed today but my info says different.

Interesting Cross Lamps

Since we are very close by, I check it out and it is in fact open. Maybe, they should hire me. The church of St Michel is pretty small and not that interesting as churches go. It is also very dark inside which does not make for good photos. We leave, and head towards the old bridge over the Aude River and up to the higher town.

Impressive

At the bridge, we pause for our first view and a few photos of the fortified city. I believe it is one of the largest fortifications still intact in Europe. We make it across the river without being attacked and it is a pretty straight shot, all uphill, from there. As expected, our room is not ready, but they store our packs in a luggage room. The lady is very nice, giving us a map, showing our location and pointing the way for the short 5-10 minute walk to the fortified city. We thank her and make our way further uphill until we are below the imposing walls.

Lady Carcassonne

We are at the Narbonne Gate, with Dame Carcassonne looking over us. The French conquered this strategic prize in the 1200’s. To secure the fortification, they evicted the residents, but allowed them to settle in the lower town, probably for economic reasons. They built a crooked drawbridge to slow any rushing attacks. The fortification is double walled.        

Double Walled

The older and inner first wall was built by the Romans and the higher medieval wall was constructed on top of it. You can tell where it was added by the stripes of red brick added as a new foundation and the lack of arrow slits in the lower Roman wall. The outer wall wasn’t built until the 1300’s more than a thousand years after the Roman wall. There is a moat, which contrary to popular belief, was not filled with water. They were mainly designed to be deep and steep enough to to prevent enemies from rolling medieval towers and ladders up to and against the wall.

A Ding Dong

We head over to The Basilique St Nazaire. This was the cathedral here until the 18th century, when the bishop moved to the town below. We really like the stained glass windows in here. Other than that and me ringing one of the bells, I find the exterior with its gargoyles, more interesting than the interior.

Wino Woman

The weather is looking like it may rain so we figure we should eat lunch at the nearby Le Jardins restaurant and see what the weather odes. We have to wait about 15 minutes as they don’t open until 1200. When they open, we get a table inside and order our 3 course meal and a bottle of wine. Carol gets soup and I get a goat cheese salad as our entrees. The plats are cassoulet for Carol and Steak for me, with creme brûlée and chocolate mousse as our respective desserts. Everything is very good but Carol says last nights cassoulet had more flavor.

Super Chocolate Mousse

My chocolate mousse is heavenly and by far the best mousse I have had in some time. It is nowhere near the crappy imitation stuff we get now in the USA. When we leave the restaurant, the weather is a bit more sunny but there are clouds on the horizon and somewhat of a breeze. This leads us to forego any boat ride today and instead take a chance at visiting the Chateau Comtal, the castle within the fortifications, and the walls that we can walk. We could do this and the boat tomorrow but feel it may make the day to hectic and tiring.

Entrance to Chateau Comtal

The Chateau Comtal was built in 1125 and as a later third level of defense was added to and reconstructed. Inside the courtyard, we feel very well protected from the hordes on the outside.                 We get to walk the top of the original inner wall and have commanding views of both the surrounding lands and the behind the walls cite.

From the Wall

It is hard to believe an enemy force looking at this place and feeling any kind of confidence about their chance of success. It is very impressive. Between walking the walls, a video, touring some rooms in the castle, and a small museum, we spend about two and a half hours inside.

French and English

As we exit through the gift shop, we see both French and English versions of the tile laying board game that we own, called strangely enough, Carcassonne. It is a lot more here, than we paid for it. We make our way back through the old town and to our hotel. Our room is ready so we check in and then immediately go out because Carol has to find the near by ( half mile) patisserie and Boulangerie for some dessert and breakfast possibilities. We buy some chocolatines for breakfast and one big pastry that we think is almonds and cream for dessert. Now some time to relax in the late afternoon.

CNC Evening Stroll

After our naps, I mean, relaxation chores are done, we go back out around 1930 to see the old town in the evening. It is surprisingly quiet and almost every shop and most of the restaurants are closed. We had thought about getting a crepe to share but all the crepe stands are closed too.

No One Else Around

The nice part is that we get a much different feel of the old cite, and walk between the two walls basically by ourselves. It leads to a much different experience. Back at the hotel, our almond cream pastry turns out to be a hard type of sugary marengue outside with some almond cream inside. It was still good but more sugar and less creamy goodness than we were expecting. We are now hoping tomorrow’s weather turns out better than today so we can do a boat trip. Now it is time to try and sleep with this sugar high we are on.

Expenses
Train from Toulouse to Carcassonne 20E
Hotel Espace Cite 76.98E
Chateau Comtal 18E
Lunch at Le Jardins 48E
Pastries from Boulangerie L’Ancestrale 6.50E Cash
Walked 9 Miles