July 06 Languedoc-Roussillon

July 06
Today we decide to leave the coast and head inland. Our goal is to reach Carcassonne, a medieval walled city that was once a Cathar stronghold. But first, we wanted to visit one of many mountain top Cathar castles, that are found all over the Languedoc-Roussillon region. The Cathars were a Christian sect, found mostly in Southwest France, that broke away from the Catholic Church around the year 1000. They built many castles in the mountains to protect themselves from the Catholics. In the early part of the 1200's, the Pope sent a crusading army to destroy them. Most of the castles destroyed and many Cathars were killed. If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you will see a tower at the top of the mountain.

Here is a closer look. This is the castle we decided to visit as it was on our way. It is called Queribus and was the last Cathar castle to fall to the Catholic army, in 1255. This photo is taken from the parking lot, and you have to walk the rest of the way. If you look closely, you can see the foot trail. The drive up was a bit scary, a narrow switchback road, with not much shoulder and no guardrail.

Here is Darlene, at the castle.

Claude and Paulette at the top.

Darlene and Paulette; it was incredibly windy up there!

Most of the castle is destroyed, but the main tower is still intact, with a beautiful ceiling.

Looking down from the castle to the parking lot below.

If you look closely at the far ridge, you may notice that what looks like rock is actually another castle ruin. This is another Cathar castle called Peyrepertuse. We had read that this was the most difficult one to reach, much longer and steeper foot climb. This is why we chose Queribus.

Heading deeper inland, we passed many small villages like this one. Notice the vineyards.

This is what the road looked like for a large part of the drive. Very narrow; in some places someone has to pull over if two cars meet. Luckily there was very little traffic.

We stopped for lunch in a beautiful village name Lagrasse. We spent about an hour after lunch just exploring this place, as it was so fascinating.

Across the street from the restaurant, we noticed this school, with the signs Garcons and Filles still showing. We saw this on many old schools in France, but they no longer use this system.

Just one of many interesting buildings in Lagrasse.

We are standing on a very old bridge, taking a picture of another. The pictures cannot do justice to how beautiful Lagrasse was.

By late afternoon, we finally arrive at Carcassonne. This is one of the biggest preserved medieval walled cities in Europe and is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Just a small part of the extensive walls that surround it.

This is the church inside the walled city, very old.

Paulette and Darlene, taking a break along the wall.

It took us all day to get to Carcassonne, but the drive back to Canet is about an hour twenty by freeway. We just took the quick way home, but the long slow drive via the back way was well worth it.