Up and breakfasted and on the road at 8:30 this morning heading for Carcassonne where we were booked into the Ibis motel not too far from the old city.
Stopped along the way for a coffee, fuel and a toilet stop and arrived around 12:30. Parking underneath the motel down a very narrow entrance. I’m very pleased we are not still in the Merc station wagon.
Headed off to the old city (La Cité). Stopped on the way for galettes – very nice too.
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| La Cite |
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| The city's defences |
The Counts of Toulouse was largely responsible for the present fort when they decided in 1067 to build a new, stronger fort to replace the old Visigothic fort. They built the inner castle, with a well inside it so they could get water without having to leave the castle.
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| The view from the wall |
The fort was further strengthened when in 1209 AD the French Kings captured Carcassonne from the Counts of Toulouse. The French used Carcassonne as a main fortress to defend their border with Spain, and they built yet another wall around the outside to make it even stronger. Certainly looks impregnable even to this day.
The fortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.
La City is amazing (particularly once you get past all the souvenir shops at the entrance. It was free to get into the city but to get into the château you had to pay. Was quite a long wait. Had a chat with some people from Adelaide who were doing something similar to us but in the other direction. The château was very impressive and had a very good audio guide to accompany us. There were great views over the rest of the city and the Pyrenees from its walls.
The fortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.
La City is amazing (particularly once you get past all the souvenir shops at the entrance. It was free to get into the city but to get into the château you had to pay. Was quite a long wait. Had a chat with some people from Adelaide who were doing something similar to us but in the other direction. The château was very impressive and had a very good audio guide to accompany us. There were great views over the rest of the city and the Pyrenees from its walls.
Sorbets for afternoon tea. Jill even had a cactus one (not as good as passionfruit or apricot).
Back to the hotel where we gathered our washing for the Laundromat next door. While it was on we did a reccy for somewhere to go to dinner. Ended up at a Vietnamese Restaurant – Chicken Curry and Vietnamese salad.
Back to the hotel where we gathered our washing for the Laundromat next door. While it was on we did a reccy for somewhere to go to dinner. Ended up at a Vietnamese Restaurant – Chicken Curry and Vietnamese salad.
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| La Cite at night |
