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FRANCE 2012
Day 18, Thursday, September 20
Carcassonne
Breakfast was served on a beautiful outdoor terrace overlooking the
canal, but it was too cool to eat outside so we ate in the nicely
appointed indoor room. We finished packing and checked out. This is
second hotel that didn’t have an elevator and we were on the second
floor. The steps up were a circular and rather steep, so I made several
trips to get our luggage down.
We
wanted to see the Salt Marshes which were just a few miles south of the
walled city of Aigues Mortes. The salt production in Aigues Mortes goes
back to the first century. Each year, Aigues Mortes produces 500,000
tons of salt. In the Camargue, salt can be found widely in the flat clay
soil, dotted with ponds which lends itself well to the extraction of sea
salt. It is also a region where evaporation is the most intense and
rainfall the weak
est.
We got to the salt company site at 10:30, just in time to buy our
ticket for the little train ride which lasted 1 ¼ hours. The ride
circled all of the ponds which reflected different colors, depending on
the amount of salt. There were huge piles of salt, like mountains. We
saw a lot of pink flamencos out in the ponds. About ¾ of the way
through the ride, the train stopped and we got off to see a movie about
the area and visit a gift shop. We purchased several packages of salt
for gifts then we boarded another little train that took us back to the
start.
It was afternoon when we left the salt marshes and headed toward
Carcassonne. On the “A” road, there are a lot of service areas with
several eating places, gas stations and often hotels. We got die
sel
and sandwiches, diesel for the car and sandwiches to eat.
It was around 3:30 when we got to
Carcassonne. We understood that there was a parking lot for the
hotels as it is not advisable to drive through the “Cite” – the old part
with in the castle walls. After one false parking, we finally found the
correct hotel parking lot. A young man came in a small van and helped
us with our luggage. Now we know why it is not a good idea to drive
through the very, very narrow streets lined with tourists.
Carcassonne has been of particular interest to us. We first l
earned
about Carcassonne when I purchased Kate Mosse’s historic novel,
Labyrinth, several years ago (last month I read it again in preparation
for this trip) It is a fascinating story about a modern young lady who
was with a friend on an archeological adventure in this area. Her
discoveries send her back to the 1200 and the castle. It is a sort of
back and forth novel – present to the past.
In
this area of France, known as Languedoc, there was a very large group of
Christians known as Cathars in the 1200’s. They believe that God
created all things spiritual and the devil all things of the world.
They were good, hard working people who didn’t want anything to do with
the existing Catholic Church structure. The Catholic Church and the
French Government joined up to do away with them. 
We drove past the town of Beziers today where about 9000 people were
killed in one day, July 22, 1209. The Inquisition was very active in
the area and many, many people were tortured, burned at the stake and
imprisoned. We read several books about the Cathar history which was
really fascinating and sad. Among the books were Stephen O'Shea's -The
Friar of Carcassonne and Perfect Heresy, and Rene Weis' Yellow Cross.
Carcassonne,
was a fortress castle built in the early days of the Roman Empire, the
larges fortress city of Europe rising against the background of the
Pyrenees. For 400 years, Carcassonne remained the capital of a county,
under the counts of Toulouse. It changed hands several times as a
result of wars. It was a prison for the Cathars at one time. It finally
fell into decay. In the early 1800’s Viollet-de-Duc spent 50 years
restoring it. It consists of a
fortified walls, the Château Comtal (the counts Castle), and a double
curtain wall; the outer ramparts, with 14 towers separated from the
inner ramparts of 24 towers. I have built a model of it –
SEE MY MODEL
Our hotel, the Best Western Hotel Le Donjon was just a few feet from
the fortress. From our hotel window we could see all of the towers of
the front side.
After
we got settled, we took a tour of the entire castle – yes up and down ,
up and down many steps, along the top and down in the lower floors. It
was so much fun seeing all of the little parts that are in the model. I
took over 100 photos in the castle alone.
We came back to the hotel and stopped at the bar – yes they had Jack
Daniels. We went to the room a few minutes, then to an 8:00
reservation the Comte Roger, which was right behind the hotel. It was
fancy restaurant, and service was rather slow starting. We had a
wonderful meal, I had veal with risotto
nd
Kathleen had duck cassolet.
When we came out of the restaurant at 10:00, the streets were
empty. We had seen pictures of the castle lit at night, but it was
dark. We learned it is illuminated from the other side which can be
seen down in the valley. We have to see the cathedral tomorrow and then
explore some of the area and castles that we have read about in the
Cathar history before going to Toulouse which is our last place to
stay—four nights with several side trips.
