Carcassonne, le cité

So it was raining and cold, I had a puncture to fix, we’d booked into the Ibis Budget and cleaned ourselves up. What to do in Carcassonne in the rain? This was my third or fourth visit to Carcassonne and it seemed a good time to actually pay money and visit the inside, the cité part, where people lived, instead of the freely-available walking between the double ramparts. Mostly I’m not up for guided tours and this day was no exception, but being inside the castle was a good choice. We spent more that three hours there, almost all under cover. Because we were high up there were some good views and there were information panels in relevant places and an excellent film running continuously, depicting the varied history of the castle.

It is such an inspiring piece of military architecture that I hadn’t realized the extent to which it had been restored in the 19^th century under Eugène Viollet-le Duc, based on what he thought was a good interpretation, from what was left, of the castle the way it may have been at a certain point in history. Plus a dose of creativity. As it had been abandoned for a century or so, the results have at least made it into a standing  (and outstanding) castle which is representative of medieval times and the Albigensian Crusade in particular.

Our tour concluded with an excellent cassoulet in one of the many restaurants there. Not overpriced, more than sufficient quantity, delicious flavours and warming to body and soul.