Carcassonne

A week and a half ago I would have ordered my chai in French.

My trip seems a bit surreal, more like a memorable dream than reality. I suppose this is because my time in France can be more easily measured in hours or day than my time in Spain which was more easily measured in weeks or months. I've blogged a bit about my time in Paris and alluded to the other places I went. Now that I have all my pictures (and Anne's!), I want to share the other parts of my trip with you. [The picture above was taken from the internet because we didn't reach this side of the castle.]

After Paris, we stayed in a very small town in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon. Our hosts were friends of Anne from grad school; they were marvelous. We rested our first day there - important after running around Paris like crazy! The second day we were there Anne's friend L and her husband M took us to a castle in Carcassonne. One thing I noticed on the drive to Carcassonne was the landscape: there are castles on the hilltops - yet another reminder of Castilla-La Mancha!

The Carcassonne castle itself is the reason for the fortified city - different from the more modern town below. The castle was a strategic fortification on the frontier for hundreds and hundreds of years. However, the castle sank into disrepair after 1659 when the region became part of France and the need for defense diminished (see picture on the left). In 1849 the French government was going to finish what time had almost accomplished: tearing down the castle. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (the man who also restored Notre Dame de Paris and Mont-St-Michel...basically a HERO) took an interest and poured a lot of his own money into restoring the castle in Carcassonne. As we were touring the castle and grounds, Anne, L, M, and I watched a very informative and interesting video on the history of the place...hence the recap for your benefit. I really like getting to know the history and details of a location - especially UNESCO World Heritage Sites. My imagination is able to envision so much more when I know where in history and importance a site ranks.

Check out the pictures I took below:

Entering the fortified city through the porte Narbonnaise



L, M, and me



Look! I'm in a castle! Ahh! So exciting!


Trees in the center of the main courtyard. They reminded me of the White Tree from The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King


This picture was taken from the keep. The two walls leading towards the church baffled me when I first saw them because there wasn't a church in that location when the walls were built. As we read further we discovered that the river flowed next to the church and the two walls protected the residents of the castle as they proceeded to the river in case of an attack.


Anne, L, and me


I ask you: who is more adorable than them? They were giving the students quite a show *snicker, snicker*


We also toured the Basilique Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse...it was beautiful and reminded me of the catedral en Toledo