Carcassonne

Walking the Walls of Carcassonne

From Basque country, I took the train to Carcassonne, a medieval city I have wanted to visit since my first trip to France in 2000.


It's quite a walk from the train station to the old city, but once you get to the Old Bridge (Pont Vieux), the views are marvelous! NOTE: If you have a guidebook, the brochure from the tourist office will probably not be of any use to you on a short visit. (I never even looked at it.)

I decided to stay at Notre-Dame de L'Abbaye. The price was 34 euros ($48) plus a breakfast fee (less than 4 euros[$5], but I didn't write it down). NOTES: Check-in was difficult and mostly in French. The gate closes at 10 pm, but you get an access code to stay out later. The breakfast was very basic (hard rolls, butter, jelly, coffee, so-so orange juice, corn flakes, hot milk, and unsweetened applesauce).	This was the building where I stayed. Notice the top window on the right that is open; I believe that was my room!

Here was my room. It was very basic, with two beds, an end table, a sink, a closet, and shower/toilet down the hall. NOTE: Sheets were included but not a towel. Ask at check-in what is included with your rate. (Towels were available for rent.) NOTE: One of the two beds in my room broke when I sat on it!	Here is a view of the closet and sink. Bar soap and cups were provided!

While the accomodations at Notre-Dame de L'Abbaye are very Spartan, if I leaned out of my window, I had a view of the walls of the Cité. They were illuminated at night! (A negative was I was here on the Fete de la Musique night, when music was played until the wee hours, not good for sleeping with the window open!)

It was just a few minutes of walking to get to the Narbonne Gate, which has a fun drawbridge!

Turning left after crossing the drawbridge led to the ramparts.	The views while walking the walls were spectacular!

Here you can see the ramparts had a place to walk, but it wasn't very wide or smooth, and there were no handrails!	Walking the ramparts at Carcassonne is at your own risk. Don't fall!

I followed the Rick Steves self-guided walk and ended up here, at the Place du Chateau.	This castle in Carcassonne played as Nottingham Castle in the 1990 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

When I was in Les Baux at Christmas, I saw a gourmet cookie shop. It seemed odd to see piles of cookies for sale. Why would anyone buy these? Are they any good? Well, there was one of these shops in Carcassonne, so I stepped in and got a sample of a raspberry-filled cookie. It was delicious, so I bought some!	Here is my bag of super-expensive (but sooo yummy!) French cookies. I paid 5.20 euros ($7.30) for eight very dense cookies, nearly $1 a piece. Even though outrageously expensive, I would buy some again if I went again. To me, the filled cookies are the best, and the raspberry were the best of those. I tried a chocolate, non-filled one, and it was so dense and dry, I had trouble getting it down without a lot of water.

I went later in the day on a Sunday, and Carcassonne wasn't very busy.

The view from the front was magical, just what I've always imagined a castle to look like.	One more shot of the cité on a hill!

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