Our next stop was the medieval walled city of Carcassonne. It was also our first introduction to the distinct Southern French accent, which was charming to listen to and intellectually fun to take an extra millisecond to process what was being said to us in a way we’d never heard French spoken before.
Wow! What an amazing sight to see the walls high on the hill above the main town. Again, we didn’t know what to expect (other than from pictures) and its expanse was very impressive.
We stayed in a fabulously spacious, recently-renovated apartment near the foot of the hill leading to the main gate into the walled city. We inadvertently made friends with a waiter at the restaurant across the street when he rescued us from a near impossible urban parking situation in a historical centre.
The view from our Airbnb balcony!
We had had an introduction to what it’s like living in the centre of a historic tourist town 20 years ago when we lived in Bruges. But, at that time, we had bikes, not a car. Finding parking, or even stopping for a moment on streets that are only 3 m wide is just not something that you do in Carcassonne!
Our kind waiter friend and neighbour arranged with another neighbour for us to use her courtyard garage while we waited for the property manager to arrive. The waiter’s kindness was in sharp contrast to our other neighbour: an art gallery owner who believed it was his calling to share his jazz music with the entire neighbourhood from 9:30 am- approx 5:00 pm each day. He even ensured maximum reverberation off of the neighbourhood walls by tilting his outdoor speaker up towards our living room window (just meters away) where our kids were trying to do their homework. Nonetheless, Artsy JazzSchmazzman’s attitude and awareness of living in close quarters with his neighbours was by far an exception of our trip so far.
Our highlights from Carcassonne were:
Historic paper mill
About half an hour northwest of Carcassonne, the paper mill was recommended by our Airbnb host. Getting there was a bit of an adventure, with the car GPS leading us through the most incredibly narrow streets, barely big enough for the vehicle.
The mill, operated by the seventh generation of paper makers, gave us a glimpse into the history of paper making in the area, how the production process modernized over the years and the kids got to make their own paper!
The mill owner himself gave us a tour and fully involved the children, asking questions and encouraging them to ask. It was very interesting to see how cellulose (from many different sources including old clothing, animal dung and, of course, trees) is turned into paper.
Canal du Midi
We didn’t get cycling out of our systems in the Loire, so we rented bikes for the half a day to cycle along the Canal du Midi from Carcassonne to Trèbes. The Canal is a UNESCO World Heritage site and links the Mediterranean to Bordeaux. It is a historically significant shipping route and is still in regular use (with the addition of many pleasure boats).
We had the chance to see the locks in operation (several points had multiple locks in a row) and marvel at the Canal’s construction. At one point, it passes OVER a river as it continues its path! While the Canal itself was interesting, the landscape in the Loire Calley was much more picturesque (in our opinion).
Old walled city
The old walled city dates from Roman times, with many sections restored and rebuilt about 200 years ago. We joined a walking tour with a somewhat eccentric, but passionate guide whose unexpected shrilly-posed questions made sure we carefully listened to her explanations (or else!!!!).
At the end of our walking tour, we went into the church and learned about the comprehensive Bible stories described in the impressive stained glass windows. This was set to a beautiful backdrop of a group of visiting Russian singers (“à la Four Ténors”) who sang a layered, acoustic version of Ave Maria.
The walled city contains many of the tourist souvenir shops you would expect in such an environment, but also a number of smaller artisan shops. We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the cobblestoned alleyways, buying a few items, exploring quiet lane ways, and sampling gelato.
Carcassonne was the first larger centre we had been to for several days since Brussels a month before, and we took advantage of this to get caught up on tasks like haircuts, going to the post office, the pharmacy, stocking up on organic, gluten free/ corn free foods for A. and buying a cutting board (to go with the decent knife we had to buy in the Loire) because we couldn’t handle using the grungy ones provided in our Airbnbs. We also spent many days catching up on the school work that had taken a back seat during our week of day-long bike rides in the Loire.
Next stop: Provence!