Carcassonne and the Cathars

 October 26, 2021

Carcassonne and the Cathars

 Our last day in France was a field trip to Carcassonne.  We’ve now traveled about 2/3 of the way across southern France, from the Atlantic almost to the Mediterranean (green line):

 


On the ride to Carcassonne we had a talk about the Cathars with lots more information about their origin, the conflict with the Pope (Innocent III), the crusade to rid the area of the heretics, and the building of the fortress at Carcassonne.  Lots more information here: https://www.cathar.info/ and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne .  The structure is imposing from a distance:


We took a group photo at the entrance:

 


There is a complete double ring of walls which make it almost impenetrable:


This photo is of the space between the walls:

 


The interior is not nearly as interesting, just room after room, but the view from the ramparts is impressive:

 


After touring the fortress, we had lunch at a local restaurant where we were served a local specialty, cassoulet.  There are variations on it, but basically it is a white bean-based casserole with local sausage, poultry (in this case duck), and a variety of other things.  This cassoulet is for four:

 


Here’s my portion:

 


After lunch (with wine, of course) we drove back to Toulouse, packed up, and went out for our final group dinner.  The route home tomorrow is Toulouse-Paris-New York-Rochester.  If all goes well, this will be the last post for this blog.  Thanks for traveling with us!

Comments

  1. Rwa442October 26, 2021 at 8:36 PM

    Safe travels!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 27, 2021 at 10:11 PM

    Thanks for letting us share your experiences. So interesting!
    Enjoy returning home!

    ReplyDelete

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