carcassonne
Well, it is touristic and the numerous souvenir shops offer all the
synthetic knicknacks of this world - so what? She is still Carcassonne!
A
world heritage, centre of the resistance of the Cathars, she is
legendary
and her walls are breath-taking.
There are 38 towers which make
this Cité of walls and towers unique. The huge wall with these towers is
1300 m long surrounding the ¨cité with its small streets and lanes. This
elevation had already been fortified in Gallo-Roman ages. When Simon de
Montfort, the ill-famed butcher of the Languedoc, besieged the city
during
the Albigensian crusade, the heretics had to cross the country in
penitent
clothës; what happened to them before, may be learned in the museum of
the
Tour de l'Inquisition and resting at the Promenade des Lices one may
imagine
the path of the heretics along the way. The cathedral Saint-Nazarie (1269)must not be missed. In the Northern
part of the city, in the Musée lapidaire, many finds of the important
epochs
of Carcassonne are on exhibit. Here you can see Europe's most ancient
tomb dating from the year 456.
The lower city of Carcassonne, located along the Canal du Midi, is one
of the vivid places of the South of France with nice coffee houses,
bistros and small shops.
The legend says that it was a lady who gave name to the city, Lady
Carcas, a Moslem princess and spouse of king Balaak.
Apparently the king was away when King Charlemagne decided
to besiege the city and its people. For five years (King Balaak seems to
have been on a long trip) Charlemagne and his army hung about in front
of the castle, hoping to starve out people and their queen.
He nearly succeeded, but than Lady Carcas had an idea. She took the last
living pig in the castle and had it fed with the last of the corn seeds,
telling her surprised servants to throw the pig over the walls.
Charlemagne decided immediately that there was no chance of starving out the people and not to waste anymore time, and so raised the siege.
Lady Carcas had the bells rung.
The population, standing on the walls, shouted: Carcas sonne! (Carcas
calls)
And the men of Charlemagne shouted back : Carcas sonne! (Carcas rings!)
Office de Tourisme, 15. Blvd. Camille Pelletan, Tel: +33-(0)-46825-0704 | http://www.carcassonne-info.com
Canal du Midi, World Heritage
