We trooped out the Aude gate of Cité Carcassonne this morning.
Then took a steep path down to the walking bridge spanning the Aude River.
We were headed towards the Bastide Saint-Louis, a section of the old city settled around 1260 by Cathar citizens expelled from their homes in the fortress where we were currently staying. Later, King Louis IX, aka Saint-Louis, expanded the city in a grid formation. Now it’s known for its artistic culture. But then what medieval neighborhood in France isn’t? Find me a fortress and I’ll show you an art foundation holding a workshop.
Our immediate goal was coffee and Ella found a wonderful place off the main square where I got a triple cappuccino, sort of the Big Gulp of cappuccinos. Then we wandered aimlessly through Louis’ grid. At one point we got into a heated discussion about what constituted an actual carousel.
Then we veered away from the tourist shops and went down a narrow street that brought us to Cathédrale Saint-Michel where a grievance of gargoyles glowered down on us.
You just can’t beat the Middle Ages when it comes to hellspawn.
On our way back up the hill to the castle we couldn’t in good conscience spend our last day in France by avoiding the cemetery that beckoned to us with a big open gate.
This time we entered Cité Carcassonne through the Narbonnaise gate, the one with the drawbridge over the moat.
To be clear, the fortress walls of Cité Carcassonne are considered a citadel. Inside the citadel are shops, restaurants, chapels, and small stone houses like the one we are staying in.
But inside the inside of the citadel, like a Russian matryoshka doll, is the central castle where the fighting took place.
We’re talking courtyards and battlements and turrets and high stone vantage points where a spirited defense could be mustered.
Legend has it that widowed Lady Carcas held off Charlemagne’s army in a siege attempt by posting wooden mockups of soldiers in crenellations of the battlements. Artistry saved the day. So maybe there’s the connection between feudal and arts foundation creativity. At any rate, as Charlemagne’s forces abandoned the siege, church bells started ringing in the fortress and one of the retreating soldiers claimed it was “Carcas sonne!” (which means “Carcas rings”).
