Day 45, Thursday, October 12, 2023.
I’m feeling bit better this morning so we go visit the medieval citadel called la Cité. It is a half hour walk and we pass a church on the way that has incredible gargoyles. I love gargoyles.
I thought this one was particularly interesting.
This is one of the entrance gates to the old city of Carcassone.
The medieval city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has 52 towers and 2 ramparts. Bob is standing beside a sculpture of Dame Carcas who ruled the city when it was attacked by Charlemagne in the 8th Century. After being under siege for five years, there was only a sack of grain and one pig left to eat. Dame Carcas fed the sack of wheat to the pig and threw it over the ramparts at the enemy, who thought that they must have a lot of food left if they could throw it over the walls, so they called off the siege and left. Dame Carcas had the bells of the city rung in victory, “Carcas… sonne” means “Carcas is ringing”.
This is the massive entrance past the outer ramparts into the Cité. This citadel has two sets of walls and two ramparts for protection.
and I am standing at the entrance to the residence of the ruling family built inside the fortress in 1130.
Here is another view of what is really a fortress within a fortress.
Our visit starts with a walk along part of the ramparts overlooking an interior courtyard…
and continues through some of the buildings and towers.
These wooden additions to the ramparts allowed soldiers to attack the enemy from above. There are holes in the floor to allow attack from above on anyone trying to enter the fortress.
I was expecting to see furnished rooms, similar to our visits to the chateaus of the Loire Valley but any rooms we walk through are unfurnished. A couple room have sculptures that were removed from Saint-Nazaire Church during the restoration of this walled city in 1846 and placed here for preservation. I particularly liked these carved heads that were part of the exterior cornice. They are all smiling cheerfully.
This is mostly an opportunity to see the fortifications that make this citadel so unique.
I love all the colours on this old tiled roof.
From the ramparts we can see the path we will be taking when we leave the citadel, however we found a set of stairs near the beginning of this long ramp that is a much shorter route.
Carcassonne is now considered to be the largest and best conserved medieval fortress in Europe. It is impressive with its set of double walls and ramparts. Both sets of walls and the area between them can be seen in this photo.
This one tower looked out of place, it was built with different stone blocks and had a different look that the rest. 
The Saint-Nazaire Basilica has an outdoor theatre that was built where the cloister once stood. It is just visible behind the church and has 5,000 seats and is in use for productions every summer.
We sit for a while inside the church listening to beautiful cello music. I think the musician just liked the acoustics…he played several songs and then just got up and left.
On a plaque outside the church is a reproduction of drawings of some of the church’s gargoyles drawn in 1858. I guess I am not the only one who likes gargoyles!
On our way home.
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