Paris1972-Versailles2003

I will take you south in lovely French country on my road warrior rides of older days when visiting even from FL USA we were on rental cars and passing rather quickly, I love castles/churchs/monateries etc , and need stop to see them even without much time on my ways for one shot picture, I am looking at my vault in my new environment and found me some older paper pictures of driving in the region, and of course, they need to be in my blog for the memories of always, Therefore, here is my take on this is Carcassonne !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

 

The City of Carcassonne is a prefecture of the department of Aude no 11 in the Occitanie region. On the historical and cultural level, the town is part of the Carcassès, a country centered on the city of Carcassonne, between the beginnings of the Massif Central and the Pyrenean foothills. The City is located in the Aude plain between two major traffic axes connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif Central in the Pyrenees. The city is known for the cité ,a medieval architectural ensemble restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19C.

Carcassonne is located on the banks of the Aude river. The town is traditionally divided into two, the lower city which occupies the banks of the river to the west and the upper city (or cité) which occupies the hill overlooking the Aude. It is 95 km from Toulouse, 335 km from Bordeaux, and 768 km from Paris, The Autoroute de Deux Mers or two seas highways and more precisely the section from the A61 passes south of the city allowing direct access from Toulouse or Montpellier. The two exits or sorties are no 23 and 24, In the city center, three underground car parks are for the picking , parking André-Chénier , parking des Jacobins, and the parking Gambetta.

The Cité of Carcassonne,on the right bank of the Aude, is the high tourist place in the city, it is the second most visited tourist site in France after MSM. It is a medieval set unique in Europe by its size and its state of conservation. The Cité is surrounded by two rows of ramparts and has a castle, the Counts Castle and the Saint-Nazaire Basilica.The Château Comtal is a fortress that hosted the Viscounts of Carcassonne. Some of its foundations are based on a Domus from the 1C. Very early on, this location became a place of power. The new Counts Castle was built at the beginning of the 12C; There remains only part of the dungeon. From 1240 to 1250, the construction of the enclosure was undertaken to strengthen it. This belt consists of a curtain, round towers, the entrance chatelet, the barbican and the ditch. The Saint-Nazaire Basilica is of Romanesque origin dating from the 11C. It is first of all a simple blessed church and consecrated cathedral by Pope Urban II in 1096. On its location was a Carolingian cathedral of which there is no trace. The crypt also dates from the time of the construction of the new cathedral by the Trencavel family, despite its degraded state which suggests the opposite. The original stained glass windows of the basilica are in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. It is enlarged between 1269 and 1330 in the Gothic style imposed by the French who became masters of the region, with a very slender transept and choir, a setting of sculptures and a set of stained glass that is among the most beautiful in the south of France, Many stained glass windows from the 13-14C are present on the facades. They represent scenes from the life of Christ and his apostles. It became Basilica in 1898, by a brief from Pope Leo XIII.

 

A bit of history I like tell us that the Visigoths settled in the region at the beginning of the 5C. From 507 to 509, the Franks fought the Visigoths , and conquer a large part of the Kingdom of Toulouse. The Visigoths, however, manage to keep Carcassonne which will remain coveted by the Franks for a long time. In 711, Muslims landed at the Rocher de Gibraltar, the city is submitted, was renowned Qarqshuna; Its inhabitants are forced to give half of their property to Muslims; A Moorish garrison is installed. Pépin le Bref takes up the city in 759, but raids of looting distress the region until the reign of Charlemagne. At the end of the 12C, the Catharism reached Carcassonne and made many followers there the Crusader army puts the siege in front of Carcassonne it is the drought and the thirst that made the city capitulate after two weeks,on August 15, 1209

The expulsion of the inhabitants of the fortified city is a major act of the history of Carcassonne, because they are established on the other bank of the river, where Louis IX creates the lower cité or bastide Saint Louis it is dotted with a consulate in 1248, with six consuls who governed it with the help of the notables. This rural colony with checkerboard streets was surrounded by walls in the 14C until the signing in 1659 of the Pyrenees Treaty, the Cité retained its military role on the border between France and Aragon (Spain). The 16C was torn apart by the wars of religion: the lower city supports Protestants, the upper city remains Catholic. Scuffles took place between the two sites up to the edict of Nantes, The ramparts were demolished in the 18C, and the Jacobins portal was built at that time. It takes half a century of work to restore all the grandeur of the 13C to the largest fortification set in the Middle Ages of the West. On November 6, 2003 took place in Carcassonne, in the Hôtel de la Cité, the 16th Franco-Spanish summit in the presence of José María Aznar, Head of the Spanish government, Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic and thirteen ministers from both countries.

The city of Carcassonne on its heritage : https://www.carcassonne.org/article-page/carte-interactive-des-lieux-remarquables

The Carcassonne tourist office : https://www.tourisme-carcassonne.fr/en/

The Aude dept 11 tourist office on the Cité of Carcassonne : https://www.audetourisme.com/en/see-and-do/not-to-be-missed/the-cite-of-carcassonne/

The Occitanie region tourist office: https://www.visit-occitanie.com/en/

There you go folks, a dandy wonderful region of my belle France , very close to the family, with many memories from and with the family over the years. Again, hope you enjoy the post on this is Carcassonne !!! as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!