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Published: March 27th 2012
Today we awoke in the beautiful city of Carcassone, and excitedly ventured out to explore the castle, which was closed the night before. Before leaving the hotel though, we ate our free breakfast - the
first proper breakfast we have had since getting off the ferry a week ago. Although French baguettes are delicious, they do get a bit old when you eat them for at least two, and sometimes three meals in a day!
The Carcassone castle was as expected: spectacular. The city has a huge history - dating back to a rich family that ruled the region in the 11th or so century. (Actually the history goes back even further, as the original city walls were Roman.) The patriarch of the family was eventually ousted during the crusades for aiding heretics, but this was after he had constructed a couple of keeps and snuggled his castle against the most secure of the city's walls. The crusader that took over the castle after the victory continued the construction and completed a castle wall that divided the castle from the rest of the city. He (or his son - can't remember) then gave the castle and the city to the
French monarch, who also continued to strengthen the city and castle. You see, at this time, Carcassone was situated very near to the French-Spanish border and it was also on a trade route between the Mediterranean and Atlantic. So the city was extremely strategic.
The French continued building the castle and it's defended while simultaneously improving the cities defences. It sounds as though the French royalty in the castle didn't much get along with the regular
folk living in the city. This is one main reason they built strong defences for the castle within the city itself - the castle could then be defended from the city's own population.
A dry moat was dug around the castle and a draw bridge installed. A barbican - which is basically a semi-circular wall - was built in front of the draw bridge and another large gate was installed in that.
The way the barbican works is like this: when under attack, the barbican gate is closed. Archers are posted on the barbican wall to shoot enemies outside. If the barbican gate is breached, the attackers
then have to travel across a vast open space in full view of the archers
Side view of the fortress
View of the ramparts, towers and part of the newer city belowthat are posted on the castle walls. They then have to deal with the draw bridge and break through the castle gates. These defences were very effective - the castle was never taken after they were built.
Unfortunately, we couldn't spend more than the morning in Carcassone because we had a long drive ahead to get to Andorra - and we didn't feel like doing it in the dark! So, after our tour through the castle we set off on another long drive (well, only about 3 hours) - venturing away from the Mediterranean and closer to Spain.
The drive itself was uneventful and beautiful. Andorra is set very high in the Pyrenees. The weather was amazing and sunny the whole way, so we could see all of the mountains around us. We thought the view was going to be our entertainment for the day - as it turns out the real hilarity started in Andorra itself (this is the sort of stuff you can only laugh at when you look back at it!)
We arrived in Andorra and decided that we wanted to visit the major 'cities' to decide where we wanted to ski. So we
Trying to escape into town
One could just imagine the horses galloping through here on their way to battle. drove into Pas de la Casa the first city across the border. This city is really just like a large skiing village and is absolutely gorgeous. It is set high in the mountains with breathtaking views of the Pyrenees. After our quick visit to Pas de la Casa, we drove through the tolled tunnel (through the mountain - about 3 km!) and began the very short drive across the country to the capital: Andorra La Vella. The drive there took about half an hour and we were descending the while time. By the time we got to Andorra La Vella, we could barely see any snow any more. There was
a chairlift up to the ski resort (which is the same ski resort you ski at if you ski from Pas de la Casa). The city itself is very new looking and very pretty but it seems to be entirely based on shopping.
Lots of stores!
We parked the car and set out exploring the city. We figured we would find a warm place to sit and drink a coffee while we planned our accommodations and skiing adventure.. We tried the default:
McDonald's. Apparently Andorra is the only place
View of the outer city of Carcassonne
Where the church stands today, used to be a lower barbican, or outer fortification of the city. When the city was being revitalized, they decided to turn the site into a cathedral instead. in the world where McDonald's does not have free wifi. So scratch that idea.
Next, we thought we could still plan our adventure using the 3G connection on our phone. Turns out that there is no data connection in Andorra either. Welcome back to 1995. Looks like we are doing this the hard way!
We decided that we didn't want to stay in a town so far below the snow line, so we started the drive back towards France and Pas de la Casa. There are actually a series of small towns along the way - each with access to the ski resort. We decided to stop in Canillo, one of the base area towns. Elysia had seen a tourist info centre there on the way in, so we figured we could at least get some pointers on where the best skiing was. After parking the car the first incident of the visit to little Andorra happened. While looking for a wifi hotspot Elysia dropped her phone. Crack goes the screen. This was a big deal for us at the time - while we are in Europe we don't want to be spending our money on anything but
Inner areas of the castle
This area below used to be two floors and be covered by a wood roof. The evidence for this is in the holes on the side of the walls where timbers would sit. travelling!
So, we dragged ourselves and Elysia's smashed iPhone to the info centre and decided that the best place to stay was actually in Pas de la Casa - so we decided to head back there. (As a side note, we
noticed that gas was way cheaper in Andorra - about 30 Euro cents per liter cheaper! We were a bit choked that we had fueled up in France before heading off into the mountains.)
When we arrived back at the border town of Pas de la Casa, we parked the car and set off on foot looking for a hotel. This was a tricky proposition and it was very cold out. The sun had set and the mercury dropped to about -10. Seeing how we have just spent a week in France in the mid teens, and the weekend before was in the south of Spain and the low twenties, this was tough for us to handle. So, we broke down and went into an Internet cafe. Actually, it turned out alright - we got a hot chocolate to help us warm up and a hotel to keep us that way, using the good ole interwebs.
It was a bit tricky, but we managed to find a hotel with a private parking lot. Most hotels just require folks to leave there cars on the street and feed the meter every day. We didn't want to do this because the rental contract has a clause that makes us liable for €1500 if the car is stolen... Again, since we don't want to spend any money on stuff unrelated to travel this would be a big set back!
After checking into the hotel, we went off and found the car. We drove up to the hotel to find that the parkade door was still open. The lady at reception had warned us that the lot was tight. She wasn't kidding.
Tight is a MAJOR understatement. We, unfortunately, had been assigned a parking spot on P2. The ramp down incorporated a 90 degree corner, right where the floor went from being level to being sloped. To get around the corner though, it took two attempts - you had to get half into it and then back straight up and finish the turn. When I backed up, I stalled the car and rolled forward about 4
Wooden hoarding on castle ramparts
These wooden hoardings are much newer than the rest of the castle. They were built on the ramparts of the castle for extra defense during a siege. Archers would be protected by the wood while they shot arrows out of small slits in the walls, as well as through the slits in the floor boards to get their enemies below them. inches. Just enough to bring the wall to my right into contact with the door. After some well chosen four letter words, I tried again. This time, I was determined not to let the car stall, but was mindful that there was only about a foot of space behind the car - I didn't want to get too overzealous! So, I restart the car and put about half throttle into it. The car starts to move back. Then, car stalls. Rolls forward. Dent number two. Restart and repeat with more throttle. Stall - dent number three. Restart. Stall. Dent number four. Restart. Stall. But this time, due to the cumulative effect of my failures I was through the corner, so I restarted the car as we coasted down the hill to the second level of the parkade. I found the spot and parked it. Well, at least that is over with! I noticed that it was going to be tough to get out - probably require a twenty or thirty point turn to get the car turned around. Oh well, we are in Andorra for two nights, so I don't have to worry about that for a while.
So
The modern city of Carcassonne
Beyond the medieval fortified and lower city, this much less attractive (but still cute in it's own right) modern city has popped up. after the car was finally parked we grabbed our stuff and walked out of the parkade to the hotel. We couldn't find any stairs out of the parkade so we just walked out the same driveway that we came in. Once we got out on the street we noticed our next mistake: the parkade we parked in was the wrong parkade! Our hotel was the next one over!
You can imagine the feeling I had then! I was thinking that I would be free of the parking lot for at least two days. Nope.
After dropping our packs in our room, we headed back down to the parkade. As expected, it took about a 100 point turn to turn the car around. Again, I had to reverse the car to get around the tight corner, except this time we were traveling up hill. After reversing I tried to get moving forward again, but the hill was so steep that I found myself sitting in the car, burning rubber and moving slightly backwards - this despite the concrete having ridges in it for extra grip! Eventually I got moving forward by backing up far enough that I could straighten
the front tires a but more. Still it took everything the little Peugot had to get out of there. When we pulled into the correct garage we found that it had virtually the same layout as the first garage we were in. I quickly decided to park in a free spot on P1... I wad not going back down that ramp again!
So, feeling quite defeated, we headed back up to the room, cooked some pasta and watched a movie on the iPad - we wondered what else could go wrong in this little country the next day!
I ended up falling asleep thinking to myself: "Thank God I got the insurance!"
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