Blogs from Carcassonne, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Europe

So after two days in Toulouse, wandering around and seeing the sights, I made my way to Carcassonne. It was a quick train ride in a TGV (train à grande vitesse -- means fast train!) and I arrived in the city. I made my way to the tourist office kiosk to ask how to get to the hostel, and I was given a map, directed to the nearby bus stop with instructions to take the #4, and was asked where I was from. They seem to do this at all the tourist offices here. When I mentioned that I was from Canada, they asked if it was the French part? What a compliment! (Don't worry, later that day when I asked for more info at another office in town, they asked if I was from English ... read more

Carcassonne is a beautiful spot. I was lucky enough to have some tumultuous weather while there, which made the spectacular even more spectacular. The enveloping lightning flashes and contrasting colours making the Cité de Carcassonne an even more breathtaking sight to behold than what I imagine it normally would be. The modern day Cité de Carcassonne is the accumulation of 2500 years history and within its confines you can find traces of the various periods and groups it has played host to. I personally just spent 3-4 hours there buzzing out on life. Oh and an hour or so eating Cassoulet, a specialty of the Languedoc region, which is simply put a casserole with white haricot beans and various meats.... read more

After spending a night at the campsite, the morning was a bit rough (at least for Elysia). It was a cold night, but we awoke to the beautiful sunshine. After packing up the tent and making some coffee, we headed to spend a few hours in the old town of Nimes, before making our way to the highlight of the day, Carcassonne. We were only in Nimes for two hours, which we felt wasn't enough, so we will have to go back. We had incidently picked up a walking tour pamphlet for Nimes, so we thought it would be a great way to get a feel for the city. Unfortunately we lost the brochure with the street map in it, but more fortunately, we were right in front of the tourist info centre when we lost ... read more

Frank and I were just talking while the children had a sleep in the back seat en route to Carcassonne. It's amazing how easy life seems on holiday, with no mail, phone calls or e-mail to return, and no household jobs calling! The other advantage of holidays is that when there's no rushing around to school and various activities, the children are incredibly co-operative and I'm not having to yell at anyone to hurry up. We are all enjoying each others' company so much. I don't know how you re-create this environment at home, but we are enjoying it while we can! If Verona was Isabel's request, a knight's castle was Hugo's. We certainly found a beauty at Carcassonne! My photos are a little disappointing because the scale of the place from a distance is truly ... read more

We are now in residence in an apartment in a time share village which gives us the opportunity to relax and explore the local countryside at our leisure. Nearby is the Canal du Midi which runs from near Toulouse to the sea. Boats of all shapes and sizes are tied up at the local village and in the height of summer must be quite busy. We have arrived at a time with temperatures in the high teens and very cloudy with occasional drizzle. Seems like we have brought it with us from Spain, but another resident said this sort of weather happens often because of the proximity to the mountains. After a lazy start to the day we took the deviation into Carcassonne, a town high on our list of must see places. Being a Saturday ... read more