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Today we spent the day immersed in medieval mayhem…from towns in the sky, to Knights Templar hideaways, to the 12th century house of love …it was the stuff that movies are made of.
First stop was Cordes, or rather Cordes Sur Ciel (Cordes in the sky). There’s a bit of a hike up to the old city, as you would expect by the name, which was founded by the Count of Toulouse (no relation to Count Homogenised) in 1222. It’s a simply stunning town, remarkably preserved over the last 800 years, and its inspirational views and antiquated atmosphere have drawn a community of artists to it where they now live and work. Its so easy to imagine how life would’ve been here back then…meeting the knight who was top of the leaderboard in the sloping cobbled streets, popping out to the ‘lower town’ to sell your wares, pouring boiling tar on the heads of the marauding invaders, watching your effluent wash down onto the valleys below, and after rarking it up in the town square on Saturday night, popping into confession at the church on Sunday morning just after your dad. And ahhhhhhhh the serenity - if only there were
no tourists (like us).
Next stop was Vaour, to check out the ruins of the Knights Templar Commander’s residence. The Knight’s had been killing for Christ in the region for some time and had acquired a load more stuff which they couldn’t fit in their place in Penne so naturally needed somewhere else to put it. So they built the residence in Vaour, atop yet another towering hill with vast views in all directions so that no one could creep up behind them and take their stuff.
It was originally a 3 story construction, but only the bottom story and a couple of walls on the next story remain, along with some of the outbuildings, but with the floor plan we had you didn’t need too vivid an imagination to picture just how impressive this residence would’ve been (‘residence’ is probably those knights being a bit modest again, trying not to draw attention to themselves and their secretive ways). This was one big pad. The bread oven on the ground floor was a stone construction built into one of the walls, at least 4 metres wide, and was vented up through the roof. The last 6 or so
stairs of the octagonal tower remain, and you can clearly see the large divots worn through centuries of walking on the outer edge.
Unfortunately for us one of the buildings - the underground stables - which had been fully restored and obviously housed all the information, souvenirs, novelties and party tricks was closed for the bank holiday. We were told by the owners of the gite we’re staying at that the rest of the residence is soon to be restored or at least ‘secured’ and made a bit more visitor friendly (you do need your rock climbing shoes to get up one of the staircases).
Third stop was Penne - the home, some say, to some of humanity’s origins with paleolithic relics found in the region. There’s a tale about the town itself being built as a result of 2 local queens having a go at each other…the one that built Penne eventually beat the other queen at the age of 80 when she was tortured and tied by her hair to the tail of a wild horse. Nasty stuff, and great legend, but not sure how credible it is…but then again they were bad assess back then
so it could be true.
Anyway, this is another incredibly sited town on top of a more than slightly precarious hilltop. There’s an old town and a castle ruin to check out. We did a quick tour of the town to ensure we checked out the local historical sites…they’re all within a few hundred metres of each other and are scattered through the tiny narrow cobbled streets so it’s a bit of a treasure hunt to find them all. Along the way the boys had their first liaison dangereux when dad slipped while trying to get a photo of the Plague Cross (a religious dedication to the plague inscribed with ‘Free us from the plague, Lord’). A few tears and a couple of grazes later and dad was back on the horse and hiking up the hill to the castle.
The castle appears to be an extension of the hill itself (albeit one that hangs off to the side) and looks like it could topple any second…which is probably why the local government have forbidden access into the castle ruin…and probably why we thought we’d have a look inside anyway. You only needed to take a few steps
inside to understand why access is a no no. Walls and ceilings have literally fallen around you, perhaps days or even hours before, and whatever is standing looks to be held together by ivy and moss, and the very rare large piece of wood. This really is a ruin of the highest order, and creeping around may be a bit foolish with an 8 month old baby strapped to your back, but it was something quite unique.
We drove back to St Antonin through some unforgettable countryside, surrounded by vineyards and fruit groves at the bottom of sheer cliff faces and ravines hundreds of feet high that must have banked the river millions of years ago. We still had time to do a walking tour of St Antonin and discovered a myriad of more old stuff, including the oldest civil building in France, and Rue Bombecul (literally: the street that makes you stick your butt out)
We had a huge day and the best part about it was that it was all literally on our doorstep - the furthest we had to drive was 25 kms, and it’s such an engrossing countryside that you dont even notice it.
We arrived home to clean dry washing and enjoyed some al fresco dining while introducing Kaspar to the geese he’d heard so much about on Old McDonald’s farm.
New day tomorrow, new country. We’re heading for Spain - our longest roadie yet - but its going to be through some more great parts of the country which will make the 5 ½ hours that much more bearable.
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Nicky
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what an incredible record of your journey
Hi Sarah, Gabor and Kaspar What a stunning record of your trip (so far) loved the pic of Kaspar dinning in his bodysuit - must be alot warmer in France than it is currently in Wellington. Safe and happy travels - the pictures are just awesome