Another sunny and cool day but we’re still going to the medieval walled town of Carcassonne, one of Europe’s most dramatic sights but first another big buffet breakfast at the Best Western Park Hotel. Instead of waiting for the No. 1 bus that stops right in front of the hotel, we walked to the train station to catch a train to Narbonne and change there for Carcassonne.

If we got up earlier and took an 8:30 a.m. train, this entire journey could have been easier since no train changes were involved. But we didn’t, and it was only when I looked at the Perpignan Station departures board that I discovered this particular Perpignan-Narbonne train was a TEOZ. (You must understand that ex-Marine never bothers with details and that way he can shout.. “another fine mess you got us into”.) FYI: On all TGV and TEOZ trains. reservations obligatoire. In plain English, you must have a seat reservation. This would ordinarily be no big deal but a seat reservation would have cost an additional 3 euros/person for a 30-minute ride. The nice SNCF person behind the counter suggested we just wait 20 more minutes for the next train, a local TER with no reservations required.

Carcassonne map, France
We took her advice since only Carcassonne was planned for today and eventually arrived a little later than planned but with still ample time for lots of sightseeing. It’s a good thing I had a pre-printed map off the Internet or we wouldn’t have had any idea how to begin walking to La Cite Citadel, with no Information Office at the Carcassonne train station. This map was easy to follow through the main Bastide section, built after La Cite in 1247. And Bastide is considered the modern section! The year 1247 is modern?

Straight down the all-pedestrian street with shops on both sides to the big “I” – Information Office for tons of great maps and brochures for Carcassone and the entire Cathar area (more about that later). One brochure listed individual itineraries that follow the Prehistoric, Medieval Churches, Baroque, Chateau & Fortifications, Nature & Science, Places of History, Modern & Contemporary Art Routes – all packed into one brochure! I’ll say it one last time. Do your best to make your first stop in any town at the local Tourist Office.

Armed with all sorts of miscellany, it wasn’t a very long walk across the l’Aude River on the Pont Vieux, old bridge and impossible to miss La Cite Citadel directly in front of us. You could even spot the massive and imposing Citadel from the train as we approached Carcassonne.

La Cite of Carcassonne, home of the Crusaders in France 

La Cite of Carcassone, just three of the 52 towers, perfect movie location in France
Once across the Pont Vieux, it was still quite a walk until we reached one of the two entrances to the biggest fort/walled town in Europe. The Porte Narbonnaise is the main entrance and taxis shuttle passengers to the hotels over the crenellated redoubt built on the bridge, across the moat. There are arrow slits in front of the two Narbonne towers on either side of the gateway and above the archway is a 13th century statue of the Virgin Mary. La Cite Medievale has 52 towers and two rings of town walls making a total of 3 km/almost 2 miles of battlements…View image. Completely awe-inspiring and we hadn’t even crossed the moat to enter yet.

Virgin Mary over the entrance to La Cite Citadel, Carcassonne, FranceCheap Flights