The Rue Cros-Mayrevieille leads directly to the castle but we wandered up and down the streets for hours before going to the Place du Chateau. Building began on the Viscount’s Castle, otherwise known as the Chateau Comtal, in the early 1120′s and continued to 1229. It was the seat of power in the town and is open to the public with an admission charge. Rather than entering, we just enjoyed the views from the outside. Arrow slits in the towers, and grassy moat surrounding it…View image…with students picnicking in the moat. You can walk the inner wall only with guided tours from the Viscount’s Castle.

Carcassonne was built over the ruins of a former Roman fortress and was the center of the crusades against the heretics, the Cathars. Who were the Cathars? A religious sect that placed them at odds with the Catholic Church who regarded the sect as dangerously heretical. Pope Innocent III then used the excuse of “heretics” to call for a crusade against the Cathars (known as the Albigensian Crusade) systematically eradicating Cathars in a massive genocide in the South of France. Carcassonne was besieged in 1209 shortly after the Crusaders’ massacred the entire population of Beziers.

Viscount’s Palace/Chateau Comtal, Carcassonne, France
A few more street to walk down, reading more menus and trying to decide if we should eat an early dinner in Carcassonne or wait until the journey was over in Perpignan. I thought it was too windy and chilly to sit outside but other tourists certainly proved me wrong. If it had been warmer, can you imagine sitting in the sun with the moated Viscount’s Castle in front of you? What a sight…

dining in front of the Viscount’s Castle, Carcassonne, France 

a Carcassonne square filled with restaurants and tourists, France
Decision made to eat back in Perpignan later and fortified by a fast entrance into a shop selling cookies and other pastries for free samples…View image, it was time for the long walk back to the Carcassonne train station through the “new” La Bastide area to wait for our Perpignan train.

the views of unbelievable La Cite Citadel, Carcassonne, France
The next scheduled train from Carcassone to Narbonne (where we’d change again) was reservations only but with only 10 minutes until this train left, the line was not only incredibly long in the station to buy reservations but there weren’t any seats in First or Second Class. SNCF personnel told us to just get on the train, terminating in Marseilles, and pay the conductor. It was standing room only and because we were transferring trains in 30 minutes, the conductor let us stay on the train without a fine or paying the 3 Euros reservation fee. And, that’s what we did. Stood in an aisle until Narbonne. It’s becoming harder and harder to avoid making reservations, even though we thought Monday would be an uncrowded, off-day.

the Archbishop’s Palace of Narbonne, France in the distance
Back in Perpignan, exhausted, only to find out once again that no place was open for dinner yet. This made three nights in a row that we had to resort to take away and my taste buds (along with feet) were dying for a nice sit-down dinner and bottle of wine. Oh well…at least we did get to see Carcassonne.

Sheila at the Chateau, Carcassonne, France
Up to 25% Off Adventure Travel Deals