Page 72 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020 SPRING EDITION INTERACTIVE

TOURING CARCASSONNE

Europe’s Largest, Walled, Fortified Medieval City

By Sharon Whitley Larsen

You never know how a pig may change walked around on a cold, windy day: “I
the course of history! (More about that can also sense the darker side--the inva-
in a minute.) sions, battles, suffering, and prayers of
the townspeople who had begged those
As I strolled the cobblestone streets
of Carcassonne in southern France- walls to protect them.”
-Europe’s largest, double-walled, forti- Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site
fied medieval city, with 4 million annual in 1997, Carcassonne--known to be a
visitors--I expected a knight in shining ar- human settlement as far back as 600
mor to gallop by on his horse any second. B.C.--encompasses over 2,000 years of
Perhaps to rescue a damsel in distress (or nature, art, architecture, and history in
a tired tourist!). its strategic Languedoc location, on a
historic corridor between the Atlantic and
This was my second visit here, and I’ve
always been fascinated by its history. Mediterranean, and a gateway to the Pyr-
Spread over three kilometers of ramparts enees. The Romans were here in the 2nd
atop a cliff in the Languedoc-Roussillon century B.C. (naming it Carcaso); follow-
region, the stunning “Cite’” of Carcas- ing that, the Visigoths, Saracens, Franks,
sonne--creatively built over the centuries feudal lords, Seneschals, Trencavels, and
to withstand invasions, with 52 towers, various kings of France were among
and gate houses and turrets--includes those who put their mark here through-
the 11th-13th century Viscount’s Castle, out the centuries--some peacefully, some
13th-17th century Inquisition House tragically brutal.
(where heretics were punished), and the It was in this region, for example, at the
fascinating Basilica of St. Nazaire (blessed end of the 11th century, that the Cathars
by Pope Urban II in 1096). The large (named from the Greek word “Katharos,”
fortress overlooks the River Aude, which meaning “pure”), disenchanted with the
separates it from the “modern” town Roman Catholic Church--feeling that it
below of 46,000, built in the mid-13th was run by a greedy and corrupt clergy-
century by St. Louis (Louis IX). -formed their own version of Christian-
ity. They believed there had been two
The popular tourist site of walled Carcas-
sonne “is a fairy-tale setting,” observed creations, one good, the other evil, and
Jan Percival Lipscomb of San Diego, Calif. they considered themselves to be the
“It’s like Cinderella’s castle at Disneyland, “good Christians,” the true church of God.
except for real.” The Cathars, who were vegetarian, had
a single prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, and
But, acknowledged Lipscomb, as she were baptized, but did not partake in
Night scene of Carcassonee..
Copyright Paul Palau.

72 WDT MAGAZINE SPRING 2017