A Fairytale Fortress
Tired and loaded down we left the Carcassonne Train station in search of a place to stay that Thursday night. We walked 3 blocks to a cheap hostel to discover they didn't have any available rooms. The summer travel season has begun! Fortunately, we found a 2-star hotel across from the train station.
After some rest and a tasty cassoulet (a very hearty bean casserole fromS. France with sausage and confit de canard - duck legs cooked in duckfat and then preserved in the cooled fat - it's rich, salty and verytasty ) we headed to the medieval turreted fortress of Carcassonne. On our way there, we encountered a wine shop so...of course...we went in to explore. The wine shop had a small yet delicious selection of good-priced Langoudoc-Rousallonwines which included a 100% Cab Franc. The shopkeeper was a sweet lady who spoke less English than we spoke French - which isn't much. With guide book in hand, Lesley (Dr. Linguist) was able to express her love of their 100%CF.
Finally....off to the double-walled old Cathar town with 3 bottles in hand. The fairytale fortress triggered endless medieval images in my mind. The fortress stood on top of a small hill over looking the nearby city and countryside. My medieval daydreams came to a screeching halt once I reached the old town inside the turreted walls. The cobble stoned streets were surrounded by touristy shops, a plethora of tourists, their kids and which filled the town with sounds ofSssshhhhhhhwing.....ssssshhhhhhwing (which was the sound of toy swordsimitating real swords swinging in battle). Most of the shops had no association to the history of Carcassonne. Maybe we should have visited at night time when the tourists were gone. Oh well.
On our way out we passed a Merry-Go-Round by the front entrance to the walled city and said good-by to the touristy fortress of Carcassonne. After visiting Mont St. Michel a few days earlier Carcassonne didn't seem as grandiose as it probably should have.
The next day we left to Barcelona then had a rather uneventful time till weflew to Scotland.
Lots of love,
Russ and Lesley
posted by Russ at 3:55 PM
1 Comments:
Adding to Sam's little history lesson.. regarding the Cathars dualism... they believed that Spirit was created by the good God, and that physical was created by the Evil God. So, the God talked about in the Old Testament was actually Satan. The Cathars also taught a limited form of reincarnation, whereby at death, you chose to enter the spiritual realm, or to reincarnate 7-9 more times before your soul was then irretreivably lost.
Neat hunh? You can see why the Pope thought a crusade would be a worthwhile enterprise to wipe these people out.
Regarding the Bloodline of Christ, it was believed to exist in the Merovingian (Matrix anyone?) family, and it wasn't until the Templar Knights tried to reinstate the Merovingian Kings in France and other regions that the Papacy (Clement V) had them rounded up, tortured, and killed with the assistance of France's King Philip IV.
When the Templar Knights Grandmaster Molay was burned at the stake after being tortured, confessing, and changing his story back, he called out for Pope Clement and King Philip to join him before God within a year. Both men died within a year.
Incidently, Mary Magdalene was said to have journeyed to France after the Crucifixion, with her (and Jesus') children, eventually to pass away in Southern France at what is now Saint Baume.
1:25 AM
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