Wawa & Sisi: May 2011

Easter Weekend, day 4

Well, the these days passed quickly, the 4th was already our last day. On the way back to Barcelona we first stopped near Narbonne to visit the Abbey of Fontfroide (Abbaye de Fontfroide). This monastery has a nice cloister and is located in the middle of nowhere, there are just trees, flowers, a river and mountains around it.

Afterwards we continued and near Perpignan we went to Salses-le-Château, where we visited the castle of Salses. This impressive fort built by the Spanish at the end of the 15th century was once important to secure the boarder to France which was here before the Pyrenees contract was signed.

That was the last stop, after Salses we drove back to Barcelona on the motorway.

Abbaye de Fontfroide in a valley and around is only nature.

The Fort de Salses has big and thick walls and was built with the best defences they had at this time.

Easter Weekend, day 3

First of all we went to Carcassonne on this day to visit the medieval city (UNESCO world heritage) which is surrounded by 2 walls with many towers. We visited the Cathedral, went through the streets of the Cité and then along the wall from where we had a nice view of the region and the new town.

Afterwards we drove by car a bit to the north where we visited 4 ruins on a mountain in Lastours. It takes some time to climb up to each castle, but the view is nice and the weather was sunny again.

Later on we continued to Limousis, which isn’t far away, to see the Grottes de Limousis. This cave is long and has about 5 halls inside it, some also with water. It was nice, especially the last hall which has a stone which he hadn’t seen before. It’s just always the guided tours where they have in many places which take a lot of time and which are only in French, sometimes quite boring.

At the end we drove back and on the way we stopped in Villeneuve-Minervois and Conques-Sur-Orbiel, 2 villages with some old houses. Back in Carcassonne we enjoyed the view of the Citadel which is illuminated at night.

The medieval citadel of Carcassonne with the cathedral, narrow streets and the big doule wall is very impressive.

The Castle of Lastours, not only 1, no, there are 4 ruins to see.

The Grottes de Limousis is nice and cool inside.

The village of Conques-Sur-Orbiel.

On the way we also passed the Canal du Midi, also UNESCO world heritage.

Easter Weekend, day 2

On the 2nd day we drove first from Axat to Lapradelle where we wanted to visit the Castle of Puilaurens (Château de Puilaurens). Unfortunately it rained cats and dogs and was foggy, so we decided to continue directly and not walking up and visiting this Cathar ruin on the top of a mountain.

So, by car we drove through the Gorges de Galmus, a nice canyon without a lot of traffic so it wasn’t a problem to get through. Then we went to visit the Castle of Peyrepertuse, one of many more from the Cathar’s which are remaining in this area. The ruin is located on the top of a mountain surrounded by cliffs. Sometimes it was covered with fog and suddenly the sky opened for a few minutes and the surrounding landscape was visible.

Afterwards we went to the next ruin, the Château de Quéribus, also from the same time. It’s on a steep rock from where we had a nice view towards the mountains (when the fog it permitted).

On the way to Trèbes near Carcassonne where we slept, we passed through Villerouge-Termenès with another castle and Lagrasse where a nice monastry is.