Category: Places to Visit

There are some mighty rivers in this world that have had historical importance.  There’s the Mississippi, the Nile and closer to home, the Hudson and the St. Lawrence.  In France, there is a river that is long but not mighty, the Loire, with history all along its route.  It rolls along quietly with very limited navigability.  But from the late Middle Ages into the Renaissance, France was ruled from various spots along the Loire.

Many of the castles where the kings and nobles lived in those days are still there, open for public visits.  And oh, by the way, they make wine in the Loire valley, mostly light white wines such as Vouvray, Muscadet and Sancerre.  There are some reds, the best known of which is Chinon.  But about those castles…

There are nearly 50 of them and it seems that you see a château (French for castle) every time you turn a corner. They are hard to miss as you travel around the Touraine region.  (The region is centered on the city of Tours, hence the name.)  We haven’t visited them all but have seen quite a few.  These are our favorites.

Blois Castle, with Francois I’s staircase.  Photo courtesy of France This Way.

• Blois.  This was a royal château, occupied off and on by a number of French kings, the most notable of whom were Francois I and Henri IV.  It’s where Jeanne d’Arc went to be blessed before setting out to war.  Each noble and king added or renovated a little here and there, so the result that can be seen today is massive.  Much of the architecture is Italianate, due to the wars fought by the French in Italy during Blois’ heyday.  Its most famous feature is the spiral staircase erected by Francois I.

The roof of Chambord castle.  Photo courtesy of the Domain National de Chambord.

• Chambord.  While this is the largest château in the Loire valley, it was originally Francois I’s hunting lodge.  Unlike many of the other castles, this one was never really used for defensive purposes.  Architecturally, it is the most decorated, with towers, turrets, buttresses and curlicues that don’t seem to have any particular function.  It is worth walking around the roof, to see all the fanciful additions that make Chambord more beautiful.  The double helix staircase in the interior is said to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

The chapel of St. Hubert at Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci is said to be buried.  Photo courtesy of the Orange County Register.

• Amboise.  And speaking of Leonardo, his remains are interred at Amboise, another royal château.  He was lured away from France by, yes, Francois I who was a patron of the arts as well as a warrior king.  The history of the castle goes back to the High Middle Ages, when it was quite definitely used for military and defensive purposes.  It looms over the village of Amboise, where we have had some pleasant lunches.

Chenonceau castle. Photo courtesy of L’Indre par Velo.

• Chenonceau.  We have saved the best for last.  Chenonceau spans the little river Cher, with arches allowing the river to pass beneath it.  One of the pleasures of visiting Chenonceau is rowing under the château.  An interesting fact is that the Cher formed the border between Nazi-occupied France in World War II and so-called Free France to the south.  Jews and other persecuted people would enter in the north and escape from the other end of the château.  There are two notable gardens on either side of Chenonceau.  One was built for Catherine de Medici, queen of France and wife of king Henry II.  The other was built for the king’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers; she got the bigger, nicer garden but was forced to give it up when the king died.

Generally, when Power Tasting recommends a place to visit, it’s a location near wine tasting, but not wine tasting by itself.  We make an exception for the Santa Rita Hills, because they’re just so beautiful.

Interestingly, we shouldn’t be referring to the Santa Rita Hills at all.  There is a large Chilean winemaker called Vina Santa Rita and they objected to the use of the same name as applied to wines.  So the official name is Sta. Rita Hills.  We don’t care; we’re sticking with Santa.

The area stretches from the town of Buellton to the east and Lompoc at the western extreme.  It’s roughly 17 miles wide and 10 miles from north to south.  And it’s in Southern California, which means it must be hot, right?  No, Santa Rita Hills has a very unique climate that makes it ideal for the grapes of Burgundy: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

South-facing vineyards, with the Sant Ynez mountains behind them, and fog trying to climb over the mountains.

That climate is made by an ocean and some mountains.  The ocean, of course, is the Pacific, which lies due south of the Hills.  Now, California runs north-south, so shouldn’t the Pacific be west of it?  But just to the west of Lompoc, the coastline hangs a hard left for about 75 miles, putting the Pacific to the south.  Paralleling the coast are the Santa Ynez mountains.  So when cool, moist air rises from the ocean in the form of fog, it is stopped by the mountains.  Some does get over them, of course.  You can see the clouds trying to make it past the Santa Ynez’ in the morning hours.

Because the southerly winds are blocked, there’s nothing stopping the east-west gusts.  Thus the Santa Rita Hills have ideal conditions: lots of sun, but cool and breezy.  The conformation of the Hills creates a valley with spectacular views wherever you look.  Words, even photographs, don’t do justice to the Santa Rita Hills.  We have enjoyed great vineyard vistas around the world: the Côte d’Or, Barossa Valley and Napa Valley closer to home, just to name a few.  The Santa Rita Hills are far less developed than any of those and the vineyards that patch the views make it even more gorgeous.

We should point out that the drive to the Santa Rita Hills is almost as dramatic as the Hills themselves.  There are two ways to get there from Santa Barbara, which is most likely the starting point for most wine tasters, or else from Los Angeles.  One is Route101, which we have written about before.  From Santa Barbara, it runs along the coast until the town of Gaviota, where it makes a sharp right turn.  As you drive, you pass through a gap in the mountains where suddenly the morning fogs lift, as though a curtain is going up.  Those mountain walls are quite a sight themselves.

The other route is via Routes 154 and 246.  The latter is the main drag of the Santa Rita Hills.  There are stunning views of the Pacific through gulleys in the mountains and equally spectacular views of Lake Cachuma on the inland side.  You also pass through the quaint but touristy town of Solvang before reaching the Santa Rita Hills.  We recommend 101 to go and 154/246 to return to Santa Barbara or back to L.A. 

Oh, did we mention that there’s wine in them thar hills?  If you go to admire the scenery, you ought to try some wine.

Philadelphia is still bragging about the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Bell.  Boston hasn’t gotten over the Tea Party.  Those things happened around 250 years ago.  There is a place in France where they’re still identifying themselves with something that occurred more than 700 years ago: Avignon, in the south of France.

From 1309 through 1417, the Pope decided not to live in Rome but rather took up residence in Avignon.  This all had to do with conflict between the Papacy and the Kings of France and is way too complicated to be explained here.  The point for contemporary visitors is that everywhere you go in Avignon you’ll see the papal insignia of the Triple Crown and the crossed keys. 

The Papal Palace in Avignon, with the cathedral to the left.  Photo courtesy of Horizons Provence.

The most impressive and important site should you visit Avignon is the Papal Palace.  It’s actually two joined buildings, erected by different Popes.  It is one of the largest gothic edifices ever built.  Its massive walls and battlements give witness to the perilous nature of the Avignon papacy, with the constant threat of attacks by the forces of various kings and church factions.  As the center point of medieval western Christianity, the palace, and Avignon more generally, it became the administrative hub of Catholicism.  It was the precursor to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which was built 100 years after the return of the papacy there.

At the same time, Avignon is very much a living city.  It is famous for its annual festival of the arts.  There are performances in the courtyard of the Papal Palace and in theaters (and in the streets) around Avignon.  Of course, most of the theatrical works are in French, with an occasional Shakespeare or other classic piece presented in English.

Saint Benezet’s Bridge, with the bell tower of the Avignon cathedral behind it.  Photo courtesy of Provence-Alpes- Côtes d’Azur Tourism.

Of course, there’s a cathedral, Notre-Dame des Doms, next to the palace.  Over the centuries, this church has collapsed, been reconstructed, abandoned in the Revolution and restored in the 19^th century.  Its bell tower hovers over the city and it is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary that can be seen for miles around.  There are also gardens worth visiting.  The Doms is the rock on which Avignon was founded.  Visitors can climb up to it from the cathedral, enjoy the greenery and the views over the Rhône and pretend to be Avignonais.

Avignon is the capital of the Vaucluse region, which contains most of the Côtes du Rhône vineyards.  Nearby is a town wine lovers have heard of: Châteauneuf-du-Pape translated as “the Pope’s new castle”.  (One of the Avignon Popes built it as a refuge in case of attack on the palace.)  Avignon is a bustling little city ,  modern amongst all the antiquity.  After seeing the Papal Palace and the cathedral, the best thing to do (other than wine tasting all around the city) is just to walk around, taking in many beautiful sectors and sights.

Finally, don’t miss Saint Benezet’s Bridge, or what’s left of it.  If you remember the childhood song Sur le Pont d’Avignon (on the bridge of Avignon), this is it.  Half of it collapsed centuries ago, but you can still dance there today, if you’d like to.

For wine lovers, Santa Barbara is paradise.  So many tasting rooms in such a concentrated space!  We address the wine tasting aspect of the city elsewhere in this edition, but even if you are not planning to go wine tasting there – or even if you are – the city of Santa Barbara has a great deal to offer the visitor besides wine. 

A Santa Barbara street scene.  The tower in the background is a movie theater!

For one thing, it is a particularly beautiful city.  Much of the architecture harkens back to Santa Barbara’s colonial past, as a part of Mexico.  Scrubbed white walls and tiled roofs are evident throughout the city.  In another direction, there are also many beautiful Victorian buildings.  Power Tasting doesn’t recommend hotels, but our favorite one, the Upham, is a jewel, erected in 1871, still maintaining its original form and is worth a look.

Even, perhaps especially, when you get off the main commercial streets and into the nearby residential areas, your eyes are still delighted.  The homes themselves may or may not have architectural interest, but the gardens in front of them are wonderful to see.  The Santa Barbarans love their gardens and fill the fronts of their houses with palms, cacti, succulents and a wide variety of flowering plants and shrubs.  Take a walk around just to enjoy these sights.

For a city with fewer than 90,000 residents, Santa Barbara is a remarkably cultured city.  On State Street, the main drag, there are several grand old movie palaces from a bygone era, still showing the latest films.  Moreover, there are several legitimate theaters providing live performances.  The most notable cultural magnets are its museums.  There’s a history museum, one for natural history and the gem is the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.  It doesn’t have a huge collection – you can see it all in less than a day – but what there is is fine.  The highlight, to our eyes, is the museum’s collection of Impressionists.

Two other historical cultural attractions stand out.  The Presidio is today more of a district than a single attraction.  It consists of many of the buildings that the Spanish erected to govern and protect the city in colonial times.  (Not coincidentally, the military was there to conquer the Chumash people, who just happened to be living there at the time.)  The buildings are well-maintained and many are open for public viewing.  Happily, the Presidio is only a few blocks from the tasting rooms.

While the soldiers were occupying Chumash land, Franciscan monks were opening a mission to convert them.  What started as a modest farmstead grew over time into a cloister and a church.  The Old Mission Santa Barbara is open today for occasional masses and every day for self-directed tours.  It includes the gardens, the church, a museum and the cemetery.  The latter, originally intended for burial of the monks, has over the years outsiders become the resting place for other, some not even Catholic.

Add to all the above the beaches, resorts, fine dining and oh, yes, wine and you can see that Santa Barbara is an excellent place to visit.  One note about the weather.  December through March are months with particularly fine weather, warm for those of us facing real winter.  But starting late April and onward through June, the weather turns cool and overcast.  The locals say, “May grey, June gloom”.  Bring a sweater if you go in those months.

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a handsome city with many interesting things to do there.  But to be honest, it’s not a wine city.  Oh, for sure, there are excellent wine lists at some restaurants.  But there aren’t many Belgian wineries scattered around the country, so if you’re going to do that much driving, maybe you want to travel for around three hours and go to Champagne in France.  Or, maybe vice versa, you could tag Brussels on to a Champagne visit.

The Grand-Place or Grote Markt.  Photo courtesy of MakeMyTrip.

The best place to start a trip in Brussels is the Grand-Place, which is also known as the Grote Markt.  [The Belgians have a great language divide.  The Walloons speak French; the Flemish speak their own language, which is close to Dutch.  You’ll see signs everywhere in both languages.]  The Grand-Place has a lot of history, going back to the 11^th century.  In 1695, Louis XIV’s troops destroyed it, so the good burghers of Brussels vowed to reconstruct it even better than it was.  They did it in about five years and so it remains today.

The Big Market (for that’s what it means in Flemish) is surrounded by opulent guild halls, the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) and lots of places to eat and drink.  The Belgian make great beer, and they serve it by the liter.  There are few things more pleasant on a warm summer afternoon, than enjoying a beer amongst the architecture, watching some Belgians and even more tourists going about their lives.  A word of warning: The Belgians like some of their beers with fruit flavors (Kriek is lemon; Frambozen is raspberry; and Cerise is cherry.)  Most Americans find these fruity beers to be awful, but some of us do like them on a hot day.  Think of them as Kool-Aid with a kick.)

A few blocks away is the city’s symbol, the Mannekin Pis.  It’s a small statue of a little boy, well, pissing.  You ought to see it but you’ll find it a bit disappointing if you were expecting a Belgian version of the Statue of Liberty.  Some enterprising Bruxellois erected another statue, of a little girl, the Manneka Pis.  (You figure it out.)  It’s in a 19^th century covered shopping arcade, several of which are near the Grand-Place.  They’re worth seeing just for the architecture and the window shopping.

The Ilôt Sacré.  Photo courtesy of The Brussels Times.

Also just off the Grand-Place is l’Ilôt Sacré, or Sacred Island.  It is neither an island nor sacred, but it is packed with seafood restaurants, with remarkable displays of shellfish and the finned fish.  The restaurateurs take special pleasure in displaying a monkfish, arguably the sea’s ugliest creature, with a grapefruit in its mouth.  Ugh!  But the seafood is fresh and well prepared, so try a meal there.  With wine.

Other sights worth taking in, also in the center of town, are the Grand and Petit Sablons, a neighborhood full of boutiques and excellent restaurants.  There’s a fence surrounding the Petit Sablon, and each post is topped with a statue of a tradesman.  There are 48 of them and it’s fun figuring out how many you can identify.

There are two well-known art museums, one for older (ancien) art and another for the modern.  The old art includes the world’s best collection of Breughels and the modern one has the same for Magritte.  Finally, this is where the world-famous singer, Jacques Brel, was from.  Of course there’s a square named for him and if you are or were a fan of Jacques Brel, just to be there makes you feel close to him.

One of the most attractive wine tasting features of Sonoma County is that different sections of it specialize in certain grapes.  For instance, Alexander Valley is known for Cabernet Sauvignon, Dry Creek for Zinfandel and Russian River for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  As you drive further west in the Russian River area, you encounter subsections, such as the wineries on River Road, the heart of Russian River AVA, and Chalk Hill, on the other side of Route 101.  Perhaps the most remote section is Green Valley, quite rustic, with quite a few wineries to visit.  Among the best known are Dutton-Goldfield, Hartford Court, Kosta Brown, Merry Edwards and Iron Horse.

Downtown Sebastopol.  Photo courtesy of Visit California.

The “seat” of Green Valley is the small town of Sebastopol (population around 8,000).  No one is quite sure how the town got to be named after a Ukrainian city in the Crimea.  There used to be several California towns of that name.  One became Yountville; this Sebastopol was originally named Pinegrove.

Founded when prospectors came to Northern California for the Gold Rush of ’49, Sebastopol soon became the market town for apple and plum orchard keepers.  The region is still known for one apple in particular, the Gravenstein, which is becoming rarer and rarer, even in California’s stores.  Beginning in the 1970’s, vineyards began to replace orchards, and today that transformation is nearly complete.

The town of Sebastopol was transformed as well.  Apple farming doesn’t generate the same kind of revenue as does winemaking, so Sebastopol was until fairly recently a dusty, slow-moving village.  And apples don’t attract tourists like wine does, so soon tourists arrived in Green Valley for tastings.  (They were more a trickle than a flood; still today Sebastopol is not as heavily visited as Sonoma town or Healdsburg.)  Visitors to Wine Country everywhere want to live and eat well, so along with tasting rooms came restaurants, inns, art galleries and just a little bit of traffic along Sebastopol’s Main Street.

Today, as we see it, Sebastopol is a strange mixture of sleepy Healdsburg, circa 1995, and St. Helena today.  All three towns are able to maintain the feel of a rural village, but with all the amenities of a town that has been discovered.  Healdsburg was transformed by the wine trade and is now a destination itself. St. Helena has become rather ritzy.  If the demand for Green Vally Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays expands the way that it has done in the rest of the Russian River area, Sebastopol may become more of a mecca.  But it hasn’t happened yet.

Photo courtesy of The Barlow.

One of the signs that Sebastopol is seeking more visitors is The Barlow.  It’s a twelve-acre market, on the site of the Barlow family’s apple sauce factory, similar in style and function to the Oxbow Market in Napa town.  Kosta Brown has a tasting room there, as do brewers of both beer and cider (apples do survive in the region), plus restaurants, boutiques and specialty food shops.  For our part, we prefer the less touristy ambiance of the restaurants and shops on Main Street and the side streets nearby.  We recommend that you come and visit soon, before the 21st century catches up to Sebastopol.

We specify that this is the Gallipoli in Italy, because there is a far more famous Gallipoli in Turkey, where a notable battle was fought in World War I.  This Gallipoli is a seaside village in Puglia (which some have anglicized to Apulia) near numerous vineyards where the principal grape is Negroamaro.  There is a new town, which you can ignore, but the old part offers a tourist a number of reasons to stop there.

The antecedents of the town are from ancient Greece, not Rome; in fact, Gallipoli mean “beautiful city” in Greek.  Over the centuries, it has been ruled by many foreigners, including the Goths, Byzantines, Normans, the dukes of Anjou, Venetians and Spaniards.  Each of them has left a trace on Gallipoli. 

The Castle still guards Gallipoli’s harbor and the ancient bridge to the mainland.

The most impressive monument to Gallipoli’s past is the Castle.  It is a huge, round fortress that overlooks the harbor.  The old town is actually an isthmus, with a narrow bridge connecting it to the mainland.  The castle hovers over the bridge and was intended to keep invaders, like Saracens and Tripoli pirates, at bay.  We’re not sure it always worked, but conquests seem to have come from the land side, not the sea.

The Cathedral of Sant’Agata was erected in the 17th century in a plateresque style, reminding you of the Spanish overlords who were in charge at time.  The exterior has statues of some martyred saints, but it is the frescoes on the interior walls and ceilings that dazzle the eye.  They are so large and there are so many that it is hard to take them all in.  We found it best to choose one or two and just focus on those works of art.

The grindstone for making olive oil.

An interesting attraction is a museum of olive oil, or more formally, the Frantoio Ipogeo di Palazzo Granafei.  There were once dozens of underground olive mills in Gallipoli; this is the only one remaining.  They were below the streets in order to keep the olives as cold as possible in Southern Italy’s heat.  The work of pressing the olives, collecting the oil and purifying it was grueling.  Local lads would work there for a year, because they were paid so handsomely for their labor that they were set up for life.  The donkeys who went round and round endlessly to drive the presses were not so lucky.

Alas, tourists have discovered Gallipoli, so as you walk along the town’s narrow streets, you’re as likely to hear English being spoken as Italian.  You’ll find shops selling t-shirts and the like, but you’ll also find enough other things to keep you interested for a while.  However, this shouldn’t stop you from wandering around.  The well-maintained buildings are alluring and some of the shops are rather interesting.

As a parting stop in Gallipoli, we recommend the fish market, naturally down by the harbor.  It smells a bit (more than a bit), but you can eat fresh seafood there and you know that it really is for the locals, not for the tourists.

In writing about Sarlat, we need to be rather specific.  We’re talking about Sarlat-la-Canéda, located in the Dordogne region of France.  Names can be a bit tricky in France; there are at least three other villages named Sarlat and the Dordogne is also known by its more ancient name, the Perigord.  (We Americans shouldn’t sneer.  There are 41 US cities and towns named Springfield.)

The Place de la Liberté in Sarlat.  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

There are three reasons to visit Sarlat and its environs: architecture, gastronomy and history.  The architecture of Sarlat is that of a well-maintained medieval village.  Before the French Revolution, Sarlat was a large commercial center but later the trains passed it by, commerce died out and it fell into disrepair.  André Malraux, the novelist and Minister of Culture in the 1960’s poured funding into Sarlat for its restoration.  Today, visitors can wander narrow cobblestoned streets and view homes and businesses looking much as they did in the 15^th century.  The focus of interest is the main square, the Place de la Liberté, which is ringed by shops selling things to the tourists, where markets are held on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.

A typical Sarlat foie gras shop.  Photo courtesy of Sarlat Tourisme.

There are more than shops on the square and in the town.  There is food, often with the most famous products of the region around Sarlat: truffles and foie gras.  Dishes served perigourdine are flavored with those back gastronomic diamonds: truffes noires or black truffles.  There are other locales in France where truffles are found, not grown.  (See Power Tasting’s article about Carpentras.)  Truffles go so well with foie gras, and foie gras is really what Sarlat is all about,.  You can have it so many ways: sautéed, au torchon, mi-cuit, entier, pâté, terrine.  And they’re all for sale in Sarlat’s shops, along with implements like silver knives that looks a bit like coping saws for slicing foie gras and silver spatulas for serving it.

If you travel just outside Sarlat, you can visit farms where they raise the ducks and geese that are used for foie gras.  Yes, we know the arguments for the mistreatment of these birds, but from what we’ve seen, they look pretty well taken care of right up to the end.  And a flock of geese running around and honking like mad is a natural comedy show.

And as long as you’re traveling outside Sarlat, take in a little of the history of the region.  The most ancient on view is at the famous cave at Lascaux, full of prehistoric paintings.  Actually, you can’t see the actual cave, because exposure was erasing the artwork.  But they have built an exact replica nearby.  More recent, there are the châteaux of Beynac and Castelnaud…only 900 years old.  They face each other across a broad valley, and during wars of the Middle Ages, they fired back and forth at each other.  At Castelnaud you can actually see replicas of the weapons they used in those days.

It isn’t easy to get to Sarlat.  It’s almost a three-hour drive from the Bordeaux airport and 2½ hours by train.  You can shave off an hour if you start from St. Emilion.  However you get to Sarlat, it’s worth the trip.

There is a town 13 km south of Vacqueyras and 22 km east of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south of France, which one might think it would be the center of the local wine trade.  In fact there are some nearby wineries, but they’re only part of the generic Mont Ventoux appellation.  The town is Carpentras and it is famous, but not for wine.  It is the place to go for another French specialty: black truffles.

These delicacies are prized by chefs and home cooks for their exquisite aroma of…what? Some say onions, others cabbage or forest floor.  They are earthy, mushroomy, wild and ultimately indescribable.  Some people like them in everything from salads to sauces; others don’t like them at all.  The people of Carpentras like them because they sell a lot of them, at rather high prices.

The Carpentras truffle market.  Photo courtesy of See Provence.

If you are in Provence on a Friday between late November and early March, you can visit the truffle market and then dine at any of the nearby restaurants all of whom, so it seems, specialize in three course truffle menus.

There are other reasons to visit the town and its surrounding area the rest of the year.  As noted, Carpentras is at the foot of Mont Ventoux (Mount Windy, in English, a name very well earned).  If you ever drive to the top of Mont Ventoux, you will encounter a lot of goats on the road on your way up and on the top of the mountain you’ll see the regional weather station.  One of the best known wines from this appellation is La Vielle Ferme, which has been internationally popular for over 40 years.  From what we’ve tasted, there’s been a great improvement in recent years and Mont Ventoux wines are a good value for the money.  Wine tasting here is very special, with this mammoth mountain hovering over you.

There are quite a few in-town attractions in Carpentras, but they are similar to many other spots in French Wine Country.  There’s a Roman arch, a former hospital (Hôtel Dieu) turned library that has architectural interest.  A cathedral.  Boutiques.  Interestingly, Carpentras was once a center of Jewish population and still hosts France’s oldest synagogue, in use since 1367.

Aside from the truffles, there are year-round markets featuring fruits and flowers.  The town is also known for a hard candy called berlingots, striped hard confections that were once thought to have medicinal value.  Anyplace that’s known for truffles, candy and wine has to be worth a visit!

A typical Carpentras Café.  Photo courtesy of Booking.com.

What sets Carpentras apart, in our opinion, is the lifestyle.  It is what you would expect a Provençal market town to be.  The town seems dedicated to la belle vie, with seemingly innumerable cafes and restaurants.  In good weather, which is most of the year, the terrasses are always full with people having a coffee, a glass of (local) wine, a lunch, a snack, an aperitif, a dinner, a digestif.  In other words, whatever time of year that you are there, you’re welcome to take a seat and feel that you’ve arrived in the heart of Provence.  Because you have.

The Middle Ages always had an attraction for us when we were kids.  Knights, damsels in distress, jousts and big feasts in castles halls just seemed so wondrous.  Robin Hood, El Cid, and Joan of Arc were our heroes and the Sherriff of Nottingham was the evil villain.  Later in life, Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt (both the Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branaugh versions) thrilled us yet again.  If you were anything like us, you ought to take a trip to Carcassonne when you’re wine tasting in southwest France.

Carcassonne viewed from afar.  Photo courtesy of European Waterways.

As you drive up to the town, you’ll see this magnificent walled city on a hilltop.  There is a modern-day town surrounding the castle, but it’s of no particular interest.  It’s the imagery of battles and courtly love that will rush back into your mind as soon as you see Carcassonne.  And it’s real.

Well, almost real.  There was a walled town there in the Middle Ages and it did figure in some significant battles, particularly in the Albigensian Crusade, that pitted the Papacy versus the Cathars.  (The Pope won.)  But by the early 1800’s, the town and its castle had fallen into disrepair and was going to be torn down.

Then along came Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.  He was a French architect, a visionary and someone who must have had the same childhood fantasies we did.  He set about restoring great medieval buildings, not least of which was the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.  When he turned his attention to Carcassonne, he took what was still a military stronghold and turned it into a Middle Ages wonderland.

The lovingly restored Basilique de St-Nazaire.  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

For today’s visitor, there’s no reason to concern yourself that Viollet-le-Duc wasn’t exactly archeologically correct in restoring Carcassonne.  If what we see today isn’t exactly as it was, it is what it should have been.  Soaring walls, towers with arrow slits for the archers, tessellated ramparts, inns (well, they’re really restaurants) where you can quaff your ale (or enjoy a glass of wine).  They’re all there in Carcassonne.

Entry to the old town is free, but parking isn’t.  And if you get there at any reasonable hour, you’ll find the nearest empty lots are quite a walk away.  Of course, that gives you the chance to approach the great walls and turrets slowly and take them in at leisure.  Once inside, you’ll find a whole town’s worth of genuine medieval buildings, buffed up and gleaming.  Unfortunately, you’ll also find the usual run of shops selling knickknacks, tee shirts and junk.  But you’ll also encounter bookstores with a considerable collection of material on the Middle Ages and the events that have occurred around Carcassonne.  Many are in French, but enough are translated to keep you interested.

You can walk the walls of Carcassonne.

We recommend that you pay the fee to tour the walls around the city.  It’s not too hard to imagine hordes of English troops approaching from afar and the sturdy Carcassonais defending their fortifications.  By the way, those enemy troops might also have been French, because Carcassonne was part of Spain in medieval times.  You should also see the Basilique de St- Nazaire, begun in the 11^th Century.  It’s fine gothic architecture, suitably embellished by Viollet-le-Duc.

If you ever dreamed over Prince Valiant on a Sunday morning, you’ll love Carcassonne.