CARCASSONNE

CARCASSONNE, in France, is another fascinating medieval village. In general, Cité de Carcassonne is one big fortress, with ramparts and towers, and a lot of restaurants, hotels and shops inside, as well as a church, the Basilique Saint Nazaire. (Carcassonne is also a “normal” town with over 45.000 inhabitants, this is also where the Cathedral of Carcassonne is situated). The medieval village is the part we visited this September. There have been people living here for far more than 2.100 years, as the Romans built a fortress here. Today it is visited by about 3 million tourists every year. And yes, it was also crowded when were there. But still, pretty amazing to see the ancient town with all the towers, over 50 in fact. During our visit, we stayed with our camper in a parking area made for campers and busses. It was completely crowded too, mainly because there, by coincidence, was a huge petangue tournament going on right by the parking area. The good thing was that the camper parking was within short walking distance to Carcassonne, so we also visited early in the morning, before the tourist busses arrived. All in all, Carcassonne is certainly worth a visit.