Tour of Carcassonne

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The Carcassonne Fortress site became an important trading place in the 6th century BC. The Romans fortified the hilltop around 100 BC.

The fortress was expanded through the centuries playing its part in the Crusades & 100 Years War, becoming the walled city that can be seen today, surrounded by 3 kilometers of ramparts and 52 towers. The largest medieval town in Europe with its city walls intact.

Carcassonne was also featured in the 1991 film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

The city is one of the top tourist destinations in France, drawing an average of three million visitors yearly.

Carcassonne Cathedral is situated inside the walls of the fortress. This is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Carcassonne.

The building was built in the thirteenth-century as a parish church, dedicated to Saint Michael. Following war damage in the fourteenth century, it was subsequently rebuilt as a fortified church.

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Carcassonne open-air theatre is situated next to the Cathedral.

Built in 1908, this venue was an immediate hit with the people of Carcassonne, continuing to bring in the crowds today, especially during the popular annual Cite Festival in July.

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Lower Carcassonne is situated across the bridge and River Aude.

This part of the city contains most of the shops, hotels & restaurants.

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning, the large fruit, flower, herb and vegetable market is held in the Place Carnot /the centre of modern Carcassonne.

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The Museum of Fine Arts Carcassonne is housed in the former courthouse overlooking the plane-lined boulevards of the lower town, only a few hundred yards east of the the Place Carnot.

The Art Gallery has a discreet charm that counterbalances the grandiose effect of the mediaeval walled town.

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The Canal du Midi is another major attraction in this city.

This 360-km network of navigable waterways links the Mediterranean and Atlantic through 328 structures (locks, aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, etc.). One of the most remarkable feats of civil engineering in modern times, it was built between 1667 and 1694, paving the way for the Industrial Revolution.

The canal was diverted through Carcassonne in 1777-1798. It became a World Heritage List of U.N.E.S.C.O. in 1996.

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Lac de la Cavayere is an artificial lake on the outskirts of Carcassonne. The lake was created by the building of a 23 metre high dam in 1988 after severe forest fires affected the area in 1985.

The lake is now a popular recreation area. Ducks and wildfowl are common with the 400,000 m2 surrounding area being notable for a diversity of habitats.

The beaches slope gently with supervised bathing areas. Boats are available for rent, there are picnic areas, crazy golf and a nearby chateau.

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Abbaye de Fontfroide is one of two tours you can take from Carcassonne, on Wednesdays. This is one of the most lavish and best preserved sistercian abbeys in France. The medieval village of Villerouge-Termenes & the village of Lagrasse with its opulent Benedictine abbey are also included in this tour.

The other tour, on Thursdays, visits four chateaux built at an altitude of 300 m on the same rocky base, the stronghold of the Cabardes since the height of the Middle Ages. A tour of the giant Cabrespine sinkhole, "the devil's balcony," one of the undisputed wonders of the national heritage is also included in this tour.

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Limoux is a scenic medieval town situated about about 18 miles south of Carcassonne.

The bustling central square, which hosts the weekly market, is ringed with cafes, pastry shops, a variety of specialty food shops and other merchants. Limoux is a safe and interesting place to stroll on warm summer evenings when families are out in the squares and men play the game of boules on sandy courts under canopies of ancient chestnut and plane trees.

There seems to be no tours as yet, so may have to be visited by bus or hire car.

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Rennes-le-Chateau is a small medieval castle village and a commune situated about 29 miles south of Carcassonne.

It is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories.

Starting in the 1950s, a local restaurant owner, in order to increase business, had spread rumours of a hidden treasure found by a 19th century priest. The story became the origin for hypotheses in documentaries, bestselling books, and computer games such as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982), the fiction thriller The Da Vinci Code (2003), and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the damned (1999).

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Montsegur is situated about 52 miles southwest of Carcassonne.

Montsegur Chateau and village has almost a cult following, attracting Cathar history enthusiasts, hikers and lovers of charming small French villages. While its magical allure has been relatively undiscovered by Americans, this tiny Midi-Pyrenees village is simply oozing with atmosphere.

It is located in France's Midi-Pyrenees region on the edge of Cathar Country. Montsegur Chateau is arguably the most significant monument to the Cathar religious sect.

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The Niaux Caves are situated about 30 miles west of Montsegur.

These are an exceptional example of painted prehistoric caves.

There are extraordinary representations of horses and bison here. To researchers, the exceptional size of the Niaux gallery indicates that many people could be assembled in this one sacred space. The animals are painted in black, all of the same kind of paint--no doubt created within a relatively brief span of time (somewhere between 12,000 and 9,000 BC). And there is evidence that scaffolding was used to the get paintings high up on the dome.

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The city of Toulouse, 61 miles northwest of Carcassonne, is France's sixth largest city, a big draw for visitors in the region.

A former capital of Languedoc, this city boasts attraction after attraction such as stunning medieval churches & grand private mansions.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toulouse . Toulouse Website.

For more information on Carcassonne, visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne.

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