Some would say this attractive lady, she of the unfortunately misplaced knockers, is the person responsible for saving the city we are about to visit. Research has told us that Lady Carcas, in the sixth year of a siege by Charlemagne's army, realized her town was quickly running out of food. Only a sack of wheat and one pig remained. She immediately fed the wheat to the pig and then flung the poor creature over the ramparts. Charlemagne was so taken aback by this action (naturally assuming the city continued to be well-stocked with food) he gathered his troops and hurriedly left the area. Bells began to ring throughout the city. "Carcas Sonne" someone shouted (Carcas Rings), and the city was known as Carcassonne forevermore.**
If your first introduction to Carcassonne comes from Rick Steves, you will be led to believe that you must be there at the crack of dawn to gain entry before the hordes descend. If, instead, you spent your afternoons reading Kate Mosse's descriptive Labyrinth, you won't care if the hordes descend or not. You'll be too busy retracing Alais' early morning ride down the narrow winding city streets or, as you look through the multi-paned windows of the Chateau, imagine her running across the darkened courtyard to visit her secret friends. She was everywhere during my visit.
Carcassonne is huge and, depending on your approach, seen in its impressive entirety or in little bits and pieces. Coming from Amalie, we didn't see the city spread across the hill. Our approach was much more humble as you can see above. We're walking toward the Narbonne Gate which leads into the fortified city.
Carcassonne, under a variety of related names, was a trading center as early as the 6th century BCE. The Romans eventually moved in with their fortifications, but control passed to the Visigoths 400 years later. On and on it went until the city became an economic center a few hundred years ago. Since reading Labyrinth, I was most interested in the 11th and 12th centuries when Carcassonne was home to a heretical group known as the Cathars who were forced from the city after they surrendered to the pope's forces.
As we enter the city through the somber, massive gray walls, we're immediately caught up in the colorful world of shops, people, restaurants, laughter and high spirits.
We've found the hordes, and they are us...polite, touristy and similarly curious. Tacky T-Shirts hang beside lovely watercolors and, for the younger set, Princess and Crusader costumes are displayed from every storefront. Plastic swords are de rigueur and had I known how to get them on the plane, I would have carried home an armload. My grandsons would have been in heaven.
Why yes, thank you. I think I'll take the bare-footed young man in the middle. He could be interesting!
After a short stroll through the twisty tiny village, we approach the gates of the Chateau Comtal. Restored in the 1800s, it's a fortified manor house (so to speak) inside the fortified city. We're eager to explore life under siege in the 12th century. More to come...
**My Catholic upbringing and strict code of honesty forces me to admit that Lady Carcas probably never existed. It's all a myth. A relatively common myth at that. And, Charlemagne never attacked Carcassonne. I guess if you're going to make up a story, you might as well make up a good one.
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