Mon aerolisador es plen d'anguilas*

Hello! Another post, same evening, because I realized that I haven't shared my experience with a trip that I've been anticipating for quite some time - Carcassonne! Within my region of France, the Languedoc-Roussillon, Carcassonne (and the Abbaye de Fontfroide, which we also visited on this trip with my exchange group) is an internationally famous French city, of which the old cité is completely fortified - surrounded by double walls which are still standing to this day. I suggest you go look it up to find better photos than the ones I have here; because as we all know, the best photo-ops of towns aren't generally seen on guided tours (though as usual I do enjoy learning with my touring!).

Entrance to the cité: with figurine of  Dame Carcas on the right, by legend whom the town is said to be named for.

In between the outer and inner walls.

Though updated and restored over the years, these walls have remained essentially the same since medieval times. They had all sorts of creative ways beyond these double fortifications - specialized windows to drop things on enemies, narrow windows that you could see out of but couldn't be penetrated by arrows, et cetera. No wonder this place managed as well as it did!

Entrance to the Chateau Troncavel...me and a couple friends got in for free! (student perks)

This bravely moat-guarded, also fortified (see the wooden structures, top right?) is not found at the exterior of the fortifications, which you might think just by looking at the pictures. No, it's in the cité itself, in town and yet another place to pull back and defend. Though it couldn't feasibly house an entire town's population, in the event that things really get bad (which they did, wait and see!), at least there was some last way to mess with the enemy again.

In the 1200's, Troncavel was vicomte (viscount in English?) of the city and the surrounding cities in the region. He tried bravely to defend his people from the catholic church's crusade against the cathars - a different christian group that he himself wasn't a part of, but were considered heretics. After attempted but failed diplomacies, rather than surrender and turn over the heretics, he and the people of his city decided to fight back. The nearby town of Béziers, which the crusaders (marching from Lyon) attacked first, was overtaken and the entire population slaughtered by the crusading knights. It eventually came down to a siege of the city of Carcassonne, the last holdout. Sadly, the crusaders cut off their water supply and eventually Troncavel and his people were forced to surrender. Though the townspeople were spared, they were forced to flee. Troncavel was taken prisoner and met his untimely end in a prison cell.

Peeking out from inside the castle.

(I got kind of bewildered when I approached the window and felt a cold breeze. As it turns out, this one petite segment of glass is missing from the window. Not sure why or how.)

For the last little bit of history, this part of southern France, the Languedoc-Roussillon region as I mentioned, is so called because of the language formerly spoken here - Occitan. (Langue d'Oc, makes sense right?) Back in old times, southern and northern France weren't the best of friends as they spoke the Langue d'oil and were generally a bunch of jerks. Although this region - including the modern Midi-Pyrenees region - was technically a part of the French kingdom, it wasn't really. Think the sentiments felt by American colonists towards the Brits and vice versa, pre-revolution, and you'll get an idea of how chummy these two areas were.

Even better, this place was just swarming with Cathars (the no-no aforementioned heretic religious sect), so this just couldn't be had. After Carcassonne fell, France took it and the region under its own rule. However, this place maintained its proud heritage - and its prevalency of the language - until fairly recently (20th century, people!), when the government imposition of the official French language started Occitan's decline (urh, I'm fuzzy on the dates - History with Marisa is never super detailed, sorry!). Once spoken by millions, its numbers have greatly dwindled although I know of movements to keep it alive and there are schools that offer it as a language. Look up the word vergonha if you'd care to know more - it's the Occitan term for this occurence.

Again inside the castle, overlooking a courtyard- because illustrated stories are just more fun.

Well, I'm starting to fall asleep here so that probably means I should get to bed. Sorry for less details of my actual trip and more of a history lesson, but I actually really enjoy some of it and felt like sharing. The rest of the day trip was nice, as was the abbey, and I hope to go back to Carcassonne with my bike and really check it out if I get a chance! I can tell there's definitely more I should see...

...although this view is definitely quite nice!

So, that's it for now! You won't see me for a bit - the first week-long spring vacation (called winter vacation here) is starting, and I'm leaving tomorrow to go chill at the Cote d'Azur for a bit then make my way down to Corsica. Until next time, hurray for the Mediterranean!


*In case you were wondering: "Mon aerolisador es plen d'anguilas" is Occitan for "My hovercraft is full of eels." Found on a website of Useful Occitan phrases. :)