Hotel Premiere Classe Carcassonne

... walls, there are shops, restaurants, and hotels. Everything still functions as a city, except the castle. We wandered around for a little over an hour. We tried the infamous chocolate olives. Fran had spent some time here and she told us to try them. I thought it looked and tasted like an almond M & M. We had crepes with Nutella and grabbed a pannini on the way out.

Sunday August 23rd – We arrived at the old town of Carcassone at about 4:30pm and we had a couple of hours to wander around and explore the place. Carcassone is a town within the walls of an old fortress built in the first century BC which was restored in the 1800's and turned into a bustling tourist town.

Our first stop was the toilets as there were a few of us needing to use the amenities. We really wished that we didn’t need to. These were possibly the most ...

... bus office before it closes at 12:30 for lunch. The office which had lots of customers in it is now empty and my bag is in the corner, sticking out. I pretend as though everything is normal. I as k a question then pick up my bag.

The train station is a 20 minute walk. I have enough time to stop into a lovely, local restaurant. I have some melon with ham then duck. Very nice.

I take the train to Carcassonne. The trains are pretty nice for the most part ...

... axes of fists ... good times!

The whole time all I could think of was A Knights Tale, hence the title.

Nothing much else to report, still loving it here, it truly has the most amazing relaxed vibe, it will be sad to leave but I am looking forward to traveling with Ian and Rachelle.

Not long to go now!

... was a fantastic day.

The area is beautiful and it is so freaking hot it isn't funny (35 in the shade today). I am so glad I came here, I think this tops Torricella.

I am going to try and get in to see the walled city some time this week - they do a jousting match each day which I think would be pretty entertaining.

Woot!

Today was spent exploring Carcassonne. First we took a walk around the castle and the inner walls, which was great. We got fantastic views of Carcassonne's old town (La Cité) as well as the surrounding countryside, and got to see most of the inside of the castle. There was also a museum of old artefacts – ...

... When we were approaching the town of Mazamet, it was totally fogged in. But we stopped at the side of the road and could just see the town below, as well as a lookout turret on the hill across. We finally got to Albi where the Cathars orginated (they were called Albiginians). We walked around in the frigid cold and found a charming place called Retaurant La Temporalite to eat lunch. I had rabbit with escargot, DH had steak, and the kids shared a yummy looking chicken ...

... of Toulouse and works in Carcassonne on the weekends. She prepared a delicious casserole of her own invention consisting of tomato, zucchini, ham, and eggs. We also had salad and melon. And wine, including a local sweet wine. Everything was perfect, except that Monique had to attend a meeting at school and was unable to join us. That evening we began to get to know Yvon, and to appreciate the depth of his knowledge about the region on an endless variety of topics. He is the ...

... seen, but I will make an effort for my viewers to see the other two. Down the road is the Arc de Triomphe D'Orange. There are some carvings still on it, but it is pretty weathered. At present, there are some tacky christmas lights attached to it !!! Oh well Back in the car, we continued on our Roman theme and drove over to Arles Arles Like all good places, on top of the hill sits a Roman amphitheatre. The French ...