Nemea Appart'hotel Val Dancelle Saint-Jean-de-Minervois

... we bought dinner and wine and had a nice quite dinner in the hotel...
In the morning we went back to the city and took and Horse drawn carriage ride around the medival city, it was beautiful... and so was the weather!! later we walked back to the hotel, got our bags and headed back to the train station... oh, KB did some Luandry first, she finally smells nice... lol... just jokin, she smells fine!
From Carcassonne, we are going to Venice... talk to you then!

LW

... hour we realized we probably could attempt to just walk the entire way. Finally after walking for about 5 km we found our hotel! YAY!! It wasn't bad at all actually, I guess we're getting in the mode of backpacking! So once we got there it was about 9:30 and they let us check into our room right away! It was awesome! We didn't have to worry about waiting around with our bags until 2 or so when a normal check in time is. We got settled a little and then ...

... her to eat when she returns. We chatted at the table until it was time to figure out where we were off to next. Conrad worked on printing maps for where we were to go in Barcelona while I worked on yesterday's blog entry to upload later.

We left at noon. I think that both of us wished that we could have stayed another day. That has seemed to be the case at ...

... to allow rain in Italy to clear. Want to re-visit Lake Garda, see if we can't get the spot right next to the lake we last had some 15 years ago, say. Don't know if it's a good idea to go back to the site of happy memories: can you improve on them in any way, or only spoil their rosy glow?
All well with rig, thankfully - you hardly know it's there!

... and additional fortifications were added. It was restored meticulously.

I first check into the hostel which is within the castle walls. It affords gorgeous views, has a patio area that is terrific. The inside is pretty generic but what a location, next to 5 star hotels.

I get out just in time to get into the castle itself which is a museum. They do a fairly good job of explaining the purpose of various features (eg, wholes in the floor for dropping ...

... toilets I have ever seen. There were two 'cubicles’ and they were those ones that clean themselves after every use, I use the term ‘clean’ VERY loosely! The cubicle on the right was broken and the cleaning shower was on continuously. The cubicle on the left stunk, had scum all over the seat, bowl and back of the toilet, and there was no toilet paper. The floor was wet and sticky thanks to the cleaning process. I was second to go in our group, armed with tissues ...

... there. You can either pay to go into the castle and explore or do what I did and pay to watch a very cheesy Jousting show. The whole thing was in French but it was pretty entertaining. There was good guys and bad guys and you had to boo and cheer. They did the jousts and then it usually lead to hand to hand combat with ...

... 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!

... as yet, I haven't seen it in the daylight but the trip here was great - amazing scenery traveling around the coast. Lots of changes (one with a 5 minute connection time) and one train that had no air conditioning meant it wasn't the most comfortable journey but I am here now so its all good.

Just wanted to let you know that I have arrived safely and the people all seem nice.

Also I totally managed to get some sleep on the ferry! So glad I paid to upgrade.

... 12th centuries (sometimes called the Western Buddhists), were deemed heretics, and were wiped out in a series of crusades and inquisitions by the Christians of the time. This region, the Languedoc, was their stronghold. There is a good write up on them in Wikipedia. I hardly saw a soul and strolled amongst the old castles, stone trails, and an archeological site below of an old Cathar village. Wild iris were popping up everywhere ...