Carcassonne is second to Paris in terms off most visited city, so we drove 2 hours to see what's up. It sits on a strategic hill site, a protective fortress that has been inhabited since 3500BC. The Romans moved in around 100 AD, to build much fortification, but the fortress was thoroughly restored in 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc based on his fantasies of medieval architecture and was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997. It was a hot day for the uphill climb and the city was maybe not packed but buzzing with tourists such as ourselves, so we had lunch and checked out the cathedral,
but the main attraction a tour of the Chateau was closed due to a strike.
So we saw what we could, and headed back home.
For us, probably not worth 4 hours driving.
We also enjoyed a late afternoon trip to the strip of beaches on a sand bar south west of Montpellier, finding this somewhat deserted beach, Piage du Digue, that still provided a restroom and bar. Paul loved reading in the warm breeze for a couple of hours.
Then we headed further west along the sand bar and found a nice small port town Marseillan, where we decided to have a fresh seafood dinner before the drive home.
We had visited Arles and Aix en Provence on prior trips, but we had never made it to Marseilles, so it must be time. Marseilles is a large port city. The trip from the west through the Carmargue region, then swooping down into the port area, with vistas of large ships and the Mediterranean, while staying high above the industry is most delightful. We found a parking lot with more than our average adeptness, but made the triple mistake of arriving without a map, hungry and in need of a restroom. Paul spied the tourist office where maps were freely given but they suggested a local department store for a restroom. Instead we set out in search of Bouillabaisse, but the restaurants were just too waterfront touristy for Paul so we backtracked to centre ville and up a hill about a mile to where the locals eat. We found a nice outdoor table there: friendly, good food (veal and lamb, no Bouillabaisse), a small carafe of Rose, and a pleasant restroom; all was right and well with our little world again.
After lunch and a bit of walking around pleasant streets, we figured out their tram system (not as user friendly as Montpellier's) and trammed it up to climb the Palais Longchamps.
Then back down via tram to the oldest part of town near the port, but aside from this vast church we didn't really find any great old buildings. This is the Cathedral Major, and from the back it seemed large enough to hold at least 4 normal Cathedrals.
After the Cathedral we roamed around the old town. It seems to be mostly a working class district with nothing all that interesting to see, in at least our short time there. But nonetheless Paul has a few pics:
Since we had this lovely view of it, and we've both had cataract surgery, we decided we could do without the little train ride to visit Notre Dame De La Garde, one of the major tourist sites in Marseilles.
Only slightly related - a note on Why It's Not Easy Visiting Large Cities (but we knew that....)
It was nearing 5:00PM, so we headed back to the car park and drove around underground for a good 10 minutes in search of the exit going our direction. Fortunately our nifty air conditioning and a Miles Davis CD kept us cool throughout. Finally we surfaced, but the main road in and out to our A-55 was blocked by a film crew, so we followed the "Diversion" signs and got lost, but then found, and then along with many other cars ended up behind a woman parked in the one outgoing lane, loading her car from a nearby store with many many small items, one at a time. We have seen that the French are patient and courteous, so we chilled... a while... but after 5 minutes and a huge line of cars behind us we were declaring the situation to be ridiculous. After a few more minutes a saintly oncoming driver stopped to let our string of cars go around her. She seemed unscathed and may have continued for another half hour blocking the one lane street to the Autoroute.
As we finally got onto the A-55 and headed west, we realized how lucky we had been coming into Marseille before the film crew had taken over the main street. Cars were backed up for about 3 km to get into town, and then after another 10 km we saw an accident with another long backup, perhaps 1-2 Km. There are few exits to the A- freeways, so those poor folks were probably stuck in their cars for many hours. Limited access high speed roads are among the many things that are so great when they work, and so dreadful when they don't.
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