May 20: Carcassonne

 Gary and I took a 90-minute train ride eastward to Carcassonne, noted to be the most visited site in the south of France. With good reason. In 2011 at the end of her semester abroad in Grenoble, Zina and I took a train across the south of France en route to Bordeaux, and along the way I looked out my window to see in the distance a striking citadel (fortress) sitting atop a hill, complete with cone-capped towers and a wall enclosing a medieval town.  It looked quite magical in the late afternoon sunlight and I thought to myself, "I want to go there!!"

We disembarked at the edge of the ville basse (the town below the citadel) and wandered a bit, with the aim of seeing the Saturday morning market which was indeed impressive (and huge). In addition to produce and local cheeses, meats, and specialty products like honey, nuts, and olives, there were an enormous number of stalls selling clothing (of all kinds, including bras!), kitchenware and gadgets, and just about anything you could find in a dollar store.  Our guide book directed us to a couple of historical buildings.  Here are some photos from this part of the day.

This is the building housing the indoor market, mostly selling meats and cheese.

A private home built in the Renaissance style in the early 1900s:

Medieval style, from the 15th century, thought to be the oldest building in the town having withstood the destruction in 1355

More street photos:

On the Place Gambetta:

 

From the market:

On the walk between the lower town and the citadel ("La Cité)