Carcassonne – 0 km (about 14 yesterday from Marseillette)

No blog yesterday because really it was an extremely uneventful day. The only thing of particular note was a small group of people travelling in fancy dress with donkeys on the tow path. Surprisingly they were carrying their own bags, rather than loading them onto the donkeys. Otherwise, we arrived, found a good spot in the port, plugged in, did a wash, went shopping and chilled out.

This morning was quite different. Eager tourists on the first little train up to Carcassonne's citadel: apparently it is the second most-visited site in France, after the Eiffel Tower, and it was easy to believe. 

It is certainly spectacular, though of course much restored in the 19^th century.

This is M. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, responsible for the restoration.

It was a grey morning, but that made for easy sightseeing, and the sun was coming through by the time we had finished.

The restored figure at the gate is Madame Carcas, after whom the town is named. She apparently rallied the population to Charlemagne’s cause by ringing  the bells, hence Carcas sonne. The original statue is rather weathered, as you can see, but I doubt if she would be very pleased with the replacement!

Inside the town, which somewhat reminds one of Mont St Michel for the proliferation of tourist shops and gridlock of visitors in the narrow mediaeval streets, the top attraction is the Chateau.

We queued up, paid our money, and took the tour. It is certainly impressive.

We could see St Nazaire’s cathedral across town, and after we had finished with the Chateau, we walked over. But of course, being Sunday, there was a service going on and tourists were banned. We could hear the singing faintly.

By this time the tourist numbers were building up, so we paused for a little refreshment then returned to the little train stop for the trip back to the boat.

First, however, it was lunchtime, and one of the randomly chosen bistro’s specialities was paella.

Tomorrow we will start heading back down the canal, retracing our steps, but trying to stop and explore different places on the way.