Carcassonne

Carcassonne is the best-preserved medieval city in Europe. With some parts of the wall and towers going all the way back to Roman times, it looks like a classic picture from a fairy tale or a Lego® set. I stayed there for a day between my visits to Barcelona and Paris.

La Cité

• La Vielle Cité as seen from the valley below.
• The city gate.
• A horse-drawn carriage gives guided tours.
• The outside wall from the drawbridge.
• What you see immediately after passing through the gate.
• The cathedral, which was closed for repairs when I visited.
• The upper midsection of the cathedral, photographed from the top of the opposite wall.
• The base of the cathedral.
• A nice view looking down from the city, complete with horse-drawn carriage.
• Another view, over the towers and rooftops.
• Some of the towers that help make Carcassonne so spiffy.
• More of the towers, a bit later in the day.
• Looking down on the town outside the city walls.
• More of those towers on the verdant hillside.
• A nifty intersection of passages.
• A close-up of the wall, built over hundreds of years.
• Looking up at the wall from the hill.
• People enter and leave the city at night.
• The city wall stands silhouetted at sundown.
• A spiked chair from the Torture Museum.

La Légende d'Aymeric

For 60 ff, I got to watch a live jousting tournament, complete with fancy costumes. Pretty fun. No, I should say very fun.

• The lord comes out to announce that he's being threatened by the Red Baron.
• The aforementioned villain of our story.
• Same fellow from the side.
• His henchmen beat up the king's people and ride off doing stunts on horseback.
• A fantastic picture of two galloping knights.
• A not-quite-as-fabulous-but-still-good picture of all five knights charging out.
• After dehorsing one another, the knights go at it on foot.