The main gate is not just impressive. It’s HUGE.
Carcassone Castle is not just a castle. It’s an entire small city. To this day, there are around 50 residents still living in the fortified city. The city assuredly housed a significantly higher population when it was operating at full capacity back in the day.
The medival fortified city was created to be impenetrable. It was so impenetrable no one was successful, even when it was under seige for almost 6 years. The succeeding custodians made it further impenetrable. It is probably the only castle whose ultimate demise was a product of its own success. Eventually no one wanted to attack the city, and as a result it grew in disrepair.
Castles can be fascinating. Especially considering the history of their development. And their history can be complicated. Did the castle evolve over time? Was that a result of different soveirgnties taking over the castle? Having been to Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland, Carcassone seemed every bit as intriguing. Except it’s bigger, much bigger.
Because of its proximity to Andorra and a strong recommendation from someone we knew, we decided to sneak over the border to see it before going back to Barcelona. We spent over 10 hours in the fortified city and still hadn’t seen everything.
We walked in from our hotel in town, but there’s a pretty good amount of parking, If you’re going during the peak season (May-September), you’ll want to get there either early (before 9am) or later (after 4pm). Wheelchairs can access the city, but it is difficult to negotiate some of the areas. In particular, there are a number of steps in the castle itself and along the walls.
Short history
Different available accounts exhibit the lack of specific information regarding the castle and the fortified city. The Creme de Languedoc website offers the most comprehensive historic explanation. Their website has a timeline and interactive map that depicts the various modificaitons throughout it’s almost 2000 year history.
However, we do know the City of Carcassone was known for its commerce as early as 800BC. It is located in the south of France, just above the border with Spain and the Pyrenees mountains. Being in a critical and somewhat unstable region created the need to protect the city. The city was originally provided basic fortification by the Romans in 300AD.
Château Comtal (Count’s Castle) which is part of the overal city, is understood to be a Cathar Castle, or a castle built in the medival time period.
When Carcassone Castle was originally built around 1130AD, the first wall was built at the same time. That’s right, there are not one, but two large walls surrounding the original castle and the city. There’s quite a lot to see. It’s 11 hectare acres (27 US acres) inside the walls. The walls are 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) long. There are 52 towers. Some built by the Romans, some by subsequent rulers.
The city has changed possession between France, Spain, and a host of different sovereignties. After the border became fixed in the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, Carcassone was no longer required for battle strategy as it had been before.
Inside the walls
Entrance to the city in general is free. Once you get beyond the two fortified walls, you’ll encounter streets with shops and restaurant. There are hotels inside as well, including a Best Western. You can shop, eat, and even stay overnight inside the city. Everything has normal hours, so it’s not like they close up after dusk. It’s actually quite beautiful at night.
We had both lunch and dinner there. Some of the restaurant locations are somewhat “rustic”, but that seemed to add to the ambience of the entire experience. There’s even a notable church, the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire (11th – 14th century) is within the walls. The basilica is also located on the southwest.
The fortifications
After touring around the city, we discovered the only way you can see the Château Comtal, go inside the towers, and view the city (both inside and out) from the fortified walls requires an entree fee. We purchased a small self-guided walking tour for around $11 US.
Since the tour didn’t start till 10:30am, we decided to walk in between the two fortified walls around the castle. It was quite enlighting as to how they built it. Currently you can’t walk completely around due to the reconstruction efforts.
The paid tour begins at original entry door for the castle. Currently it offers a queue line when it’s busier. From there you enter via a bridge to another more fortified gate.
We found as part of the tour, they have a scale model that offers a good feel for how the structure looked. The overall city picture shows the main entrance on the far side, the basilica and ampitheatre on the right side, and the Chateau Comtal on the near side. Also on the near side is an extension that served the king for attending religious ceremonies with the people outside the castle (held in the circle) while the townspeople sat beyond.
Touring the Castle Comtal offered glimpses into what the culture was like during the various times it was occupied.
Traversing the top of the walls themselves took some time. There were a lot of stairs between towers and other structures.
Throughout the wall offered some incredible views of the outer city and surrounding countryside.
Part of the fortification was somewhat of a fairly new concept called Hoarding, or in French “le hourd”. It is a wooden structure cantilevered over the castle wall that provided additional area for archers and their weaponry in between towers.
Residences look more historic up front. During the tour from the walls, you can see in the back they have more modern upgrades.
Wrap up
As only some of the wall has been restored, tour guests have access from the castle to just shy of the entrance gate in the clockwise direction. The tour brings you out at the base of one of the towers.
They are in the process of restoring other parts of the walls and castle such that in the future they can allow guests to experience the history of almost the entire fortified city.
It got it’s name from when the city was under seige by Charlemagne. As those inside were running out of food, Lady Carcas decided to feed a pig with a bag of wheat, then throw it out of a tower. Charlemagne thought they still had plenty of food so he instructed his army to leave. They rang all the bells and townspeople shouted “Carcas is ringing!”, which translates in French to “Carcas Sonne”.