France: Onward to Carcassonne

SPECIAL DINNER AT LA BELLE DEMEURE

On our last night with Richard and Philippe, they served us a marvelous dinner on the terrace.  We began with Philippe’s homemade walnut wine as an aperitif.  First course was a delicate medallion of foie gras terrine with some homemade onion jam. 

 This was followed by a beef daube along with panfried broccoli finished with sesame oil.  Dessert was a piece of walnut cake and a slice of walnut ice cream, both homemade, of course. 

 The food was all delicious, but even better, we had a wide-ranging conversation with our hosts.  So much so, we felt like we had made new friends.

GETTING TO CARCASSONNE

The drive to Carcassonne was projected to take around 3 hours with most of the trip on the super highway.  The first hour was typical French countryside over, around, and up on narrow one-lane roads.  Pretty, but the Chief Penguin was glad we were the only car around.  Ultimately, we joined A20 and began to concentrate on keeping the gas tank filled.  Today was a General Strike day all over France, so some businesses were closed and no trains or mass transit were running.  

On the plus side, service areas on French highways are numerous and fairly closely spaced. There are “aires” that are what we in the U.S. would call rest areas with parking and usually restrooms.  Interspersed with those are other aires which have a gas station and coffee shop and sometimes also a restaurant.  On the negative side, a few aires were totally closed (there was messaging ahead on the electronic signboard), and many were under construction.  

The roads in these aires loop around like spaghetti, and the signage is not always clear.  The first time we stopped for gas, there was so much construction we couldn’t easily get to the pumps, another time we missed the internal turn for the restaurant and didn’t like the food offered at the gas station. Finally we settled on an aire where we surrendered to a small salad bar with quite a choice of ingredients. We ate outside at a high tables with stools.  Lunch accomplished.

CARCASSONNE

Several miles before you reach the old city of Carcassonne (La Cite’), it looms up looking perfectly put together, yet out of place.  A bit like something you’d expect in Dungeons and Dragons.  We parked just outside the walls and began our exploration.  I first heard about Carcassonne, this famous medieval city, in one of my high school French classes.  It was part of a sentence we learned for vocabulary, and ever since, I’ve wanted to visit it.

The height of the outer walls, the bridge over the empty moat, and the large, now open, gate are almost overwhelming in their size.  Inside, the streets are narrow and wind around, with stores, restaurants, and an uncountable number of ice cream parlors.  Normally, you can pay to enter the chateau and access the ramparts, but it was closed due to the strike. 

 The chateau and the cathedral dominate the city.  Churches never close, though, and we were able to go into the cathedral, Basilique Saint-Nazaire.  I was impressed by its height and very much liked the rich purples and reds of the stained glass.  

DINNER IN CARCASSONNE

Carcassonne in the evening was quiet except for the open restaurants and cafes.  The tour groups and the lively students had all retreated.  We debated where to have dinner and compromised on Le Jardin de la Tour.   The Chief Penguin was very enthusiastic about his panfried cepes (it’s the season for these mushrooms), and equally pleased with the cassoulet he ordered. Cassoulet, a stew of white beans cooked with duck and pork, is the dish in this region and appears on almost every menu. 

I ordered cold salmon crumble with avocado which was a mound of raw salmon on avocado purée topped with crumbs and served with a green salad.  A different taste experience.  For my main, I had a pasta dish heavy on the Parmesan cheese with some small shrimps on it.  I had been craving pasta or something different from all the fish I’ve consumed. 

The excuse was we’ll never be in Carcassonne again, so dessert was a plate of profiteroles for the CP and some strawberry and citron sorbet for me.  A good dinner in a medieval dining hall.

OUR B&B

This B&B, Le Jardin de la Cite, has a prime location just a short distance beyond Caracassone’s walls.  We left the car here and walked into old Carcassone in the evening.  That took all of about 5-7 minutes.  

Our host, Daniele’s property is lovely with a single story house, pool and nice lawn, and a casita with two rooms where we stayed.  She  is retiring the end of the week to spend more time with family in Spain and do other things. We are some of her last guests. 

 For breakfast, she provided an attractive buffet of croissants, muffins, some sliced ham, cheese, and dishes of fresh fruit. The Chief Penguin thought the coffee was especially good.  During the summer when the B&B was full, she had 12 guests.  

Note: Photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header image is Carcassone at night from outside the walls.