Tuesday 15 January 2013

VACANCES EN FRANCE: PARTIE DIX / HOLIDAYS IN FRANCE: PART TEN

One Hotel Room at a Time. 


From a distance, Carcassonne looks like a fairy-tale medieval city. As we drove towards the castle it was bathed in sunshine and highlighted by dark clouds, La Cité, as the old walled city is known, is truly breathtaking.

Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc. It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse.

But once inside, La Cité loses its magic and mystery. No doubt that Carcassonne has many qualities as a well preserved medival city. However, because of the 3.5 million visitors annually, Carcassonne looks and feels like a tourist shopping outlet. There are only small glimpses of how amazing this place once was, it is a bit disturbing if you try to look for the more original city inside the outer walls. 







Please Note: all of the images were taken by Justin, for some reason I went on a photography hiatus and did not take any image for three days.

4 comments:

  1. It seems like a totally different world...like a village from a fairytale like you said! Beautiful!

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  2. Justin was very clever in these images, they show the beauty of the city. What I did not show was the grubby retail side. It makes me sad that some of the most beautiful and historic places have been turned into a money making enterprise.

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  3. I wish I could afford to travel. It looks so enchanting. Nothing like it here in California! Nice pics!

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    1. When I was in my 20s I became a single Mum and had a big sulk that I would never get to travel. An elderly woman asked me if I could save $20 a week, to which I said yes. She then said that every three years I could go any where in the world as if I saved $20 a week I would have over $3000 every three years. SO since then I have taken her advise and in a separate bank account I put $20 a week. Plus closer to when I am going to travel I save a little extra.
      I went to California once, travel the East Coast from Orange County to San Fran down to Mexico. Saw some amazing things. I think each country has it's own beauty.

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