A Sorta Fairytale

Hello again! 

Welcome back, and bonus points if you picked up the Tori Amos reference in the title. 

So, with the rain still pounding down we made our way to the outskirts of the "fairytale" La Cite de Carcassone and to our very basic yet somehow futuristic Etap hotel (shower pod anyone?) The next morning we were up bright and early - unfortunately the sun still wasn't and the drizzle continued. Undeterred, we braved the castle and firstly took a long walk around the outer walls to get our bearings and some great views of the turrets, walls and the city below. 

We then managed to score free entry into the castle and ramparts area - a combination of flashing our dodgy student cards (if anyone asks we study at King's College London okay?) and my poor French...Simon thinks I told the lady at the desk I was 22, not a decade older (well, she accepted it without question so I obviously look the part!). This section was pretty interesting and accompanied by a cracking audio guide (which although we asked for English was actually a combo of Australian and Irish accents!) explaining the different uses and defences of the ramparts and the extensive reconstruction work done in the 19th century to save the city from ruin. 

After all this history it was time for some lunch - we stopped for a menu (a set three-course meal) at La Terrasse, which Simon had fond memories of visiting. Due to the rain we couldn't make use of the actual terrasse, but inside was a passable alternative. Thanks to Frau and Herr Vogel for sponsoring this lunch!

We sampled the famous dish of the region, cassoulet - an incredibly rich stew of Toulouse sausage, duck and white beans which was delicious yet also like swallowing a pot of duck-flavoured Clag/PVA glue. 

We finished our day-time visit with a visit to the lovely basilica and checking out the shops. Much as I love olives and chocolates, I was relieved to find the famous local chocolate olives are olives made of chocolate, not chocolate-coated olives. Chocolate. Olives. After all this wandering it was time for a lie down in the pod-room and checking in on the French Open final and the Formula 1 (Nadal and Vettel, predictable) - but that evening we headed back to the castle for some more night photography. Behold the results: 

Although Carcassone is beautiful, it's a very restored and tourist-oriented castle and city, so we decided that we should also pay a visit to some of the other Cathar castles in a more original state - that's up next.

What is there Toulouse?

Nothing, as it turns out. Neither is there much really to gain. 

Saturday, 8th June we collected our hire car from Bordeaux and continued our French Odyssey. The rather quirky and somewhat frog looking 'Nissan Juke' was the hire car of choice in France it would seem, and the direction was set for Carcassonne (our next hotel stop), via Condom and Toulouse en-route. Much hilarity and Armagnac sampling was hoped from Condom, but sadly neither presented themselves. Thanks in part to the torrential downpour which started almost as we joined the 'Péage' (French toll motorway) out of Bordeaux and the insistence of the French on closing down everything from 12.30 until 2pm. So, we sat in a car park and contemplated whether to brave the rain after a rather sweltering previous couple of days. The decision was to trek into town. A swift circuit round the town, through the covered market and back to the car was all we managed without anything of note. Except, as I have just been reminded, a statue of D'Artagnan and the three musketeers!

All for one...

So... to Toulouse. With the rain following us all the way, we were in two minds whether to stop or not. A break in the weather was enough to convince us to give it a go. A quick drive round the Canal du Midi and other Toulouse surrounds seemed to ignite some interest and into town we headed. In a few words our impression of Toulouse; Posh, full of shops, expensive, rainy (slightly unfair). Tough to give a proper reaction as we were only there for 2 hours, but apart from 2 weddings we didn't see much going on. Shame, but on we went.

Wine Country

Bonjour!

So, France has got away from us a bit, and we're now in catch-up mode, so bear with us.

First up was Bordeaux, in south-western France. Apart from knowing they make a lot of wine, I didn't know too much about this city or region. It has a beautiful, UNESCO World Heritage classified old town which dates back to Bordeaux's prosperous history as a port town. It was nice to wander and take in the old buildings and alleys.

A lovely but run-down arcade in town

Port Cailhau

There were some sights of note, including Port Cailhau which was a gate that formed part of the city walls in medieval times.

Also Place des Quinconces - the largest square in Europe. I was quite excited to see this, but unfortunately on a hot June day it was more like a desert wasteland than a lovely square, a vast space with trees bordering it but nothing in the middle except small white stones.

But there was another square that made up for it: Place de la Bourse, and the water mirror which runs alongside the river reflecting the buildings. We visited twice, once in the middle of day where hot Bordelais were splashing about in a few inches of water, then again in the evening to take some photos with the tripod like the camera geeks we are fast turning into!

Is this not an awesome photo? I took this (Simon helped....)

After our day in Bordeaux we headed to St-Emilion, one of the primary wine-growing regions around Bordeaux. It's a ridiculously pretty town and also was our second UNESCO World Heritage site in as many days, to Simon's delight.

Rooftops of St-Emilion

Once we'd had our fill of the roof-top views and picturesque streets we took a wine tour at Chateau Villemaurine - one of about 200 chateau in St-Emilion to be classed as "Grand Cru". That means it's very good, but not the best of the region - only about 50 chateau have that distinction.

Seeing the vineyards was interesting, but the best bit was undoubtedly the opportunity to see the underground lairs where they leave the wine to mature - very cool.

Wine, lotsa wine

We were able to sample a couple of Villemaurine's reds - a 2007 vintage and also a 2012 one. The 2012 one still tasted so full of tannin it was like drinking liquid wood, but the 2007 was pretty smooth.

After this we had a half-hearted look at the glut of wine shops in town, but as neither of us are big red wine drinkers it was a bit wasted on us. What wasn't wasted was cake - we sampled a delicious version of the local speciality, caneles. It's a rum and vanilla cake and the inside is like a baked custard-cake - delicious!

Caneles - not cannoli!