We were sad to say goodbye to Karen and Bruce last Monday, when they left to return to Spain for a few days before flying back to South Africa. We later got a call from them to say that their return train ride to Barcelona had been uneventful, which was good news to us after their rather traumatic trip from Barcelona to Lezignan.
The rest of the week was spent roaming around the area around Carcassonne, Lezignan and Narbonne, which has so much to offer that one could easily spend weeks here. We are in the heart of the Cathar country and there is evidence of it all around. The Cathars were a religious sect who broke away from Catholicism in the 12 th Century and gained great popularity in the south-east of France. Eventually the Pope decided that their popularity posed a threat to the Catholic Church and declared them to be heretics. The result was a crusade against them and the mission was to exterminate all the Cathars and their followers. Enter Simon de Montfort, one of the most energetic and colourful leaders of the crusade. It is alleged that well over a million Cathars were killed by him and his troops. While some of the crusade leaders hesitated to murder all and sundry, the spiritual leader of the crusade is reported to have instructed them ‘Kill them all, God will know his own”. It is a horrifying story, but thanks to Simon and his Merry Men, and the Cathars they were fighting, there are today wonderful castles (some in ruins) and fortified towns all around here. Being fairly rugged country, one is often quite unaware of a spectacular village perched on top of a rocky outcrop just around the corner or over the hill.
Just such a place was Minerve. Balanced on a plug of rock in a bend of the river, in a deep gorge, the village was easily defended from direct attack, but our friend Simon mounted a siege and within seven weeks had gained access to the town. His final act of terror was to burn 140 Cathars at the stake. However, a few had been smuggled out , probably at night, and took refuge in caves and other troglodytic shelters in the walls of the gorge.
Minerve, though, is just one of the more complete fortified towns and there are far too many more that we have either visited or seen in the distance to mention them all. In each instance, we were always quite amazed at the constructional prowess of these ancient people. Without the aid of front-end-loaders, diggers or high-rise cranes they managed to build whole villages in impossible locations - because they had to! I wonder if we could achieve the same results today.
The other local attraction which we found quite irresistible is the Canal du Midi. Each little village along it’s length has established a ‘port’ and it would seem that they vie with each other to be more colourful, more attractive or have more restaurants than the next. Whatever their claim, they are all enchanting, and as Ratty, I think, commented in ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (to misquote him completely), there is no greater fun than messing about in boats. Or indeed, in watching other people doing it.
The Canal is no longer used by large commercial barges, but is very busy accommodating all the tourist traffic. One can sit outside a café for an hour or more and the stream of boats, although not continuous, will trickle past in a pleasant succession providing a never-ending source of entertainment. Sometimes it is easy to tell the complete amateurs, the first timers, from those who either own their own boats or who have done this type of holiday before by the way they handle the ropes, or the way they hop on and off their craft, but mostly one just enjoys the gentle gliding parade.
Finally the lure of the Canal got too much for all of us, so we took a two-hour cruise there and back, which started at Homps, a little town which I mentioned before. At a maximum speed of 4 knots, which is about 8 kilometres an hour, we didn’t travel very far, but in that distance we managed to learn a lot about the building of the canal; we went through a lock and we went over an aqueduct. It was very sedate, very calm and very pleasant. I think I could have enjoyed a holiday like that.
To round off our visits to things watery, we took a drive along to Beziers to see if we could find the flight of eight locks. We did find it, and what fun it was. All French lock-keepers have a lunch hour from 12.30 to 1.30, and by the time we arrived at the locks, lunch was nearly over and the boats were queueing up in both directions. When the top gates opened, four smallish boats managed to get in together; when they were in the third one down, another three came in at the top; when they were in the third lock down, two big boats jostled each other in. At one stage there must have been almost ten vessels coming down the ‘stairs’ together, each lot separated by an empty lock. With each boat there would be one or two people ashore hanging on to ropes or catching them to wind around bollards, so there was plenty of action all around. And masses of people just standing around watching all that was going on. Apparently the boat lock was invented by Leonardo da Vinci. I wonder if that clever fellow ever imagined he would provide entertainment for so many people when he was figuring out how to get boats, and water, to go up hills.
On Saturday, Carol and Steve packed up their belongings and headed off to Carcassonne and their flight back to England. Once more, we were alone in the house. Not for long though, as we will be moving on early next week. Where? Well, we’re not sure. We’ll have a look at the map and then decide.
No comments:
Post a Comment