Papa and I were up early this morning, which means before 8. We left Chateau de Beauregard in St. Girons by 8:45 and were off toward Foix in a light rain. We were driving into Foix within thirty minutes. The three towers of the Cathar castle are visible for miles as they are atop a natural hill set within a tight river valley in the Pyrenees foothills. The setting is quite beautiful and the city is quite nice. We had coffee and walked around a bit before driving on.
We drove through miles of tree lined roads toward Roquefixade, a Cathar castle ruin atop a rock cliff. A little village sits below. We walked around the village and heard people in the small church singing while cows in nearby fields were wearing cowbells. On a mountaintop not far away was another mountaintop castle ruin, Montsegur. The views and sounds were like a fairy tale!
Montsegur was less than 25km away. We parked the car, bundled up, and started the trek up the side of the mountain. The path was steep and the rise in each step was high and uneven. Montsegur was supposedly the final Cathar holdout and quite famous in Europe. It is not easy to get to by road or on foot but there were lots of other visitors on a Tuesday in November! The hike up and back down took over an hour. The views in all directions were spectacular. The site was so rugged that it was hard to imagine that hundreds of people were captured by an attacking militia in the 1240's. Those people were tough!
We continued down the road, stopping for crepes for lunch, then at another Cathar castle, Puivert. It is privately owned and a large ruin. We walked around a bit and then drove to another Cathar castle, Coustaussa. Neither of these were as impressive as Montsegur, but certainly interesting to see in their spectacular settings in the Pyrenees Mountains.
We stopped at Alet le Bains, a small village with ancient ruins with thermal springs. The ruins of an abbey are in the center of town, large and imposing. The carvings in the stonework were beautiful. The whole of the village was pretty and enjoyable.
We came on through Limoux and to our bed and breakfast for the next three nights, Maison Laurent. It is in the little hamlet of Prieusse, which is not particularly interesting, but is surrounded by vineyards. The house is four stories and centuries old. A British couple, Rachel and Anthony, bought the house two years ago, completely renovated it, adding a large kitchen and six bathrooms, along with all new windows, and garden. They invited us to have soup with them for dinner and we enjoyed hearing their story of buying and renovating the place. They have become successful very quickly as Anthony was in the travel business in the UK and is good at marketing the property.
