Image brought to you courtesy of GalleryPlayer's Image Collection.An extraordinary example of early military architecture, Carcassonne is the very image of a storybook medieval town. It is surrounded by the longest walls in Europe (nearly 2 miles), a fairy-tale concoction of turrets, watchtowers, battlements, and drawbridges begun in the 6th century. It would take thirteen centuries of alterations, additions, and embellishments by the Romans, Gauls, Visigoths, Arabs, Franks, and French royalty before the double ramparts encircling this prosperous fortified city, the largest in Europe, were completed.
The lices, a path between the concentric inner and outer fortifications, offers views within the preserved citadel as well as the lush green countryside and the River Aude without. Its nighttime illumination provides high drama, though torchlight is no longer used.
La Cité is the older part of town, sitting on a 1,500-foot hill that for centuries was the border between the present France and Spain. The 12th-century Cathédrale St.-Nazaire has the most interesting architecture in La Cité. If you're looking for an exquisite spot to check your bags, try next door at the Hôtel de la Cité, on the site of a former Episcopal palace.
Built into the ancient ramparts and incorporating one of the fifty-two watchtowers, the newly renovated ivy-covered hotel is one of the finest in the area and boasts an elegant restaurant, La Barbacane.
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