Catalunya into l’Occitanie

~~Written by Doni, or Mom as I call her.

So, right off I will say the following post is lengthy and you may want to skim through it, but it’s more of a stream of consciousness I want to record and remember.

Leaving Barcelona on Friday I was so delighted to observe Mandy speaking Spanish the whole time so fluently.  She admittedly had issue with Catalan which was everywhere in the city, but it was great having someone with me so fluent since whatever Spanish I have is very meager- have to admit I might have been a little overwhelmed there. 

We boarded a train for Narbonne, France on what was a seamless experience traveling up to 90 miles an hour.  Seamless, that is until I heard the voice on board speaking in 4 different languages making announcements-  kind of mumbling, very rapidly in Spanish, Catalan, English and French.  The whole time in Barcelona I kept asking Mandy and becoming quite confused when I was reading or hearing the language, “is that Spanish or Catalan?”  I kept telling myself that it would be easier in France, so imagine hearing the announcer on board the train speaking so quickly alternating languages and I’m once again asking Mandy what language I was hearing.  At one point Mandy said “Mom- that’s English” and I immediately was thinking “oh, I am so screwed…”

We drove from Narbonne to Carcassonne arriving at our wonderful apartment in the early evening.  Without any hiccups to report. At this point I could feel my level of excitement was quantifiably increasing.  I’ve been studying the history of this part of France and the Catalan region of Spain for a long time and have wanted to come to this area for many years.  I was looking forward to seeing some of the Cathar castles in the region, drinking the Languedoc wines and sampling truffles.  The castles did not disappoint and our pictures don’t really do them justice.  

Our apartment in Carcassonne is right below the walk up to the old Cité,  which was where the Count of Trevencal fought and surrendered during the Cathar wars during the Albigensian crusades.  Le Cité is a UNESCO World Heritage site and I have never seen or been in such a large, preserved area of buildings dating more than 1000 years ago.  The old cité within the walls now has much to see and explore and many shops and restaurants. At night, it takes on a special feeling when the lights come on in the evening and the majority of the tourists have left.

We traveled one day to le Château Puilaurens, where we hiked up to the ruins of another Cathar castle, climbing very high— keep in mind many of these castles run just north of the Pyrénées boarder with Spain.  I don’t, as a rule, ever have an issue with heights, but I found myself at the top of this castle in a spot where there were metal chains anchored to rocks for you to hold onto and having an episode of vertigo happening.  Mandy and I constantly marveled at these castles and could not imagine living 1000 years ago in these spots, much less the building of them and hauling all the stones so high up.

On the way back to Carcassonne we saw 3 notable spots.  First was St Hilaire where prior to Champagne ever being produced in the Champagne region of France, a certain Benedictine monk here first produced effervescent wine, his name being Pierre Perignon or Dom Perignon.  After St Hillaire we drove to Rennes de Chateau, a significant setting in Dan Brown’s “DaVinci Code”.  Finally we went through the village of Limoux which is the site this year of the beginning of the Tour de France, which makes sense since it leads to so many winding uphill roads.

Back in Carcassonne, we walked just 2 blocks down from our apartment to Barrière Truffes for a our first sampling of truffles.  This is the major truffle region of France and this little place is where you can stop in any time and sample small plates of dishes with fresh truffles paired with very, very nice Languedoc wines.  The next day, we were scheduled for a truffle tour – this was my birthday present from Amanda and Will.  Because the truffle area outside Carcasonne called Black Mountain had received a large amount of rain the night before, it wasn’t possible for us to go up the mountain for a picnic and hike.  So, we went to the village of Villeneuve Minervois at the Maison de la Truffe Occitanie, a fascinating place covering the history, taste and cultivation of truffles in the region.  I was able to score a great selection of truffle products and actual fresh samples preserved to bring back with me- by the way, not inexpensive, but not nearly as pricey as the states.

The guide we had for the Truffle tour was a wealth of knowledge about the region.  He told us the Languedoc-Roussillon appellation is the largest producer of wine in France. At over 700,000 acres there are vineyards everywhere you look and the wine is wonderful, we’ve had sampling’s of very small family vineyards and large estates.  A rather well know secret here is because Bordeaux is such a large producer and gets a lot more press, it’s terroir can’t keep up with the demand and it frequently imports “under the table” so to speak Languedoc grapes for its wine to keep up with the demand.

We are taking an easy day today and leave tomorrow for the west of France to La Rochelle.  A bientôt !

The next post will be just of pictures of our time in Carcassonne, so if you want to skip the narration you can. (But if you’re reading this, then you’ve already read it all, so the joke’s on you.)