There were many many tourists in the Cité and I began to get scared of this crowd, so Mistigree put me in his pocket all day long, with just my head outside. That way, I could visit the Cité even though, without being trampled down by anyone !!
At the entrance of the Cité, just before the drawbridge, I saw a statue of a woman. She's called "Dame Carcas" and is part of the following legend :
"By the mid-8th century "Pepin the Short", first Carolingian king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne, had been very busy taking back almost every part of the South of France from the Saracens, except for Carcassonne, because of it's impenatrable fortress. After a very long siege, the Franks hoped that the battered inhabitants of Carcassonne would soon starve and surrender. But Dame Carcas, the Sarrasin's widow, came up with a clever plan. She had a pig fed and fattened with the last sacks of grain the inhabitants could find. When the pig was fat enough, it was thrown over the ramparts. When the Franks saw this heathy animal explode they assumed there was plenty of meat and grain available still and deduced that the siege would not end soon. So, they abandonned their fight and left. Dame Carcas had the bells rung all day long to announce the victory. According to the legend, Dame "Carcas sonne" les cloches (rings the bells), and this is where the name of the City comes from"
We could have go round the Cité in a little train, or in a barouche towed by 2 horses as you can see there, but Mistigree prefered to walk, therefore we were free to stop when we wanted to !
Here is a map of the Cité. In the case I fall out of Mistigree's pocket, we agreed to find each other again here, but I wanted to avoid that because I didn't want to get lost in all the little lanes of the Cité, so I held on tight !!
I was very impressed by all those huge towers and by the ramparts and its crenels all long, but at the end, I was a bit tired... A tower...a rampart.... another tower... and a rampat again... with or without crenels... and a tower again....!!!
At a moment, Mistigree leant out of the ramparts so that I can have a view on the town of Carcassonne which is outside the Cité. It was beautiful but it gave me vertigo !
We also visited the "Basilique Saint-Nazaire" that has many gargoyles on its roof. Mistigree told me that the church "Notre Dame de Paris" also have numerous gargoyles. I wish I could go to Paris one day and see them!!
Inside the Basilic, there was this big bell, I felt so tiny on it !!
I also recognized Joan of Arc who's part of the French history (remember, the hundred years war !)
In the shops of the Cité (because where there are tourists, there are shops !!), you can find some tapestry reproductions. I especially like the one with the lion.
Look at this knight !! Don't you think he's got a strange belly ?
I was delighted with my day in Carcassonne and on the way back to Toulouse, I couldn't stop to imagine how they were leaving here before, how they were dressed, what they were eating... If they had known that one day, me, Muki from Hungary, would have followed their footsteps !!
