Southern France: Carcassonne and the Tarn Gorges

We left our quaint b&b and headed out on our way to Carcassonne via the Tarn gorges. We spent the morning canoeing through the Tarn gorges on what we thought would be a calm and peaceful canoeing trip. We found out quickly that the canoe trip was "a difficult level" as we navigated our way through rocky rapids and beautiful scenery. We survived the trip only flipping our canoe twice and continued on the road to Carcassonne.

We stopped and ate lunch in a park in St. Affrique and then continued on the "scenic tour" toward Carcassonne. We arrived at our hotel one minute after check-in and received the worst instructions to find a hidden locker to retrieve our room keys. Nor were we told the key code to get into the locker once we finally found it! After we finally got into our rooms we headed off to the walled medieval portion of Carcassonne to have our first Cassoulet, a traditional white bean stew with duck and sausage.

The next day we explored the amazing castle at Carcassonne, Tom and Katie rode bikes down the Canal du Midi, while Dave and Tabitha (with broken knees, thus without bikes) read Harry Potter by the edge of the canal.

Lunch: Pate, bread, and wine
Dinner: Cassoulet
Breakfast: Pastry and coffee
Lunch: Cassoulet
Dinner: Cassoulet, Chicken, Pork with a mustard cream sauce.

The beautiful, calm Tarn gorges.

The beautiful, not calm Tarn gorges. (Blow this picture up!)

The cathedral at St. Affrique.

Carcassonne!

How to make Cassoulet.

Carcassone "Disneyland"

A view from the top of the castle.

The cathedral.

A close up of the cathedral.

The message outside the cathedral...

Carcassonne!

Southern France: Millau

We rented a car and headed off into the mountains of southern France.  On our way to Millau we stopped in a charming small town for breakfast and then stopped again at La Couvertoirade Castle, a small working walled town.  We explored the castle, including it's reconstructed windmill, and walked around the artisan shops.  The aromas coming from the castle town's creperie drew us into a small restaurant where we ate four of the best crepes we have ever had in our lives.  

Once our bellies were full we headed off toward Millau which is known for it's hand-made leather gloves and outdoor activities.  We walked around the town and visited one of the glove-making factories.  We also stopped by the tourism office to ask for directions to the bed and breakfast where we would be spending the night.  We knew we were in for an adventure when the lady at the tourism office laughed, and then attempted (and failed) to highlight on a map the directions to our lodgings.  On the way out of town we discovered that our rental car went into reverse a little too easily, and after driving backwards down a sloped road, luckily with nobody directly behind us, we were off to find our hotel.

We drove up, and up, and up narrow roads that were barely wide enough for our car. We attempted to make switchbacks up the mountain slope.  We eventually stopped and asked a nice old lady for directions, and she asked how we got here and what was our GPS telling us?!?!?  Tom's only response was that we got there "by God."  We followed her directions and made it to our bed and breakfast on top of the world!  

We ate dinner at the b&b and when we were handed the menu we were told, "Here is the menu. You have no choice."  We knew it was going to delicious and fresh from their gardens! Here we had one of the best meals of the trip!

Breakfast: pastry and coffee in a small French town.

Lunch: Crepes (goat cheese with honey and walnuts, lemon and sugar, fois, ratitoullie), accompanied by some delicious cider.

Dinner: Rustic salad, Mutton Pie, Rabbit with lemon and zucchini, Cheese plate (serve yourself as much cheese as you want), rhubarb merange pie.  Five fabulous courses!

Breakfast: Petit dejeuner complete with homemade jams and jellies

Did you know that there are
churches in France?

A charming French river.

Dinner?

Outside Couvertoirade Castle.

Couvertoirade Castle. 

The windmill.

Millau in the distance.

More Millau.

One of the narrow mountain side roads
that we had to drive through to get to the b&b.

How are you supposed to make this switchback?

We finally made it to the b&b.
The views were worth the drive.

Our b&b.

Fresh zucchini for dinner.

More charming b&b...

and more b&b...

and a little more b&b.

Southern France: Montpellier

We next traveled to Montpellier, where upon arrival we ate croque-monsieurs at a restaurant near our hotel that was filled with locals.  Unfortunately croque-monsieurs were apparently not their specialty and we ended up eating non-French food for the rest of the day.

We walked around the city and found many amazing sites throughout the city including: the Saint Clément Aqueduct, the School of Medicine, and the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre.  During our site-seeing we built up an appetite (the croque-monsieures were not terribly satisfying) and our noses directed us to a wonderful little Arab restaurant.  Exhausted, we napped for the rest of the day and found ourselves eating pizza and gelato for dinner! We promised ourselves that the next day would be full of French food.

The next day was full of more site-seeing at the Musée Fabre, and the "Garden of Plants."  The day ended with one of the best French meals of the trip (however there are two dinners that rival it!) in one of the historic Hôtels (old private mansions).

Lunch: bad croque-monsieurs
Dinner: Italian pizza and pasta
Breakfast: pastries and coffee
Lunch: crêpes, a good croque-madame, and a ham and cheese sandwich
Dinner: (at l'ancient courrier) steak tartare, salmon carpaccio with ginger, duck, and cheese fondue.  Dave came up with the brilliant idea of wrapping steak tartare in crispy duck skin!

Cool fountain in Antigone, a neoclassical
housing development designed by
Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill
(who also designed the new
terminal at the Barcelona airport).

Crazy building

Heavenly church?

I think we are in France?

Resting tourists in the Jardin de Peyrou

The gates to the aqueduct in the Jardin de Peyrou

A monument, still in the Jardin de Peyrou

Cathedral of Saint-Pierre

It is tall (that wee person is Tom)

Dave wanted to eat his delicious Arab food

Another picture from Antigone. 
Paris isn't the only place with a
Winged Glory.

Pretty flowers in the Place de la Comédie

Dave was feeling at home

Tourists don't follow rules

The "Garden of Plants" was beautiful...

...

...

The biggest thistle ever?

Thistle with bee

Is that Harry Potter in Spanish?

Southern France: Séte

After a much less adventuresome train ride we reached the second stop on our tour, Séte (pronounced "set").  It was a much larger port town with many sailboats and many more touristy restaurants and shops.  We did our best to avoid the tourist sites and found ourselves drawn to the local "activity" of nautical jousting.  Yes, that is right, two boats are rowed toward each other while two people joust from the tops of the boats.  The loser falls into the water.  We watched the jousting for a while and then went off to find a delicious dinner.  This was our last stop on the coast, so we had to make sure to get all the delicious seafood we could (see below for the menu).  

The next day we took a Michelin Guide walking tour and hiked up to a beautiful park.  Unfortunately, once we were more than half way to the park we realized that our "walking tour" was much more likely a driving tour!  Oh well.  We made it, enjoyed the views, and ate a picnic lunch in the park.

We dined on oysters at a little seafood restaurant where the fresh seafood was prepared by an old chain-smoking fisherman who snuck shots of whiskey between orders.  His job was also to also guard the seafood from the seagulls who would occasionally dive-bomb the delicious assortment.  We witnessed one lucky seagull who escaped with some fresh shrimp.

Dinner: Hampe (steak), whelks (sea snails), squid
Breakfast: Petit dejeuner complet
Lunch: Picnic of bread and fruit in the park
Dinner: Bar tapas with the worst milkshake ever (baby formula + sugar?), oysters.
Breakfast: Petit dejeuner complet

Nautical jousting (picture by Katie Hart)

Sailboats at sea

Tourists (one with a big floppy hat)

Scuba divers

Views from the park

More views from the park

Dave taking in the views

Another great view from the park

Mirrors!

The houses were covered in blooming flowers

Beautiful flowers

A shipyard