Carcassone Castle
Here are a couple of shots showing the exterior side of first the inner, then the outer curtain wall.
The dry moat continues around this side of the castle – and to the right, we can see two different types of tower sitting on this edge of the perimeter wall.
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Here’s a view up the northern list and one facing the other way where we can se the bulge of the large tower which presumably was used to house guns.
Full circle – here are two views looking towards the Narbonne Gate from the southern side of the central list.
Baking in the hot sun, the towers look as splendid as ever, despite some of the construction here being nearly 2,000 years old.
The walls contain many interesting features, the most obvious of which are the arrow slits for defending archers as can be seen here. Both of these pictures show the internal curtain wall surrounding the city, and were taken from within the southern list. To the right, a ramped walkway leads inside to the city itself.
And within, we see a marvellous Cathedral, the spiritual home of the city with ornate stained glass windows and flying buttresses.
Alas, I had no time to venture inside this magnificent structure.
The City itself consists of several dozen narrow winding streets leading to many houses, shops and courtyards containing restaurants.
This picture was taken just inside the Narbonne Gate and shows how narrow those old streets were built.
To round us off, here’s another picture of yours truly, wishing he had put some more time aside to visit this incredible piece of architecture, and vowing to return again one day…
A J Summersgill
To view the complete set of images from my visit, go to the ACG image gallery here.
