Trip Report: Lovely Languedoc, Cathar Castles, and pitches for two great hotels and a fantastic restaurant

The drive from Queribus to the town of Cucugnan, which is between Queribus and Peyrepertuse, was much more gradual (and shorter) than that up to Queribus from Maury. We stopped for a restful lunch on the outdoor terrace of Auberge du Cucugnan. I fortified myself for the drive up to Peyrepertuse by having plenty of wine at lunch!

The drive up to Peyrepertuse, I've been told, is less precipitous than the drive up to the second parking lot at Queribus. I wouldn't know - I kept my eyes closed the entire time! And while we were eating lunch, the storm clouds have moved off.

Peyrepertuse is just as lofty and remote as Queribus, though a bit more impressive because of the approach. There are warnings all over that the rocks are slippery, and not to make the climb if it's rainy. Veteran of high-altitude hiking in Colorado, I wasn't sure what the big deal was. Well, the trail here (unlike Queribus) is narrow and rocky, and the rocks are worn smooth by centuries of foot traffic. So in rain, I'm sure it really is treachurous. But in terms of dropoffs, the hike up is primarily bordered by bushes and trees, so that wasn't a problem. It took us 15-20 minutes from the ticket office. And while it was steeper than the approach to Queribus, it's manageable, and I saw all ages and fitness levels of people in the castle at the top.

The castle is bigger here, and there's a printed guide and an audiguide here too. More spectacular views, and there's an upper and lower portion (I was even able to take the stairs up to the higher part). Adding to the sightworthiness were the 5-6 paragliders circling the castle like huge birds of prey.

I surveyed the family after this visit, and we all wanted to visit more Cathar castles. But not this day, as we needed to push on to our evening's hotel. We did make a short stop at Puylaurens, but it was 6:10, so they were closed for the evening. That castle was appealing too, though not as high up. (When we return to the area, we'll visit more castles, those to the west, definitely Montsegur.)

Our hotel for the night (here's one of my sales pitches, and no, I'm not affiliated in any way with the place) was in the tiny village of Saint Hilaire, and is called Le Clos Saint Hilaire. It's about 20 minutes south of Carcassonne. We had a lovely drive there from Peyrepertuse, through lush narrow canyons with overhanging cliffs, and some rocks we had to drive through.

I located Le Clos Saint Hilaire on a French website (hotels du charme, maybe?); we wanted to try a smaller town, the reviews looked good, and the hotel's website looked appealing as well. It's really more of a B&B or chambre d'hote. It's a big old house, appealingly decorated with quirky old furniture and modern art. The terrace in back has tables and chairs and a cute little orange tree in a pot. The village is just big enough to have one boulangerie and a beautiful cloister attached to an abbey. The husband and wife owners were delightful (more on that). Our room, called "Jade," was huge. A main room, with a sofa, armchairs, and a single bed for DS. Another room, separate from the main room with a glass partition with a door, with a double bed. Sizeable bathroom.

They served dinner there, and the only guests were the guests of the hotel (us and two separate couples). Unfortunately, while DH and DS had a fine meal, I became sick right before dinner. This is where the owners were able to demonstrate how wonderfully nice they really are. They were very sympathetic, were very kind even though they had just served me my first course (seared foie gras, which I'm so sad about now, but at the time I couldn't even look at). They made me an infusion (tea made with vervain, which I think is verbana in English), which was soothing. Being sick on vacation is horrible, but they made it more bearable. And, in the end, they did not charge me for my dinner (which they would have had a right to do, IMO, as I'd already ordered it).

The next day, I felt better, though not great, so we were able to do what we'd planned to do that day. We drove north of Carcassonne to another set of Cathar castles, just outside the darling village of Lastours. (Home of a well-known restaurant, which was closed the day we were there, Monday.) These are four castles or towers, plus the ruins of an old church. The hike was shorter and less steep than for the other two, and there were fewer people. One part of the trail leads through a cave - that was fun! In the summer, there's a sound-and-light show of the castles.

We had an adequate lunch at one of the many cafes in Carcassonne, crepes and croque monsieur. Overall, while my opinion of Carcassonne is clouded by the fact that wasn't feeling all that well, we were less impressed by Carcassonne they we were by the other "Cathar" castles. I've read the history of the city, and have ambivalent feeling about Violet le Duc, who led reconstruction of the town in a historically-inaccurate way. I wish he didn't do that, but I feel that he began a movement for preservation that, overall, was good for Carcassonne and began more preservation efforts elsewhere. I'm glad we went, and I think DS and DH enjoyed the chateau and the church.

Leaving Carcassonne, we made a leisurely drive northward to our next night's stop, which I believe is technically in the Montaigne Noir area. On the way, we stopped to visit a "minor" chateau, merely because we liked the look of it as we passed, Saissac. I have not grown used to the fact that there are so many of these small, ancient chateaux just everywhere in Europe!

Our destination was another small hotel, this one primarily a restaurant with rooms, in the tiny village of St. Felix Laugerais, at Auberge du Poids Public, chosen based on good reviews of its restaurant. My sharp-eyed DS noted as we entered that this year, the restaurant/chef was awarded a Michelin star - well-deserved, as the evening would prove. (I believe it had a star under the former owner/chef, who trained the owner of La Recreation, Jacques Ratier, but now has new owners/chef.)

The building was the former site for the public scales on entering town, and it's a small two-story building. The bedrooms, of course, are on the second floor, and ours was fine, a typical hard French bed, cot for DS, small bathroom, but clean and with great soaps and shampoos (our triple was 60 euros/night, though I think they've raised the prices since we booked). At ground level was a bar sort of area, cosy on a cold winter night, then the restaurant area, spacious, elegant in a rustic way, with windows overlooking the bucolic countryside. Also a beautiful terrace, where we sat and had drinks (from a bottle of wine we had with us) while the restaurant staff got ready for dinner. I was tickled to see the slender young man in a bright green T-shirt, who helped carry my bad to the room, appear more formally in a suit to serve us dinner!

The meal was our best of the entire trip. Fresh ingredients, and the vegetables, especially, were used creatively. There was a slight Asian influence, such as the rice noodle wrapped around the shrimp that came with DH's main course. The vegetables, purees and mousses and even a foam, were used as flavoring throughout the entire meal, and I didn't see much use of butter. It was just fantastic. The service of course was impeccable, and the rest of the patrons were French (primarily locals, it looked to me). If you're anywhere near this restaurant, please go there! (And stay there too, to enjoy yourselves even more).

The next morning, we headed further north to Pech Merle, the cave. Even though that's not technically in the Dordogne, many people visit that cave while staying in the Dordogne (or the Lot), so I'll describe that in a separate report.

Lexma90, thanks so much for this. Brings back wonderful memories and great inspiration to return to Languedoc.

Anselm

Glad you managed to get to Queribus - the day we went it was windy, as it often is. We were with a French group, and were all told to hang on to our hats - and glasses - in case they blew off. We had to go up the stairs on our knees, heads down holding on to a handrail for dear life. Guide says - the first defense for this chateau is the wind! No one is likely to make it up there with sword, spears, armour, etc. in that kine of weather.

We like this area very much and we visited the same places. After being there, I started to read books about
the Cathars, Start with "Montaillou."

Lexma, I'm enjoying your report. Thanks for posting!

We too were amused by the versatility of the family who owned the restaurant with rooms where we stayed in Albi on our first night in France last June and we also noticed a subtle Japanese influence on certain meals while we were in The Dordogne.

Hi L,

Thanks for posting.

Glad you enjoyed your visit.

thanks for the information! What did your son respond best to in your visit? (our boys will be 7 and 10 when we are in the area)
(sorry you got sick!)

To continue, we awoke Wednesday morning to the sounds of the setup for the "small" Sarlat market. We ate breakfast at tables for the Bar nestled among the stalls, and even enjoyed an extra cafe au lait.

Even DS had fun meandering among the booths. As planned, we bought supplies for a picnic lunch later in the day: cheese, primarily cabecou; bread; olives stuffed with anchovies; garigette strawberries; a delicious cavaillon melon; a small walnut tart; some choquettes, which are little bread "puffs" made with choux pastry (not very tasty, as it turned out). We ate almost all of it that day!

Our little surprise of the market was another American visitor there - the much-loved-by-Fodorites (hee hee) Rick Steves. He was filming a segment, so we watched him and his film crew check out the market and take 5-second shots of Rick and his writer, Steve, strolling through the market, and the cameraman take inumerable closeup food shots. We did talk to Rick, he was pleasant, and we told him how wonderful our B&B is. Steve told us (oops on us) that Chambre du Glacier is in their book (which we have an old copy of). What was even funnier, later on the trip, we heard some Americans talking to each other about how someone in their group had met Rick Steves in Sarlat!

We had decided today would be a chateau day, so picnic food in tow (we had already purchased wine, soda and water), we headed out.

First was Castelnaud, which houses a medieval weapons museum. As anticipated, DS LOVED the castle, the museum, the displays and even the computer game located in several rooms of the museum. This castle, while somewhat reconstructed, has (per my materials) been left less reconstructed than others. Not a lot of furnishings, though there were some. The English guide was quite good. The focus here was the weapons, primarily the trebuchet. As I had read "Castle in the Backyard," and had described to DS how the authors had problems earlier in the life of some of the trebuchets with stray ammunition landing in their garden, we had fun trying to figure out which house belongs to the authors.

For lunch, we drove on to Beynac, and sat on the river, watching canoers and kayakers float by. We also watched one couple capsize as they tried to land in Beynac. They were ok, but it was a struggle for them to get themselves and the canoe to shore against the current.

I was very pleasantly impressed by Beynac (though I'd liked it previously too). There's been a lot of reconstruction work done here since our 2002 visit, and the English printed guide was very informative and interesting without being too lengthy. The guide, I felt, also did a good job of explaining which time periods the various parts of the catle have been restored to. It's a beautiful castle. We walked up to the castle from the village, not using the secret path that I've read about, but just following the road up for part of the way, then following the pedestrian signs.

After this castle, we let DS choose the next one, and he chose the garden castle, Marqueyssac. It was almost hot, and sunny, so we first had an over-priced drink and ice cream (DS) at the cafe there. While the cafe does have great views, note that they are of the countryside to the north, not of the Dordogne river to the south.

While I think DS enjoyed the gardens, he wasn't thrilled about them. DH and I are not really garden folk, and we thought the whole area (pardon my candor) rather lame. It's not flowers, but primarily various trees and a lot of boxwood. If there are 6 km of paths there, it's because the owners counted every 1 cm of side paths. I think if you're interested in gardens, especially of the more wild variety, then you'd like this. The various kid play areas (I'd warned DS about this) were mostly for younger kids, and while DS wandered about a little, he didn't disappear into the undergrowth to make imaginery forts. Most people could easily walk to the farthest point of the gardens and back (also, there's a shuttle golf cart thing that people can ride back in).

It was early evening by this point. We spent time hanging around in Sarlat, DS had time to himself in the room, and we adults had drinks again.

Dinner was at Le Presidial, and it was a delight. Tucked in a corner of Sarlat, about 3 minutes from place de la Liberte. Again, dining was outside, in a beautiful courtyard area. It was somewhat formal, but not too much so. This was one of the few meals where we heard American voices, but we all behaved ourselves! I won't list everything we had, as it was all very good. I guess we were all more hungry this night; we all (even DS) got the 4-course menus. My foie gras du canard in a terrine (a starter) was especially velvety, as were DS's escargot with duck confit. My sandre (pike-perch) had a fantastic Monbazillac sauce (I refrained from licking the plate), and the boys' side dish of potatoes sarladais was appropriately decadent. Our cheese course was a single cabecou with salad, which was just right. Desserts were less exciting, though made more exciting due to the amount of chocolate that DS managed to spill on himself from his chocolate profiteroles. At the close of the evening, we got to observe some town cats lurk onto the restaurant grounds. They were wild enough that they wouldn't let DS pet them.

Next, DS birthday day!

I'm really enjoying your report - the Languedoc sounds so beautiful. I would really love to see the Cathar castles, but I'm afraid I've waited too late. I think at this time in my life, the drive up (at Queribus and Peyrepetuse) would really do me in! Not to mention the actual walking up to the castles. Guess I'll have to just see them from afar and stick to the easier to reach ones. I think your 12-year old is a perfect age for all those castles. I spent 2 weeks in the Dordogne a couple of years ago, and thought what a great place to take older children and teenagers.

Shoot - I just realized I posted my report continuation on the wrong post.

Anyway, Sue4, glad you're enjoying my descriptions. There are some cathar castles that aren't so high up. Even Puylaurens, which we drove up to but it was closed, was not so high up.

cigalechanta - I've read a number of nonfiction books and novels about the Cathars, but not that one. Thanks for the suggestion!

Sue4, so you won't be too disapponted, here are a glimpse of a few.

http://www.yuzaixe.hostinguk.com/Languedoc/sightseeing/castles-roman.php

The history of the Cathars is truly fascinating; I knew nothing about it before we visited the Languedoc last year. Here is a bibliography of the books I read for that trip (a mixture of fiction and non-fiction):

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1060&index=18

Nonnafelice - Like you, I read up voraciously on an area that I'm going to travel to. I think I read all of the same Cathar books that you did; their history fascinates me. I must say, I liked Burnham's novel more than Mosse's. I also read a nonfiction book about the Knights Templar that I don't remember the name of; I think it was located near the Cathar books at the library. I'll have to read the books by Patrick Moon, too.

We'll be visiting the Piemonte area this fall - I think it will be a challenge finding books (nonfiction or novels) about that area!

Ahh, here it is. I have been looking for you, lexma, and missed your new postings. Can't wait to read later this morning!

Thanks so very much for posting your excellent report. It's so helpful to me, as we are flying into Barcelona in September and traveling up to the Languedoc! Your detailed descriptions of visiting Queribus and Peyrepertuse are so helpful! We'll only have time to visit one, probably Peyrepertuse. How long did you spend here?

Did you see or stop at Rennes le Chateau on the way to St. Hilaire?

Thanks guys for the book lists. I have missed our regular posters since they moved the extremely long thread about books from the Europe site to the books and media site.

I didn't note our time, but maybe several hours total at Peyrepertuse? That would include the drive from Cucugnan, but not the drive back. If you're approaching Peyrepertuse from D117, then the trip will take a while, as you must drive past the final-approach road to Queribus and through Cucugnan. And if you approach from the other way, the direction toward Rennes-le-Chateau, it would also take a while, because it's small white roads the entire way from Peyrepertuse. We didn't drive that route because it looked like there might be some additional steep roads, and DH didn't want to stress me out with more of those.

We didn't visit Rennes-le-Chateau, though I had it on my list of possibilities. It's on my "might-do" list for the next trip. I would put any of the Cathar castles higher, though, and would like to visit Foix, and Mirepoix, and le Grotte de Niaux.

hi, lexma,

lovely report - your DS must be a saint to put up with so much history.

your description of the gardens reminded me of a tour we did of one once in the same area [might even have been that one!]

The guide said that we had to appreciate that the french have "sensible" gardens ie regimented and well-laid out in patterns with gravel rather than flowers. Though she didn't say it, the comparison with "silly" english gardens was all to apparent!

regards, ann

We spent a week in the Languedoc some years ago but it looks like we missed some very interesting spots. I have to bookmark this to perhaps consider for my future travels.

We stayed in Carcassonne overnight and took some lovely shots of the town walls lit up at night from a distance. It has a different feel after the tourists leave for the day.

Thank you for sharing the info.

What drew you to the Cathar castles?

I'm interested in history generally, and tend to read whatever I can get my hands on about areas that we'll be visiting. I started reading up on the history of this area, and the most prominant subject is the Cathars. Their history, and the interplay between the power of the nobility of the region, the French king and the Catholic church, makes for compelling reading.

You might find Carolyn Roe's book "Consolation for an Exile" of interest.

Caroline Roe's entire series looks great - too bad I didn't know about them before we visited Barcelona and Girona.

We're going to the Piemonte and Milan this fall - do you know any fiction or nonfiction about that area? (We're also going to Venice and that area, but I have tons of books already about that part of Italy!)

So nice to relive our visit to Peyreperteuse and Queribus (and Maury!) through your post. During a three week visit to France last year, the most memorable stay was at the Auberge du Poids Public in St. Felix. A morning stroll provided us with our first sighting of the Pyrenees off in the distance. A surprise for us. I still have a few of those lovely little soaps! And such a meal! My first course of legumes (peas/beans) gratinee has left an indelible memory.

Lexma90,

Sorry--I have no recommendations for books set in Italy, as most of our travels have been in France and Great Britain. But I'll keep an eye out for likely titles.

for reference