Carcassonne: Experience the Magic of a Real-Life Disneyland Castle in Van Life France!

Carcassonne: Experience the Magic of a Real-Life Disneyland Castle in Van Life France!

I’m Lee. And I’m Nick. And we are the Lodge Guys. Having recently upgraded our camper van to a motor home, we’re heading into Europe for the summer. Join us on this latest series where we hit the road in search of breathtaking views, quirky stops, and hidden gems. [Music] Welcome to a new day in the van. We are waking up in the south of France. Mez, we have been calling it mez, but I asked Google and it says it’s mezz. So, we’re waking up in mez in this camping car park. I’ll show you around quickly. There’s Magic Mateo out there all tied up. We’re going to be using them today. And that’s the um other side. Not many people in here. We are here for a couple of days as we are waiting for Amazon to hopefully deliver a new drone to us here because our last one was stolen unfortunately in Rome when people broke into the van. So we are going down to Mez today and hopefully fingers crossed get a boat to the other side which is called Seti and it’s supposed to be a really really nice little town. Our neighbors CT or SetI um our neighbors at the lodge told us about it. They said go and check this town out if you’re anywhere nearby. Had a quick look on YouTube. Looked beautiful. Had a quick look where it was and it’s like 5 minutes across on a boat and like oh wow. We’ll go and check that out. So come along with us. We haven’t really researched it apart from it looking beautiful. It was supposed to be a bit a little bit like the Venice of France. I think would be nice if we had a drone would it? Yeah it look beautiful on drone but unfortunately not. So let’s go there. We’re going to take the um scooters down into town, pack them up, hopefully get a boat across. [Music] We’re down in town. We’ve parked Magic Material there. And look at this bike here at the side of it. I don’t know what that means. Deliver us. First question. Why? But I don’t know what it’s all about, but he’s got a collection of bikes. Uh, sorry, books on the back of his bike. So, we’re down in the harbor. We have to go around there for the boat. It’s unfortunately not until an hour and 10 minutes. So, every 2 hours, I think we’re going to have a coffee or something in one of these cafes. Yeah, let’s pick one down there. So, this is the harbor of Mez. I think it’s it was pronounced Mez, whatever I said at the beginning of this video. Uh, beautiful little harbor. Lots of nice cafes, restaurants, merch shops and uh there does seem to be quite a lot of English people here as well. So it must be like it’s not like rammed or anything like that. It’s a nice about it and you can wear seti or sitta seti not that’s chasing aliens. Seti alpha 9. No, it’s seti whatever. I thought you said looked it up and it saidi. Um so anyway, it’s a nice little um resort. Uh not too busy, but um obviously popular with British people. And uh we’re just going to head out head down here and make our way down. I think just anyone’s looking at a merch shop. What’s that all about? Just shop. We had some nice t-shirt. White t-shirts. I need to get some more white t-shirts cuz they’re lighter in the sun. Yeah. So, uh obviously a very boaty kind of place with a harbor. People over there on uh rowing. Very unlike Nick to come into a shop, but uh he’s t-shirt obsessed. You don’t need any more shorts. French. Very French. Set. Set. Not set. Set. We’re going to set for now though. We’re going to sit at a cafe before we go to set. Right, we’ve got ourselves plunked here while we wait for the boat. An iced frappe and a pan of chocolate shakalat just to keep us going. Right, we’re back where I get the boat. So, the boat apparently looks like that from me to set. These are the um hours and the times of the departures. So, 9 10:40, 12:20, 2:00, 3:40, 520, and the last one at 7:00. And the tariffs are €11. off for return. So, €11 each. Yeah, not too bad. Here it is. Looks very nice and smooth. inside there. Yeah, but once you get going, you’ll have a breeze coming through. Very quick board and we’ve not paid yet, so we’ll see what happens. It says you pay on the boat, but it took about 5 minutes for everyone to get on board. And we’re off. [Music] We’re almost there. [Music] either [Music] he’s going to turn left quickly or we’re going to have to duck. We are going to have to duck because my ey line to not get decapitated. He’s above the uh thingy. Oh my goodness. What the heck? Actually, my head will be fine. I’m definitely getting down. Right, we just got off here and it’s straight across from the train station there. And now we’ve got to figure out where the main bit of town is. So there’s lots of different um sort of canals going down like that way. There’s a street there. So we just have a little mooch. We just follow everybody else. Yeah, that’s a good idea. Right, we’re heading to what Google says is the main busy area, which is over this bridge. But look at that stunning view. That looks very Venetian. For a second, I thought those were gondola, isn’t it? So, apparently they call this the Venice of the region. Little Venice. Little Venice. A lot less crowded. Something I can’t pronounce. Yeah. So, let’s keep going. So, we’ve decided today we’re going to have a fruit day. Let’s see how long this lasts. Even though we had a pan of chocolate and a iced coffee this morning. Decided after that, it don’t count. [Music] Right, we’re going down a side street. It’s got a little busier. Lots of uh shops and what have you. I thought it was a market, but I think it’s just this restaurant’s covered with umbrellas to sell fruit. It’s getting a lot more hustling and bustling and going with our fruit today. We’re going to get a slushie sounds. Well, I’ll have that one. Whatever that red one is. I like mango, but it doesn’t look very mangoy. [Music] We’re going to stick with fruit and hydration today and have a really good day of uh food and drink till we get hungry and then I’ll ch Hey guys, so we’ve decided to raffle off our self-built camper van, Taylor. If you followed our European adventures, you’ll know how much we love travel and hitting the road. Because we recently upgraded to a motor home, Taylor can now be yours. And here’s how. She’s fully equipped for incredible journeys featuring a full shower, super large extendable bed, central heating and hot water, comfy lounge area, and solid art worktops. We’ve also included all the essentials like gas and webbridge certificates, Starlink, and all the security upgrade. She’s fully emoted until the end of May 26, so you’re ready to roll on day one. You can find all the nitty-gritty details on the raffle description over on the raffle website. So, let’s get to the details. Scan the QR code on the screen now or click the link below. Online tickets are five pound each. No purchase necessary for postal votes. Must be 18 years or over. Winners chosen at random by Raffle. Not affiliated with YouTube, Facebook or Instagram. We’re using Raffle, an independent company, to handle everything, ensuring it’s all compliant and legalities are met. They deal with everything from ticket sales to picking the winner. So, the raffle will run for until the end of October or until all tickets are sold. If we don’t hit the minimum reserve, the prize will switch to a cash payout for the winner. While it’s open to everyone, a collection of Taylor is within the UK. You can find the full terms and conditions on the Raphael website. So, good luck. You could end up with our lovely Taylor. And if you’ve watched all our videos, you’ve seen how much love and time and effort we put into her. We absolutely love her. And we hope you, if you win her, get as much joy out of her as we did and continue her legacy. Yeah. So, there’s lots of shops on this street. And it looks like there was a market, but the packing up, which is quite early, actually. It’s only about 1:00, I think. So, I’ve got to get here early for the market stalls by the looks of it. Zafara and we’re just past the Claire’s. So, there’s some uh well-known shops down the street. Is that nougat? Nugar. Yeah, nugar. So, some places haven’t packed up yet, but it looks like they’re about to pack up. Ooh, cheese, sausage. Why is it on a day that we decided we’re going to eat fruit that all we’ve seen is everything else? And we presume this is an indoor market or a indoor shopping center. We’ll just go have a look. Yeah, it’s an indoor market. Smells very fishy, but the air con is amazing. Ooh, what’s this? Pella or paella as the Spanish say. Oh my god, it’s no fruit, I’m afraid. I’m deciding today. I found some fruit. Look at those massive tomatoes. Hope they look in. Just getting some fresh fruit. Find somewhere to eat that. So, we got some melons and raspberries and some cherries. We bought some fruit. But, uh, I just want to look at these as we’re passing. Look at these. The cookies. Cookies loaded with fruit and like donuts. And look at these here. Oh, they look good. Lemon cake. But we’ve got fruit today. But they do look good. So, it’s quite a good market. These oysters. Oh my god. No, thank you. No, thank you. Was busy around here. Little um square area. We’re just going to find somewhere to sit and have us fruit in the pan. Yeah. And we also got a pineapple already done and um sort of skinned for us. I’d love to see how you going to eat this pineapple. It’s in a plastic box. Let’s have a look what how we got it. will open it. It’s all sliced up in it. Oh, no, it’s not. It’s fueling. Maybe we should save that for the van. Hello. A getting drinking fountain. Getting cooled down. Bless it. I know the feeling. Right. So, to orientate yourself, we um Mez is there and this is a big massive lake and then we travel across here. actually behind it there. Actually traveled across here. We got off there and we’re currently somewhere here just behind us and there’s another boat tour on the other side. So this is the Mediterranean Sea. This is the link. Um to get from here to here on a bus is about an hour and to walk it is 4 hours walk to get here. Right. This town was founded by one of the King Louis in 1666. It has an annual water jousting competition which has been around since the 17th century. And like I said when we were looking at the site, this side of it is the Mediterranean. The other side of it is a like a national park. Um it’s very famous for seafood. And we’ve seen a lot of oysters and weird slimy things um around and lots of boat trips as you can see. [Music] You need to keep your gum shut. Stop taking the mic out of me. You need to keep your gum shut. I was just ordering and you just finished off. I went bonjour. I’m like shut up. I meant to say um Mercy and I went she took his order and I got a capping glass o. No, you didn’t. You use Google to translate. And then she like thank you. And I’m like I’m like please don’t speak again. I said we stopped for that ice coffee, the Bonjour iced coffee. And we’re just making our way back to where the boat is. I wonder what they do here like shows by the looks of it cuz you’ve got they’ve got seating here. There’s one on the other side as well. Seating on that side as well. So they do some kind of shows at some. There’s a banner there but it’s faded with the sun. This may be where didn’t you say there’s some kind of water chariots or something? Yeah, they do water chariots. I bet that’s where you sit and uh and watch it since the 17th century. Yeah, but that’s it. Oh my goodness. Look at this mini boats. Look at the size of them. There he goes. It looks as if it’s that small. It looks as if his legs are underneath or something and he’s like just pedalling. They look like those boats from Indiana Jones in Venice. Do you know what I mean? The uh the blowup versions. There is two too free for us. We’ve got to get back to the boat though. They’re wobbling them out a bit. Look at him. I love that you can do city tours as well on a boat like that. Definitely has a feel of Venice from here. has a smell of Venice. Look, you look at those blue and white poles back there. Yeah, that reminds me of Venice. These gondilas definitely need definitely. Look how shallow it is. They could easily use the sticks, poles, whatever. And sing what’s that song? Cornto. And just like that, it’s time to get back on the boat and enjoy a half an hour sail back. [Music] Do you think we should go sit inside? We’re getting wet through back here. Absolutely. It’s saturated out the top of me. We were just sat here napping enjoying the uh sun and stuff and a massive wave just got us. We’re wet through everybody at the back end. Are [Music] you making a purchase? Did a bit of merch shopping. You didn’t even need them. You just told me. You’ve just told me on the boat that you’ve got another pair of super dries at home, brand new, not used. So the harbor at both sides have shops like this like lios, swim shoes, uh buckets and spades, Skittles, all the kind of stuff that you would see really in a in a seaside resort. And it does feel like a seaside resort, the boats, the sand all over the floor from the beach area. And here he comes with a pair of flipflops. Sliders. Welcome to the next day. So we didn’t do much last night. We just came in, had a bit of food, which we got from a shop from a shop. Just a couple of salad bits. So today we are here again in MEZ and we are now waiting for Amazon to deliver our new drone. Fingers crossed. So we can’t leave the van. So we’re just catching up on stuff. Nick’s been sat outside. He’s just adding some things to a vlog that I’ve just done. Whilst Nick’s doing that. Is it out for delivery yet? No. Do you mind? Are you sucking your belly in? I’m just going to put my new sliders on and I’m just going to have Where’s my sunglasses? Here on the sofa. I’m going to have 5 minutes on the sofa. 5 minutes out here. Ah, what a lovely lovely day. Um, I mean, it’s first world problems and it was stuck in a beautiful sunny town in France. But when you can’t leave the actual park up, it gets a bit frustrating. I’m just going to plump myself there for 5 minutes and hopefully we get the dispatch confirmation very soon. Right, we just got the notification that Amazon is out for delivery. The drone and the SD cards and all the other bits and bats. Um, I don’t know whether they’re going to find this car park cuz the postcode is an entire street, but I have put our names and camping car park. So, as long as the driver knows the area, he should find it no problem. And it’s one of those deliveries as well because it’s over a certain value. It needs a password. So, we can’t misdel it to somebody. It’s going to be delivered between 12:00 and 3. It’s about 10 12 now. So, I’ve got to sit out here like a bloody mircat looking at every car that drives down the road. Familiar story this, isn’t it? Just like when we were in um Pepanyang when we went down in January. Um we were waiting at the Amazon locker then for the guy to turn up. So, um I’ll be on high watch. While we’re waiting for our Amazon delivery to arrive, finger crossed it’ll be soon. Just wanted to mention to you guys, our patron and YouTube members, if you fancy joining, you get exclusive benefits like exclusive videos, uh, chat channels, behind the scenes photos, early photos, early blog posts, physical fridge magnets. Yeah. Magnets, really nice community of people to chat to. And Nick’s got a few new members to say hello to. I do. Well, hello to Sarah, to Wendy and Peter J, uh, to Pam C, to Kim L, uh, Masha L, sorry, Marsha L, Masha, Masha, Marsha L, Daryl C, to Jamie, uh, to Daniel C, uh, Carrie S, Simon, Katherine F, hello to Louise F, Wendy H, Alexa B., that’s an unfortunate name, isn’t it? Alexa, yeah. to Leanne, Angela M, Paul E, who upgraded, Rebecca W, Glenn, hi Glenn, Eliza M, Miller, Family Adventures, Amy W, she upgraded as well. Tom K, uh, Susan H, Ben R, he upgraded as well. Stargazer to Lucy, Lies, and that’s it. And thanks to Lee F for upgrading recently as well on Patreon. Thanks, Lee. Um, so if you do fancy joining either our patron or YouTube members, check out the details below in the description. We think he’s just is just a run straight past. Oh, goodness gracious. He’s stopping down there. Get back on road and wave him. We wondered if it’ be a problem with him delivering to a camping car park. Is him not knowing where it is. Wave your hands. Wave your hands. He’s here and he’s got the delivery. So, the driver went straight past. So, Nick went down to uh meet him. He went into a state down there. So, he came back to meet him as he was coming out. Expecting that. We’re expecting what? Chasing him down the street. He literally wouldn’t stop. And I jumped in front of car and I’m like, “Amazon, Amazon.” anything we we we SD card that we had to get a mouse that they thinking swines nicked mouse mat cuz they nicked me a mouse mat card reader cuz I’m wearing my bag as well and a new drone 800 quid later that got Yeah, it’s got to be done for the vlogs cuz they it had so much to them. You got another bag now? Yeah. And I’m keeping it in this one. That other one would it actually broke the um the thing off the paddles, didn’t it? If you remember, a brand new drone. There we go. So, I’m hoping that these have got some charging cuz if it has, we’re going to go down to Messi NEZ and um let’s get the drone in the air. Just filling it with water and then we’re going to get on our way. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any drone shots of the town uh because all the batteries are completely dead and we’ve got to update the software and all sorts of stuff. So, it’s going to be a few hours before we can use the drone. Need to buy the refresh program for the new one. So, we’re going to head off to where we’re going. I can’t even pronounce it. Carson. Carsonon. Carsonon. Something like that. We’ll let you know more about it in a bit. It’s about an hour and a half drive. You don’t know how good it feels to be on the move after three nights there. Three nights. Three nights there. And yeah, we we’d like to stay here every now and again and and have a chill and stuff like that, but when you know you’re just locked there and you can’t like today, we couldn’t even go out. Take the first exit onto 63. Um, but it feels so good to be moving again. We have to wait for Amazon. It’s the ups and downs of traveling. You got to take them down to the 12. We have some more Amazon deliveries, but we send them to a locker in Bordeaux area. Yeah. They’re just users. So, worst case, we don’t pick them up. We’ll just go back. So, we’re looking forward to getting to our next destination. I’m going to look up some park for nights and stuff like that. Nick’s got Nick’s looked up a few. I’m just going to uh there’s tons to choose from. Double check them. And um it’s just an hour and 19 minutes drive. [Music] [Music] Yes. McDonald’s. What happened to heating fruit and healthy? That was yesterday. Yeah. Well, we’re going for it later. That was yesterday’s plan. So, we had just parked at a um a service station. Is that mine? No, that’s mine. I’ve just parked at a service station. Just got some Adlue and some um That’s small. Some Ablue and some diesel. And we saw a McDonald’s, so we thought boogery boogery. So, we’ve been in cold. Well, Leah. And uh it’s quite cool in here actually. It’s only at 32 degrees. Hamburger. Hamburger. Just one each. Yeah. And some fries. And some I just want to ravish some fries. Some chocolate. We’re just call a little sorry nic nipped in for some stuff. And we are now 6 minutes away from our campsite which is another camping camp which I found. We were originally going to go straight to what you call it again. Carcasson Kakazon um and park straight outside the walls like a five minute walk into town but a couple of things is one said it would got really busy which didn’t really bother us but the second thing is what’s the temperature 38 38° outside and it had skin when you walked out really hot outside it had no um I don’t have any heat wave at a minute I think it’s just the temperature today and um they had no electric hookups so we wouldn’t be able to like pump out the air con So, I looked for a camping car park and there’s one 5 km outside the town. Well, we’ve ruled camping car parks out because it didn’t show up when I looked this morning. I’m like, what the hell? They had 39 spaces of careful police coming past. Yes, they had 39 spaces on 50. So, we booked in there for a couple of nights because it’s quart 4. Um, we might go in time, might not. or we’ll just fully explore. Um the town we’ll do another ride. We’re not going to walk in yet. Um so we’ll get there and we’ve got some food. Yeah, I must admit we’ll be nice. We’ll just go on either bikes or scooters or something. Depends how hot it gets now. Is there Oh my god. It looks like a looks like Disneyland in California. It’s like a hardly It looks like the Disneyland castle bush. Yeah, but it looks like a Disneyland castle with all like the turrets and stuff on the top. I didn’t think that when I looked at it up earlier. I didn’t think we’re this close to it now. So it’s and we’re only 5 minutes to the car park. It’s a wall city again and it’s got Roman um ancient Roman ties and all sorts of stuff. Um so looking forward to seeing this. Oh, and I forgot to say this camping car park has a swimming pool. Oh, Lee might actually get his kids off and get water adapted though. Tree tunnel. This is a very strange camping car park because it’s in the grounds of Oh, nice restaurant. A restaurant and a a quest equestri a quest equestarian place. Equestrian place and it’s got all sorts like a pool and stuff. It’s very uh different from a usual camping camp. Let me get signed in. Hello. We’re going to have to call again. So they no longer use um the card. You can use your card if you want down there. That’s a ditch. Uh oh, is it? Oh, wow. Wait. It’s not like even like a car park, is it? It’s like a jungle. It’s like a proper like Oh my god, it’s there. Maybe we will skip going into town tonight and get around pool. As long as we can use it. Yeah. Well, yeah. People on the um app say this is a bit tight. It’s like this is the most swanky this one. Um Oh, yeah. That’s a nice big one. Yeah. Yeah. This is the most swanky car camping car parks I’ve ever seen. This is where we’ve got So, it’s like a proper campsite. So, we’ve got all this space here. This is where we should have stayed for three nights waiting for drone. There’s no Amazon locker here with the pool. We didn’t We didn’t get Amazon. I know. I delivered there. So, uh that’s that way. And this is our view from this way. So, it looks like they’ve got like um like holiday rentals and things like that. Little um wooden little houses. So, we’re just going to get the air con and then we’re going to go check out the pool. Oops. We had some tonic water stored in there for some strange reason. It won’t get anywhere else and it’s um dropped out and the can has exploded on my new carpet and it’s full sugar as well. Right. I need some more of this. It is seriously red hot baking boiling. Not quite as hot as normal last year. Not quite, but very near. So, we’re just going to go and check out the pool area. Sounds like there’s a few people in it. But, uh, we’ll go check it out. We got a bar. Never heard music. I I can’t believe the camping car pack has got a It’s like a holiday park. Yeah, it’s like a holiday pack and it’s got a swimming pool. It’s amazing. Quite a lot of people there. Oh my god. Got a bar. Bar as well. Pool down there. Bar and restaurant up here. We’ve just got a cocktail, ice cream, and iced coffees. What do you think to this then for a camping car park? This is amazing. This is like It’s a holiday. It’s like a holiday park. Oops. It’s like a holiday park, but a camping car park. Welcome to the next day, and we are heading down into Kirkazon. New one. Kakazon. What is it? Kakazon. Yeah, Kakazon. You said Kirkazon. So, it’s a lovely medieval town with a walled It’s a walled town and it it’s got like castle there and everything. And when we drove past it yesterday, it reminded me of um Disneyland California. Oh, it should have been with the with the turrets and stuff. You’ll see what I mean when we get there. So, today we are taking Bert and Ernie. They are waiting for us outside. So, let’s crack on. We’re about 5 km away from the uh town. Be there in 5 minutes. [Music] [Music] Right. See you in a bit, guys. Parked from there, the town and wall is there. Right. So, where we parked up. This is the entrance to the city. We have a blue gorilla outside randomly. And uh lots of birds in that tree. And uh this is the wall. So, this is a much more impressive city wall than the ones that we’ve done uh in the last couple of weeks. Wow. It’s giving me better feelings like but a much larger scale. So these turrets are kind of quite all the way around and that’s what’s kind of reminded me of uh the Disneyland castle. Now we were actually coming here first place in January but stinking broke and it all changed as planned so we rushed to get to the warm weather here in January. We’re in freezing. Wow. This is such an impressive entrance. Look at the malt all the way around. Uh I don’t know. But obviously this lifted up to protect the city, one from inside presumably. Oh my god, it’s giving me multiple vibes. So this is an inner defense the wall. Look at that. So you have to get through the first moat. Oh, look at the place on the wall where the archers would have stood on the uh the bricks and by their archers. And then in here and then this is the uh like 8:00 in the morning. Yeah, we’ve come very early because it’s going to be extremely hot today and we wanted to uh tourist information as soon as you get here. We wanted to bypass the heat of the midday. You can’t even get into the uh one of the turrets. Nothing’s open. That’s the only problem coming out very early. But to be fair, nothing’s open at dinner time. It’s 8:53, so I imagine some places will be open in 10 minutes. Ooh, homemade castaloo. Except that’s one of the um local delicacies, which I’m sure we may try later. Look at this little food. It’d be so nice if everything were open. Fortnite. It’s that casserole thing. I must try that today. Smells amazing. There’s another little square here. Oh yeah. Let’s keep going looking around here. I mean, another 10 minutes. I’m going to one thing. We’re going to get fresh quassons. That’s for sure. Petite de Jane here for 650. Hey, that’s not a bad price, is it? Orange juice and a coffee. Quas, orange juice, and a coffee for 650. Not bad at all. And they do omelets, too. So, let’s have a look at this square. Oh, different different breakfast here. Is that French toast? No, you can’t get French toast in France. And it’s open. Oh my goodness. Look at the size of that quasson. Spar seen it. They’re on the way. It’s massive. That’s as big as three sparrows. That croissant. It’s gone for some bread. Bread and jam. Bread and jam. And then we’re just waiting for our orange juice each. And our um water solid coffees and oranges are here. Nick’s just melting his butter on the um coffee. So, it’s a bit like a petite deer. It is a bit daire. Mine’s not. Well, mine is. Yours is a petite, isn’t it? Yeah. I didn’t tell you what it is there, but yeah. Next is Formula 1. Mine’s Formula 2. That was a nice way to start the day. Nice. Uh that was breakfast. And the place is starting to open now. So, are we going to do the walls first or So, the city is actually a double uh a doublewalled city and it dates back to um before the Roman times like 100 BC. It’s got a working port color C coloris and a working drawbridge and it’s like I said the double wall. So, what we’re going to do before it gets too hot, we’re going to walk around the city on the double wall path and just look at the architecture and stuff like that. And then when the sun’s fully up, we’ll get some shadow and shade in the center and we’ll come back and explore the center. Look at this. Just while we’re here. Oh, it’s a model. We got a model of the walls all the way around. So, we’re going to walk Oh. Oh. So, this is the outside one on the street. And we’re going to walk in here now. All the way around. Look at all the castle insurance. [Music] Right. So, we’ve come out of the main entrance into the inner inner outer wall, if that makes sense. So these little gaps here, although this has been fully restored, this is where the archers would have stood and defended the city. And then this road here, you would have people carrying sort of like maybe cannonballs on horse and cart and things like that or even replacement aris for the archers. A number of films and TV series have been filmed here. Mainly um French things that I’ve never heard of. Uh there is a couple Labyrinth TV series or something in 2012 which I’ve not seen. And I’m not even sure I’ve seen this or not, but Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, the one with um who’s in that now? Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman. Kevin and Kevin Costner. That’s it. I’m not even sure if I’ve seen it. I wouldn’t mind watching that actually, but apparently it’s parts of that were filmed here. So, access to the city and all the archaeological side of things. It’s completely free. The only thing you pay for is enter the castle, the shadow. Uh and to go around the inner wall, it’s a 3 km walk. Burn off that petite. Well, there’s doors every kind of hundred yard. So if you get bored, you can nip it for a coffee. Not been going for long and we’ve hit a dead end. So uh unless we can go outside. We need to go back in here. Down and under. Subway. It’s got what? Subway. Maybe somewhere, doesn’t it? I bet that’s just outside the walls. So it looks like some kind of jousting tournament type thing in there. like where they uh oh like uh August the 28th they’re getting ready for we’re going down here or I’ll go back in. No, we’ll go back in and then back out. So, as Nick said, you don’t have to walk the whole way around. You can just keep getting in, getting in, popping out, popping in. Looks like they’re getting ready for something, a festival or something. Oh, yeah. There we go. Festival of Kazone theater, opera, classic dance concerts. Right. So we need to Is this the castle? No, this is not the castle. So they do have hotels inside the walls as well. Hotel dela city there if you wanted to come and stay. And there is an airport right next door. We’ve seen Ryan airplanes flying straight across. So uh it’s an easy place to get to. All right, let’s go and look at this basilica which looks very impressive from outside. Let’s have a look what it is. It’s the uh basilica of St. Naz Nazir Stelssa. Yeah. Oh, in English the St. Nazia Nazar and St. Celi Basilica. Just as hard in English. It’s a church. It does look very impressive from outside though. [Music] It smells like Pirates of the Caribbean. Just like a Disney ride. And the smell is identical. The bromine smell. Oh, here’s your favorite thing. The confessional box. Nothing to impress. You’re right. It’s very impressive inside. It’s got a lot of these um like different places like different sections inside. Remember the side things like each one’s got something. Yeah. A very common thing in French churches. The windows, the stained glass windows are amazing in here. You want to see a big bell? Big bell. Wow. That is a big bell. [Music] I’ve never seen that before. Tombstone hung up. Can’t imagine how weight that’s going to rain. Oh, giveway. There’ll be another tombstone needed. So, the town has 52 watchtowers or 52 light turret type towers. As I said, it spans 3 km all the way around and is another UNESCO World Heritage site. Apparently, there’s only 1,200 in the world and I think we’ve done 200 on this trip. [Music] So, this is only 90 minutes from Tulu. So, in if you are staying in Tulu, you can do a day trip here. It’s not busy at all and the temperature is perfect at the minute. So if you are going to come, I would advise if you’re coming in the summer, come early morning. Uh if you’re coming in the winter, like January time, then probably midday, mid-afternoon when the temperatures a chance to increase. But there’s so much to see inside. So the chat or the chat com as it’s called um is actually a castle within a castle and it’s the only area of the city that you have to pay for and you get like tours and things like that and there’s panoramic views of the city. Right. So, we’ve managed to get back out onto a part of the wall, and we’re going to continue around the outer sides here for as long as we can. So, as a kid, the thought of history used to bore the crap out of me. And then as I’ve got older, it’s made me a little bit cuz my mom were the same. My mom always used to love history like, “Oh, history is so boring.” And then as I’ve got older, I’ve become like wanting to be the same. Now that you’re old, I’m older. That’s what I’m trying to say. without saying it. So look look at this here. Right. So you you can see exactly what this is. So here there was obviously a gate and they the that stone there it had another bit that went up and it’s where they would put one of those things that you see on Lord of the Rings to barricade the gate to defend the inner wall. And then here would have their archers again stood in. [Music] Hello. You fancy a cup of tea? Yeah, I do fancy a cup of tea actually. Get one red. Thanks. [Music] If you are going to use Google or a GPS to visit Carcasson, don’t set it to Carcasson because it will take you to the new town. You need to set it to Le City um Le City Medieval Carcasson and it will bring you to the fortress. Although you may want to visit the city outside as well. It’s the new town uh which I’ve seen on videos and it’s more sort of like retail shops and cafes and things like that. So that would have been where this the city’s water supply would have come down. Unless it was sewage and then Yeah, but it was sewage. No, it wouldn’t have been. That’s where the crap went. No, it can’t. Yeah, cuz look street. Look, it’s above like it’s below like bedrooms and things. You just have birds flying everywhere. Wouldn’t want to be touching that, that’s for sure. It’s a fountain. [Music] So Lee just often really randomly throws in questions and I always have to my curiosity always has to look them up. So, it’s just said, I wonder who the invaders were because they were talking about the number of archers and I’ve just looked it up and here it is. So, the Visigoths visited in the fifth century uh and they invaded and then in the 8th century the Sass or the Mas um they invaded from North Africa and then in the in 759 AD uh Pepin the Short under uh Franks under Pepin the Short invaded they recaptured it. Uh and then in the 13th century, Simon de Mont fought the crusaders in the early 13th century during can’t even say that uh Carcasson was besieged by Simon de Montfort and his Catholic crusading force. And I’m sure there’s probably a lot more history beyond that, but um that’s all it gave me. It’s getting warm now. It is. Let’s get into the city. Um let me just have a quick look. Well, we’ve done the loop. It’s 10:00 and it’s gone up to 25° and we’ve done the full 3 km now around the city, apart from the bits where we have to come back in. We’re back. This is where we came in, isn’t it? Yeah. So, we started here and started walking up. So, we’re going to go back up and I’ll show you now what it looks like when all the shops are open. So, it’s a lot busier here now. Just an hour or so later, the shops are all open. Lots more tourists. Right. So, the tourist areas have got everything that you want to possibly eat. snacks, ice cream, slushies, uh swords, merch, merch, suits of armor, sweets, chocolates, wine, and all the kind of things that you would expect in a kind of place like this. Wow, look at this. So, they’re making things that go on to the um nuts and things. Apologies for the uh camera flickering. I’m hungry. I just put your hand and eat it. Don’t you? Oh my god. Very nice. Lots of nouga in here as well. Well, that’s toffee. Oh god. Yeah. Toffee and new guy. Look at this new guy here. We all know what’s going to happen when you shoot one of them in your gun. Right. Blue. Yeah. It’ll come out blue to the side. Yeah. Come out. You need to keep it away from shops that were expensive. 37 quid of two bags of nuts. Three bags. Well, one was free. So you you paid for two quid. All right. We’re just walking past this place. 15th century townhouse. Or just come in for a look. So welcome. Dining history. 13th century building. Enjoy one of the castle’s oldest restaurants. Enjoy a drink in a real 15th century tavern house or just come in for a look or going for a look. We have Avenue. Well, it said going for a walk. I’m not going in there. They’re just saying. Yeah, it’s still quite early, but I bet it’s a nice place to eat in there. [Music] An old medieval well which is capped off. Oh, you can see actually see down here. Oh my god, look. Look how far Lee’s going to get an anxiety if he can see me. You can see the reflection of the water really far down there. Like you’re talking 30, 40 ft. And then here is where they would strap on the buckets, wind them down to get your water. Don’t look over there. You’d get anxiety with with hanging the camera over this side. Look down the hole. [Music] That’s a long way down. This place is what I want here. Ma haunty like a haunted house. I want photos. So you can sit on the bench and have a photo taken. Don’t jump on it, Leo. Hey. We have a dozen rooms which are furnished like a very old mana house. In every room some strange phenomena will appear. You want to go in? Well, depends how much. It looks very Bridlington. €10 each. Up to you. I’d rather go in castle. We were just saying it’s just like a labyrinth. You go around a corner, there’s another square. You go around another corner, there’s more gift shops, another street. It’s just Look at that. Oh, so we did walk. Did we walk up there then? No, we’ve not been here. Are you sure? We definitely didn’t walk on the wall at the top over there. Oh, the casserole. So, this is like a famous dish. You said it’s duck, which put me right off. I think it is. Um, without translating, I’m not 100% sure, but I’m sure I’ve seen it on a uh a video that it’s like a pork sausage. It says, let me um just translate it out. Canard is a duck, isn’t it? Duck and pork sausage, maybe. But apparently casserole is one of the local delicacies. Let’s see what it says. Duck, leg, and pork. Yeah. Homemade casserole with duck, leg, and pork sausage. They can keep the specialtity. Thank you. Nico will eat duck, which is fair enough cuz they are cute. But I’ll eat them in a Chinese like duck pancakes. I love them. But I do love like, you know, life. You like ducks? I like ducks cuz I think they’re cute. Very cute. Now, I won’t eat duck because it reminds me of when I was a kid and I used to feed them at New Miller Down in Wakefield. Uh, but if I’m pissed, I’ll eat anything. Right. So, it seems that Lee suddenly needs to go to the toilet and the tight swine won’t pay to go in a cafe so he can use the toilet there. So, he’s found a public toilet on Google. Stop talking and walk. He’s found a public toilet on Google. So, we’re literally racing through the town to find this public toilet. We’re almost there. We’re almost there. Wait for me. Wait for me. Uh, I’ll see you in the coffee shop. They had those Italian toilets where you had to squat and Lee was too tight to buy a coffee so he’s had to squash it. I was desperate. How was the How was the experience? New experience, I must say. What did you do with your pants? That’s what you asked me. What do I do with my pants at that point? You are joking. That’s disgusting. I’m going to buy coffee. I’m not paying. I’m not doing that. That was well worth the toilet use. Lead had to use the other toilet and still had to buy one. I I feel very content about actually. He literally walked me around the whole of Kathan to go to the toilet and I’m like please just stop in a cafe and he’s like I’m not I’m not and then we got there and it was these hole in the floors I had to use one. I always used to think only if I was desperate and not even then but I had stomach ache. Yeah. Well you run me across town. I’m surprised we could have stopped here. So what did you do with your pants? I hung them up. They had like a hung like a hanger like for a dressing gown on my back and like up there. and did the door lock behind that door. Worth every penny. Right, after a successful uh lube break and water break, we’re going to go pay for the castle and show you guys if it’s worth going in or not. Right, here we go. Heading in. €19 each. It’s €4 uh each extra if you want an audio guide, but we’re just going to have a little look around the cells. So the castle is from the 12th century and it was built for the Trenville family who were the Vic counts of Castle. So when it was seized um in the in the 12th in the 13th century by Simon of Montfor, it then actually became a royal fortress. So we’re actually outside the castle now as you can see there. Uh so you walk around on these walls that you can’t get onto unless you pay for the castle. So this is why when we walked in the 3 km outside, we couldn’t go all the way. The cast is part of it. So we’re walking at the back of buildings. Don’t know if they’re houses or hotels, Airbnbs or anything. But uh this looks like somebody’s house. Yeah. Wow. That’s that my kind of garden. No grass to cut. Lots of bushes though to keep trimmed and stuff. I do like it though. Sat there reading a book, drinking a coffee. [Music] We just come down the stairs and they’ve got a uh like a balsa wood castle model, sorry, of everything in town. So that’s the basilica and the toilets that Lee went and squatted in. And then they’ve got an amphitheater in the back, which I did see on Google Maps, but you can’t get near it because that area over there was fenced off for that jousting competition. So that means that we are somewhere here at this part and we’re kind of exploring this castle now. So you enter at the far end and walk around the walls and then you get up here and we just walked down to the lower level. So we’re going to walk back up again for the minute. That’s where we first entered the town and walked up there. I’m sick of walking up bloody steps. You can do this for free outside. There’s a lot of steps involved. Right. So, we’ve got back to the church down there. Oh, there’s the toilet. Um, and it looks like we’re going to get to see the amphitheater here as well. So, this wall walk just takes you around the whole perimeter. It’s quite nice, actually. It’s just a nice little moot. There are lots of steps, but you get to see the whole city from uh a higher perspective. He’s over there. Yeah, the castle itself there. We’ve not really been inside yet, so I’m guessing we’ll end up going inside. Tourette’s right at the top. Not Tourette’s. Tourette’s. There’s a big uh theater, huge stage. Couple of thousand people fit in there. Yeah, probably. Why don’t you count seats? This open air theater was created in 1908. on the site of the former medieval cloister demolished in 1795 and the current festival is held in July in the theater. So this is the back of the hotel. It looks very nice. There’s a swimming pool. Swimming pool. Yeah. Check in. Wow. Yeah. Like to stay here. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we can go for coffee. Back at the hotel again, I’m definitely checking in. Yeah, it’s beautiful. And then you can see the um rooms and all the rooms there with their own little balconies and uh lounges as well to lay out on. And you can see the castle here better. So, we’re making our way there. Few steep steps. Wow, that’s a big screen. Screen. I can imagine watching Star Trek on that. Wow. Love it. So, we’re finally inside the castle. And that’s the first thing that you uh you come to. Yeah. Like a Google Earth thing. So, now you can finally see what I mean by it reminds me of Disneyland castle with all these like blue just in the beginning. Yeah. And half the size. Another model of it. Reminds me of Hogwarts. Creaky floorboards. you. So that’s what we’ve just walked around the whole thing that you get to do when you uh pay for the castle. So we just made his way back to there and we’re now inside. So the blue bit is the village in the middle. Yeah. [Music] This is like the bridge that Neville blew up his Harry Potter. You put a bit straighter. Come on. Reenact it like and he fell. I’m sure he didn’t do that. So, the final room is actually more like a museum with some of the artifacts from back in the day. Look at that. Looks like it’s made out of ivory rather than marble. My god, look at the detail on that. That’s amazing. My god, look at the ribs there on on Jesus when he was crucified. [Music] some busks and just lots of other information. There’s a lot of signs. And if you do really want to look at the history, then I would highly recommend getting the audio guide. But we weren’t bothered, but we saw a lot of people walking around with the audio guides. It doesn’t take longer cuz you got to stop all the time. Yeah. [Music] Little graveyard or something here. It’s like something you see at Halloween when you buy from the range. Just put a little polyyne gray stones on contained abulations. Looks like the one that Bella ran through in Italy when she saved Edward. And then of course the final bit on the tour is the gift shop. Never thought I’d go to see a gift shop. So that’s it. So that was okay. I would recommend if you were coming here and you were going to do all this is to do the museum first rather than knocking yourself out walking around the wall because we’ve done it twice already this morning and in this heat it can be a bit draining. So when we got to the museum, we were like, “Yeah, yeah, we’re kind of sick of walking now.” So I would highly recommend doing that first and then going into the left corner of the courtyard over there where we started and it gets you on the the inner wall. But the museum start is here. We made this mistake of reading the sign saying next presentation in Spanish and assumed it was just a theater. Went in, but that’s the shop and the theater. There’s a TV screening just in the ex in the entrance. But I quite enjoyed it. It’s quite a relaxing um tour, a self-guided tour. Yeah, it is a little overpriced I think for you to get much like €19 each, but it is good that what was it 18 to 25 year olds are free if it’s students under 18 under 18s and then students and it’s pretty reasonable for families. Um but it’s not suitable for people that have got mobility issues cuz there’s a lot of stairs and there’s no adaptations like ramps or anything like that. So the whole city is a very sort of chilled relaxed atmosphere. It’s all it’s all coffee shops and things. Speaking of coffee, let’s go and find some. Right, we just stopped off at a little cafe and had a baguette, a chicken baguette and a slushie. And a slushie to cool down. And we’re going to make our way back to the bikes now cuz I think we we’ve done everything that we wanted to do here. And the sun’s coming out. It’s getting really hot. And it’s not even 1:00. We need to get up at 7:00 a.m. Uh more often down here, isn’t it? Down here. The whole place smells every now and again of lavender cuz they got the lavender shops they have a lot in France like that one. And it just you can just smell it coming out of the stores. Look how busy it is now compared to 8:00 this morning. We were the only ones here this morning. Can’t believe we actually got that early. Well, I knew if it was going to be anything like yesterday, it was going to be far too hot this afternoon. Although, to be fair, it’s not that bad today. At the moment, it is anyway. It’s going to get hotter in 3 2 hours. It’s 29. only 29 at the moment. Yeah, but it’s gonna peak 35 by 5:00. Yeah. So, that’s why we wanted to get in early and just get it done. Look at this. We got traffic lights here because you can actually take cars down this little tiny street. We’re going to go back and we’re going to sit around the pool as we did yesterday and probably have another cocktail. Might as well enjoy it seeing as it’s the only camping car parks I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable. Well, we’ve concluded that it was a campsite and it’s shut down and camping car parks, don’t we? They took over it in June. So, the facilities, the toilets and the showers are still all shut down. Um, hopefully they’ll turn it into a camping village, which is what camping car park call somewhere where they do showers and hot water and things like that. Right, so we just make our way out here and uh, as you can see, as I said, it’s a lot busier here. Lots of nice shops if you like, you know, just mulching around. It’s just been a nice, really relaxed city to explore. I’ve really enjoyed it. Back at the campsite, we have the pool to ourselves. was not even sure if it’s open to be fair. Uh cuz there’s some kind of pool cleaner in it or something. But yesterday when we were here, this was rammed, but we managed to get here with nobody. So, we’re just going to relax and enjoy an hour or two of peace. Just waiting for the uh restaurant to open cuz they have a bar when they’re setting the tables up. You can order drinks. Yesterday, we had a nice bramble gin and tonic. It was delicious. Actually, not enough gin and not enough fruit, but it was very nice. And then I had the most delicious ice cream. almost as nice as it was in Slovenia. Um, so I’m watching profusely for the door to open and then I’m going to send Lee up to get some drinks. And right down here, asking for him plastic glasses. Uh, there’s nobody around the pool apart from a couple of kids at the other side. Not like yesterday, but uh, we’re in the shade. It’s bliss. Oh, it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. My phone’s been flat, though. Back in the van. The air con is on and the this is ready. It’s a um Spanish omelette, but it’s got chorizo in it. And we have some sweet and spicy sauce. Right, it’s a while later and we are just deciding where we’re going tomorrow because we are leaving this campsite. Uh we think we’re heading more towards the west coast and then start making us way up there cuz it’s going to be a little bit cooler that way. Although it is a weekend, Saturday tomorrow and it’s now all the kids holidays. The UK broke up now and everything and we’ve just struggled to get a camping. Yes, we’re struggling to get camping caps packed. Um, so, um, it may be rammed on the beach coast, so we’ll have to see. So, join us on the next vlog where we find out where we’re going. So, thanks for watching today, guys. Hit the like button, click the notification bell, drop us a comment below, let us know of any other camping car packs that you’re aware of if you’ve been into France that are like this one with a pool cuz it was very nice having a pool here. Um, and um, we just enjoyed a couple of days here. So, we’ll see you on the next vlog. Time to bed. Night. You look like you’re freaking wrapped up like a mummy. Goodbye. Bye. [Music]

This leg of our European summer motorhome adventure takes us from the peaceful harbour town of Mèze, known as the “Venice of France,” to the breathtaking medieval city of Carcassonne. Waking up on the sunny south coast, we explore the harbour cafés before hopping on a short boat ride to Sète. Its charming canals, vibrant markets, and historic streets offer endless discoveries, from colourful produce stalls to hidden squares and fountains.

Along the way, we share a big update — our self-built camper van, Taylor, is up for raffle, and we reveal all the details. Back in Mèze, we finally take delivery of a replacement drone after the last one was stolen in Rome, though our excitement is cut short when we discover the batteries are dead.

Leaving the coast behind, we arrive at an unexpectedly luxurious camping car park with a pool, before heading into the fortified city of Carcassonne. This UNESCO World Heritage site stuns with its double-walled defences, towering turrets, and centuries of history. We walk the full three-kilometre perimeter, explore the basilica, navigate labyrinthine streets, and even pay to enter the castle for panoramic views. From jousting arenas to medieval wells, every corner is steeped in history — and it truly feels like stepping into a fairytale.

⇢ PATREON – https://patreon.com/thelodgeguys
⇢ YOUTUBE MEMBERSHIP – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8QDV7GIjoe0yIW2EwJ9WJw/join
⇢ INSTAGRAM – https://www.instagram.com/thelodgeguys/
⇢ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thelodgeguys/
⇢ MEMMO FOR SHOUTOUTS – https://memmo.me/gb/en/profile/the-lodge-guys-leigh-and-nick
⇢ CAMEO FOR SHOUTOUTS – https://www.cameo.com/thelodgeguys
⇢ LODGE GUYS EXTRAS (second channel): https://goo.gl/YvZK3b
⇢ OUR BLOG – http://blog.thelodgeguys.com
⇢ AMAZON STORE FRONT: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thelodgeguys
⇢ LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/thelodgeguys
⇢ EMAIL: contact@thelodgeguys.com

#thelodgeguys #travel