Mediterranean Occitan – A Road Trip Travel Guide
Hello everybody. This is Dr. Lilian Thesp Gonzalez back again with another uh travel guide for those of you interested in our travel series. We are bringing you today to uh I guess part of the world part of Europe we haven’t really explored all that much here in Travolution Tours which is France. So today we have a proposal for you guys which is doing the area of Mediterranean oxyan but specifically as a road trip around the French coast. So I will be discussing a little bit uh in terms of logistics just because well when we’re talking about a road trip you know these things kind of matter but besides that remember that the format of these travel guides is always to try and provide you some ideas some options for places off the beaten path hidden gems and you know other uh sustainable locations that perhaps you would be able to engage and uh before I get started properly. Just to thank once again all of our supporters, donors and patrons in our PayPal and buy me a coffee. It is thanks to their support that we keep on doing all of these uh lectures, tours, and talks uh for everybody to enjoy. Thank you so much. And if you want to help us out with that little project, you have the links right below uh for the PayPal and the buy me a coffee to keep on sustaining our endeavors. And now without any further ado, let’s crack on with the logistics of this road trip. Well, first things first, as you know, planning a road trip is not a small feat. So don’t underestimate it. Uh when you are dealing with a road trip, you need to have a couple of things in mind. First of all, is your base going to be set or are you going to be moving every day? I am a lot more fond of road trips where at least my base is fixed. Why? Because well in reality is much more convenient for us to have a base that we can go back to, rest, relax, etc. And more importantly, when you’re doing a road trip, of course, you need to always be thinking about your car. Having one single base means that at least you know where you’re parking at the end of the day. In this day and age, parking is not necessarily the easiest thing to come across and particularly in the rise of the you know issues that we are seeing in the industry of Airbnb, holiday rentals, etc., etc. So, um this is one of the reasons why I think having a a base is easy because at worst you will be paying a parking fee at a local town that goes, you know, to their taxes and all that jazz. And if you’re lucky, maybe the accommodation that you’ve bought actually, you know, brings this kind of commodity for you. You can nonetheless do this road trip moving from one place to another. That’s entirely up to you. I’m not here to control your decisions, but simply to give you, you know, what I think may be a bit easier. Also, I generally think that uh the the idea of having one base is a little bit more sustainable because it means a little bit less, you know, expense of the car. You are going to be able to fix the car every so often in a place that doesn’t require, you know, moving around, which is important at the end of the day. Since I’m talking about sustainability, you know, I appreciate that car traffic and transport and fumes are not necessarily the more sustainable. But my entire point in here is that you should be able to do this journey uh without you know depending on airplanes unless any of you are traveling from very very far away. Of course, in which case well that is the the cost that um I guess the modern world has generated for us in terms of mobility. But this should be something that uh hopefully doesn’t require a lot of miles and um you know it’s overall a road trip that doesn’t require us longer than 2our journeys maximum in terms of petrol in terms of emissions. Something else to consider. And by the way, as much as I’m saying this is a road trip, thanks to the wonders of a French uh public transportation, you can actually do this by bus or by train. Um, which, you know, is another way of actually making your journey more sustainable. So, something else to consider for those of you that potentially don’t drive or that even want to go the extra mile to, you know, make things better. Now, there are a couple of places in this map um that I’m not going to be mentioning at all. Um, for example, Nagbon, for example, Pepan, Aignon, which is just a little bit further up here, and Marseilles. Why? Well, those are places that I think already get a lot of credit uh without necessarily, you know, me having to highlight it. I am going to highlight some places that of course are well known. But since part of these idea is to give you a different view and take you to places that perhaps you didn’t know, I decided to kind of eliminate those those factors. But of course, because as you can see, they’re perfectly aligned on the road. If you wanted to extend this or if you wanted to include those places in your visit, very easy for you to do so. Now, for those of you who may have to fly to the general area, your best airports are Tulus, which is actually just off the map here on the left. It’s about um 2 hour, I reckon, between Tulus and Bier. Marseilles of course, which is not far away from here, a bit farther down to the right. But um even some of these smaller locations including Narbon, Bess, Melier, of course, Kakason etc etc do have local airports. So it may be possible that you can switch and come to one of these destinations a bit more direct. But you know something to consider of course in terms of the logistics. Now the first thing that we’re going to be looking at is uh our base. I proposed two of them. Of course, the sky is the limit. And then, as you can see, I’ve tried to do this with a little bit of common sense. When we’re doing a road trip, we need to consider it’s a long, you know, uh, type of journey. So, the big day is really going to be the first thing that we’re going to do, which also means it is the farthest away point in our travel. Then we’re going to do a little bit of rural tourism which I think is very important and something that I you know like to encourage people to do particularly not just from the point of view of green tourism but sustainability and affordability not just for yourselves but for the locals. It’s important to leave our money distributed in different places. Then we’re going to be heading west towards Carason where I actually have perhaps some shocking news for some of you. And then finally, we’re going to get closer and closer to the Spanish border to visit two very small uh little villages, which I think have a lot of charm and that actually have a lot of history, particularly the latter one. And today, I hope you will be able to forgive me. I will perhaps be ending on a not necessarily dark, but certainly somber tone because what Kolo means to the people of Spain and the fact that well, this year we’re commemorating many things. And well, this will make a lot of sense in a few moments, but I shall not anticipate myself. First things first, let’s start choosing our base. Well, for our base, we have two options. We have the city of Bessier and we have the city of Melier. I personally think that Bess is the better option, and I’ll explain why. Bessier has a local airport. Like I said, it is on the river Orb. So, if you want to follow the Canal Dumidi, you’re actually able to do this. And as an alternative, you could do the vast majority of this journey on a you know canal boat type of uh situation. So another way that you can uh process this uh road trip as as something that isn’t actually a road trip. But anyways, now Basier is one of the oldest cities in France. It’s actually the second one just after Marles itself. And Bessier is a relatively small town. You see, it barely has 80,000 inhabitants, which is the reason why I think it makes for a better base. First things first, the locals embassier probably need your money a little bit more than the ones in Melia. Second of all, if you book in advance, you’re going to be able to find accommodation that is a little bit more budget friendly. And uh by actually going to a city that is small, you may be able to also enjoy some quietness. That is not to say that there are not things to do in biier, not at all. But um you know when when we’re doing a road trip and when we’re thinking of vacation, I think it’s also important that we think about a rest. And sometimes being in the middle of a very busy city is not necessarily the best way to disconnect from our already very busy lives. That is not to say, like I said, that Versier doesn’t have things to offer. First of all, the views around this area are absolutely stunning. This is taken from the top. In fact, this is taken from right there, the area where the cathedral is located. Um, it is a very comfortable city. Um, surrounded by what’s essentially wine making country. So, if you are into uh enoourism, perhaps some opportunities for you to uh engage with that uh different branch of um vacations um so to speak. Now, Basier is a city that has really good restaurants, that has uh plenty of amenities in terms of supermarkets, all that stuff that you may require when you’re out and about. Um, so, you know, despite being small, it’s actually very comfortable. You can actually make a day out while visiting Visiier. Just one day should be enough unless you want to spend more time because, well, Bier has some interesting sites. The city, as you look here, is uh quite charming, very walkable. The distances aren’t very long, which is another reason why it makes for a comfortable base. You don’t need to be, you know, running around like a headless chicken to get to places. The aesthetics of the city are a bit mixed. Sometimes you find parts that are more modern. Um, then you find elements of what used to be the medieval city, which is actually what uh most of the core town remains. You see the city of Bessier was actually related to the ruler of Carcason and the Tenavl family. We’ll be talking about the Travel a bit more in a moment. And it is Basier. The reason why I choose this to be the base for our road trip. Because you see, you’re probably wondering, well, Lily, this is all good, but we all know you always have some kind of agenda to go to these places, which is perfectly true. So, what was your agenda this time around? Well, as you all probably know by now, I’m a medieval historian. And as a medieval historian, even though I’m normally an early medievalist, uh there is an an element uh of uh medieval history that pretty much every single historian has to go through, which is the period of the crusades. Some of the crusades that happen um in the middle ages take place in Europe. And one of the most famous European crusades takes place all across the area of of Oxitan overall, which is where we are basing this road trip, by the way. That’s what this uh area of France is now known as, but perhaps you know it by other names like the area of Langdok or Rouselon, often referred to as Langdocuselon with a hyphen in between. Well, this area will be the epicenter of the Albigencian Crusade. The Albigensian crusade is um essentially a crusade uh launched against the Cathars which are heretical uh let’s say doctrine not necessarily of Christianity. They have some takes on Christianity but the Cathars have some uh ideologies that are similar to manism uh dualism, Buddhism, other isms. So, you know, I don’t want to throw them um all in the same bag, but in any case, you need to understand that the king of France and the pope were upset with them very much so. So, in any case, uh this is going to be a very nasty uh type of event. And the city of the seers is exactly one of the key points of that uh big massacre that takes place where the paple leot essentially arrives to the to the city. The soldiers kind of ask him, you know, well, how are we going to identify Catherars from ordinary people cuz they were all mixed together and the people from Bier didn’t particularly want to hand each other over and the papa leot essentially goes to say well kill them all because God will recognize his own and so the entire town is pretty much butchered up for the sake of religion which is the reason why this cathedral that you see here lovely cathedral in is actually the second one in place from the 13th century after the albigencian crusade. So since this is such a famous episode of history which I’ve studied many times and what have you not I really wanted to engage with the city where all of these things happen and that you know in part inspired my desire to learn about the middle ages. On top of that, generally just such a pleasant uh city to visit, very comfortable, um very homely and safe, which is also important. But perhaps if you want something a bit more grand, your option would be Melier. You see, Melier is one of the largest cities in France, the seventh in the ranking with a total of 300,000 inhabitants in the city and a metropolitan area of over 800,000. It is actually a very important city because of the university as well. It’s actually u one of the oldest universities in the whole world existing since 1160 if I remember correctly and in fact uh one of the oldest still operating med schools ever. So as you can see very different vibes much more modern much more cosmopolitan much busier. This is one of the epicenters in the city itself uh which is La Plaz de la Comedi a very focal point uh for the overall uh development and tourism of the area of M Pelier. Most of the architecture of Melier is as you’re seeing in here uh from the 16th to the 19th century. 19th century aesthetics are quite predominant in the core of the um city and the general I guess uh idea of the bell in France. In fact, Melier in some cases looks a little bit like Perry except people from Mel have a very different attitude and drivers are not crazy. So, you know, one of those things to consider. Now, uh Melier is not just a cosmopolitan city. It’s surrounded by greenery. It has parks, botanical gardens, a zoo, which is free of charge, by the way. And you can just get up there uh with the u tram, which is, by the way, very fast and cheap um and very easy to navigate, very intuitive. So, you don’t even need a car to be in Melier City. At least Melia against is a town where there is a lot of stuff to do, lots of sport, lots of culture. Uh the international Mediterranean film festival second only to Khan takes place in Melier and you know every year. Um so as you can see slightly different vibes, a slightly different opportunities as to what is available. The city has many different facets. You can go from your mother commercial streets here on the right with the pink umbrellas and there is lots of shopping and that kind of stuff if you’re interested. Uh then you have the cathedral which is by the way um national monument of France because of this very peculiar Gothic that you see in here. Or you have you know elements of perhaps more classic French uh aesthetics which go all the way from the time of Louis the 14th here in the port duper to later on into the uh 18th century. So much more varied. I would say the city of Mel is also because it’s a university town, there are parts of the city where you can find, you know, cheaper options and deals, but at the same time, rentals can be a bit trickier because, of course, there’s a lot of competition all year round. So, depending on when you’re planning to travel, keep that in mind. Well, now that we have our two bases of operation settled, let’s go for our first day out, which is the city of Nim. Ah, Nim, another place that I had been wanting to go for such a long time. Nim is uh known in the history world as the French Rome. This small city of about 150,000 inhabitants is famously known in history as Colonia Nemansus, one of the most important in the Galler Roman world in France for sure and amongst the best examples of conservation worldwide. In fact, Nim is a UNESCO town because partially the monument you’re seeing right in front of you. This is Learen the Nemes, the arena of Nemes from the year 100 AD. One of the best preserved in the whole world. It holds capacity for about 24,000 spectators because this is actually not just a heritage site. It’s actually used for, you know, um events of of all kinds. Dualipa had her one of her recent uh world tour concerts right here. um more frequently also used as a bull fighting um venue, but traditionally this was of course one of the most important arenas for Roman games and gladiatorial combat. In fact, some of the best evidence we have outside of Rome come from here. And the actual site itself, which you can visit, it’s um being kind of redone underneath the areas where the gladiators used to have their chambers and whatnot to tell the story of the gladiator um types, uh the games, the conditions of a gladiator school, etc., etc., which is actually a very uh well done interactive visit and I think very good value for money. There is, by the way, a combined ticket that you can buy at the tourist information office, which is just on the other side of uh the arena that will give you access, by the way, to all or the different sites of the uh Roman heritage and UNESCO uh protection in the city of of Nim. If you’re planning to visit, I very much recommend that you do. Well, but the main reason though why I wanted to come to Nim is because of this. The building in front of you is Lameson, a building that I’ve been studying since I was 16 years old. Why? Because it is considered uh one of the finest surviving Roman pieces of architecture and the best preserve Roman temple worldwide. As an art historian and as a cultural historian, this has been, you know, drilled in the back of my mind. and I have known the floor plans, the importance of this building, etc., etc., for god knows how long, 18 years plus nowadays. So, this is actually the reason why I wanted to come to Nim alongside with everything else. And in case you’re wondering, Lameson was done in the late 1st century uh before common era before Christ uh during the period of Augustus. It was dedicated to the imperial cult. And it really goes to show, you know, the power of Imperial Rome straight from the get-go. It’s an area that is honestly in such a great state of conservation. You know, UNESCO heritage sites are supposed to be that way, but sometimes you go to some of them and you think, well, criy, this I was expecting more, right? That was pretty much, I think, my experience of of the of the Acropolis in Athens, for example. And yet, you go to some others and you’re thinking, “Wow, okay. Yeah, this is literally me being transported to the past. Laameson is definitely um that inside the space is relatively small though because Roman temples were actually normally pretty small in that regards. But they have an uh exhibition with interactive bits and pieces explaining uh everything that you need to know about Laame Messon and its wonderful uh conservation work. By the way, and just so you understand in terms of distance, how far away these two monuments are from each other. I think the walk from Lear to Lameson is about 15 20 minutes. It’s not it’s not a long distance at all. You don’t really need to move uh through public transport once you are in Nim. So if you’re driving to Nim, my recommendation is drop the car in a car park somewhere. Um even sometimes in street parking for free if you plan uh appropriately and then just walk around the city. It’s generally very walkable, not not very long distances anywhere and even if so again public transport works very good in here. Now you need to carry on walking up a little bit farther into the city so that you can encounter this beautiful Jacan de la Fonten uh what used to be an old sanctuary now turned into a park that leads up to Mont Cavalier. It’s an area that is full of ruins, memorials, history, beautiful greenery. So any time of the year that you visit it is really really charming to be honest. And uh originally like I said this was an old sanctuary where we have found evidence of Roman and Gallow worship. So even if you don’t come with a specific plan just roaming around the garden will really show you some very beautiful sites. But then you make it to the top and at the top is this tower. This is Lur Magn. This is an old Roman tower uh which has been renovated and reused years later of course and in fact it became a really popular spot and one of the reasons why it kept on being used and renovated is because Nostradamos who by the way was a student of the University of Melier. So you can see the ties across the the different uh sections of this road trip. Um Nostradamos had a prophecy that suggested you know there was lots of gold and treasure in this area. So, well, it kind of became a bit of a cult place, so to speak. And the the most impressive thing though once you go in here, considering that Roman view towers are not very common in this day and age, are the views. From up here, you get to see the entirety of Nim and out into the countryside, which is really spectacular. And and well, this also gives you, I think, a bit more of an idea of how compact the city is, how comfortable in that regards, and also the beautiful greenery everywhere, how easy it is to actually just even without leaving the city, spend some time surrounded by nature. But I honestly could go on about Nim on and on. The cathedral in Nim is quite interesting. The medieval quarter of the city is actually quite uh well preserved, too. But in nim what primes is Roman history and uh as a a final evidence of that you also have lean which is right next to and it’s a really wonderful exhibition with some of the best evidence that they have of Roman history and culture in the area. The quality of the finds is incredibly high as I think you can tell here from this mosaic and the statue of the soldier. Um the interpretation is incredible and uh the museum itself is on a state-of-the-art facility. They have like a panoramic terrace up top. The gift shop is actually really good. There’s a coffee shop. You know, the displays are very new. Again, lots of interactive modern stuff. Really a great museum. and and consider that I’ve been to many museums, you know that I don’t give praise if I don’t think it is genuinely due. So definitely one to visit and with this just by doing these things that I’ve suggested here, you’ve used your whole day up, but there is a lot more. I promise you Nim is just again a very likable, very walkable, very livable city. Um, so you know, make sure to to explore on your feet as much as possible. Now, once you’ve come back from Nim and you are ready for day two, we will take you to the countryside and to the countryside. We’re going to take a road up either well roughly halfway through between and um to natural reges. Um, this is a beautiful national park of about 380,000 hectares. Um, spoiler alert, this is probably the one part of this road trip that you would struggle doing without a car because we’re going into nature and into villages. And as much as French public transport is really great, you know, some of these places are heavily isolated. But if you wanted to do it still through public transport or try to reduce your carbon footprint, I guess you could either hire a car for the day or maybe even get an organized uh visit um by some kind of tour operator up that way. Not necessarily the way I recommend you do this, but like I said, uh those are some options. You see, this whole area is shepherd country. The roads are incredible. Um the views are fascinating. It is beautiful and it is of course UNESCO landscape as well. This is an area with lots of plateaus and valleys and gorgees um very much overall carstic landscape through and through. And one of the reasons why I would very much recommend that you come out here is because if you want to go for a hike, go for a hike. If you just want to go from little village to another village, you do that too. You’re not going to encounter a lot of people. This is a a little slice of serenity in the south of France. If you really want to engage with green tourism, this is the place to do it. You can imagine all the kind of mountain sports that you can do in here. But the main reason why I came here is because of what you see here on the left screen. Laame meundes Vatus um is the most incredible conservation center for vultures. in not just Europe, but one of the best in the world. The elomeration that you see there on the left, those are as many vultures as I was able to catch just in in one um picture. It’s incredible. This is uh all built in the area of the Gur de la in case you want the exact location. And it is both a museum and observation platform um of global importance because they conserve four the four types of vultures in the whole world and they’ve been reintroducing them and being very successful at doing this since the 80s. So you know if you want to contribute a little bit of your human grain to try to preserve the the wonderful nature that we have around us, this is a wonderful place where to do that. um on the deck of the observation platform, you don’t just see the vultures, you know, as they are um you know, in in the wild. They also have some telescopes like the one that you see right here. And you can actually see vultures really really up close. in clay. In case that you don’t get lucky, you know, because maybe the weather or or you’re not very good at aiming the telescope as I was to begin with, they also have inside in the museum, uh, besides the many different displays that explain everything that you could possibly ever know about vultures under reintroduction and conservation in this area, they have an audio visual that they build with um, you know, cameras that they have put in some of the vultures that they track so that we understand how far they move, what they do, how they interact with each other is actually really cool. So, 100% recommend and it wasn’t very expensive at all. I can’t remember from the top of my head, but it generally was not a big expense. Plus, the drive up here is absolutely gorgeous. And actually, I have a picture that I took from the car just so you can see first of all the state of the road and second of all the views. And on that note, um this is really not the kind of journey I would recommend you would do with a little Ford Fiesta or a Fiat 500. Okay? I’m not necessarily suggesting you do the Homer Simpson thing of buying a canonero and taking it all around, but for the general sake of your comfort and the fact that, you know, this is a part of France where it rains quite regularly, get yourself a car that is at least comfortable to drive on some of these uh mountain roads. Uh but again, the views as you can see absolutely spectacular. Well, we will go back from Leason de Vatus all the way down. Well, I say all the way down as if it’s very far away. A few kilometers down to a beautiful village uh called Santul demon. This is in the area of Milo and Larsac uh which is the the area the name of the of the valley and sort of the the district that you see in here. And why do we come through here? Well, it’s the other reason why we came to the area of Oxiten and that I had sort of spoiled already in Bier, but this is crusader country. You see, the little village of uh Santuli Desernon um was actually the um uh crusader commandery for the Knights Templar. In fact, the village just above it is La Cavaleri where the uh other uh Cavalerie building of the crusaders used to be located. Um what you see in here in the actual village apart from being a beautiful preserved village most of the look of the village itself currently from the 18th century is the uh actual installations uh by the Knights Templar. Well, uh, the Templars had in here a 12th century church and, um, some apartments as well. Later on, they were taken over by the Knights Hospitalers. So, you know, we have a a degree of continuation, I guess, between one and the other. It is very rare that we get to experience this kind of history because, well, as you all know, the Templars kind of grow up in smoke. Uh and in fact there is in the very uh pun not intended in the uh in the very apartments that you visit in this little village there is an audiovisisual explaining the history of the templars their association to the area etc etc. Um also eating around this part of the country is wonderful. Um, be mindful though because timets can be a little bit tricky since we’re in the middle of, you know, countryside and not necessarily an area a lot of people know. The majority of the tourists that you’re going to find around here are local French from either surrounding areas or a bit further up north. Um, I don’t think a lot of international tourists necessarily um are very well aware of this, which is well another reason why, you know, going off the beaten path helps. But uh finding places to eat it can be a bit of an ordeal uh because these are small villages. So uh your best recommendation for this day is bringing yourself a a picnic and therefore engage in a very uh French tradition or there are some little you know outposts uh some little uh vans and vendors and whatnot that you can uh get stuff from. And even if you cannot eat it in their own establishment, this area is full of parks and little squares where you can just sit down and have a bite to eat. And then the last thing that you’re going to do before leaving the area of um Ljac is engage in the Ra which is this is the Razak which using here they uh create these bike trails. Um, so you get to do a little bit of exercise while having a little bit of fun is it’s a great group activity. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for just one person. It may be a bit too tiring. Although they have different uh roots depending on the amount of people um, you know, that is going to take place. I just thought that it was such a beautiful, wonderful thing you know to do and engage with. Incredible. and the landscape of course. Uh very very cool. Well, now that we’ve uh you know done our interesting things here and there, let’s talk about the the elephant in the room because I mean realistically you cannot come down to Oxyen and not visit Kakazon. As somebody who has been Kakason several times, although perhaps a bit of a stereotype, it is very much a visit that I do recommend. But I will give you some very specific details about how to do your visit of Carcason because most people come to Carason expecting to need uh a whole day and the reality is that that’s not really needed. Um some of you may have done some of my virtual tours um either here on YouTube or Zoom. I do have a virtual tour of Carason. The tape is about 45 50 minutes something like that. And it took me an hour and a half to film those 50 minutes. which is what it took me to actually go around the city of Carcasson. The reality is La Carason, which is the area that is recognized by UNESCO, by the way, is actually very small. The um uh I think I don’t know if it’s package deals or whatever make it sound like it’s an incredibly huge place, but it’s not. And there isn’t actually all that much to do in Carason either. Now consider that in Lacete which is the fortified city I think there is less than 54 70 something like that people that live in there currently um which you know is it’s not a lot so it’s a very very small area it is true that you have the actual town itself of Kakason what they call over there laastid um which is where the locals will go to after during the alben crusade once again the king of France will essentially kick kicked them out of the town. They they told them that they couldn’t stay in here because this was now territory that was taken away by the French authority. So they just literally went down the corner and build their town down there. But honestly, there isn’t all that much to do and see in here. Besides the the fortress, you have the the basilica and the chatal and that’s kind of it. Um to some extent many of the package deals that people offer to take you to Carcason are a little bit of a tourist trap. It’s a very good place to eat. Sure you can buy some artisal goods and what have you not but uh honestly with a long morning half a day carcasson is enough plenty. I appreciate that I walk fast. I appreciate that. You know, I maybe I take things in a lot faster than a lot of people, but I I promise you it doesn’t require um a a big amount of time. The city is um gorgeous through and through. Um absolutely, you know, dreamy, enchanting. The work of restoration um was incredible in the 19th century by our friend Ojin Vlet Leuk, you know, the famous restorer of Muncha Michelle and Notradam before the most recent restoration of Notradam of course. So really Carcason for many people is kind of uh fulfilling that medieval fantasy that perhaps many of us have. But what it’s actually cool about Carcasson, what gives it the UNESCO heritage status is the city walls. The city walls are actually what make this place incredible. The fortified city which by the way has been there since ancient times. You know it’s been controlled by Kelts, by Romans, by Visicals, by Carlians, by everyone, everyone you can imagine. And then of course the most important family, the Trinkl family. The Tranavl family are actually the ones responsible for the building that you’re seeing right here, which is the Chateau Kumal, which is actually the little chatau in Carcason itself. The Trinkl family uh come to power a little bit in a weird way. This happens in the 11th century in 1067. If I remember correctly, there is a marriage between the the sister of the count of Carceson and Remon Trinabel, the big count of Nims and also owner of Vier. And that’s kind of how it comes into their into their uh ownership and it is really them, the one that built the city in terms of the town. The walls had been there since Roman times. In fact, whenever you go walking around Carason and you see areas that have actual brick work, brick work that you know looks old, not necessarily from yesterday from a restoration that has been there since Roman times. Now, the um in fact here you can see uh the tower right there. That’s one of the Roman towers. Now, the reality is that once you walk around Carason, you have like I said very few places to visit. You have the basilica which is free of charge and it’s a very small basilica so it’s not going to take you more than 15 minutes and I’m being generous to see it. Uh you have the uh Museum of the Inquisition which frankly is a massive tourist trap and quite rubbish so I I wouldn’t bother if you want to really see stuff about the Inquisition we have other places. It’s very much a gimmick. And then you have Lehat Comtal. Now, is the chat com the best castle, palace, whatever that you’ve seen in your life? No. It’s mostly quite empty. It’s only two buildings. And although the exhibition is interesting, well, it’s lacking to some extent. But the entrance to the chattile also gives you access to the perimeter of the walls, which is what you see right here. So you see Carcasson as let’s say the modern town here at the bottom and then you see the wall itself going all around. It’s quite a long perimeter that you get to walk by the way. It’s the best part of I think it’s uh 4 kilometers something like that. And the only way you can access the walls is by actually getting in to the uh chat. You cannot walk the walls of Karason on the top in any other way. You can walk around them but you cannot walk the full length of them around them safely. So that’s the only reason why I would suggest going into the uh uh chattal. Don’t get me wrong, there are some apartments inside the chattal which are very pretty like what you see in here. But um the majority of uh of the visit to Kasonon is literally having a wander around the town. There are guided tours that you can join in uh through the um um tourist information office etc. But, you know, if you actually want to walk the the walls, I think it’s worthwhile because of the views. You get a completely different understanding of the city of Carcasson once you have the aerial perspective because you then get why Philip uh of France is going to get involved in this Albigentian crusade and why the king and the pope will you know join forces and try to get control of this area. It was too much of a threat. It was too much of a threat. And that’s also the reason why, well, it’s been protected ever since then, since Philip the Third and then Philip the fourth took over and the reason why Carason is indeed a very important UNESCO heritage site. So that’s that’s the idea. But remember what really makes it a UNESCO place is the fortress. Now you’re thinking, well, so then what do I do if I go to Carcasson? Don’t worry, I have an extra alternative for you, which is this literally just outside of Kcason itself. Um, is Leak Australian, the Australian park. If uh like me, you’re probably quite unlikely to go to Australia in your lifetime because it’s really far away because it’s a 24-hour journey by plane, etc., etc., and not necessarily very expensive. This is a great way of actually engaging with that uh element of uh Aussie lifestyle uh which I think is quite peculiar. So this is a a park um that essentially has as purpose the conservation and education not just of animals but of Australian aboriginals. So, there are parts of this park that don’t just have the animals in their um enclosures, but that actually engage with the traditional Aboriginal way of life, which I think is very important. Um, if you’re going to visit this by Yeah. No, no, no doubt. You need to do it with the guided tour. The guy the tour includes you looking at some very peculiar members of the park like this baby albino walab bee which is incredibly adorable. Um which is just great. And not just that as part of the guided tour as well you get to feed some of the animals safely. Um you get to learn a lot about the animals and about the the park and its role in conservation. It’s a really cool activity to do by all members of the family. In the summer months, they also have some areas of the park which are like a little bit adventure um type of activity. So, if you have kids, generally super fun. Um so, you know, don’t miss out essentially. And now we’re going to leave the area of Carcasson to go farther south, closer to the Spanish border. So I am taking you now to Villa Franch de Kong. Historically this part of France was actually Catalunia. It belonged to Spain for the longest time and well I say Spain it belongs specifically to Catalunia for the longest time. This is part of the uh oriental Pyrenees essentially and Villa Franch is actually considered one of the blue boilage duans. You know, this is one of those villages considered amongst the most beautiful in the whole country as part of this board assessment of places that are generally worth the wild. The views are incredible. The road is incredible. The village itself lovely. Well, um, if there is about 300 people in Villa Franch, I’m probably saying too many. The spectacular part of this place are the fortifications that you’re seeing right here. They go back to the 9th century um which you know is where they start being fortified because this was right on the edge uh of the uh conflict with the Viscos and later on um the Muslim kingdom of Alandalus. Well, um eventually it will go over to French territory in the 17th century as part of the treaty of the Pyrenees and it will always be a a frontier town here in the mountains in the area of the Canigo. Uh the ramparts were improved by no other than Sebastian Bouvon. One of the reasons why this area is also UNESCO heritage, you guessed, particularly the area around Fort Liberia. And well, it’s an incredibly charming place. As you can see, this is on the right an example of the roads which are like I said tiny and on the left an example of the wonderful things that you can eat in uh Villa Franch uh for not a lot of money. I think the most expensive of the galletes that you’re seeing in there cost about €12. Everything incredibly fresh. Uh customer service incredible. And we were literally even though the place was relatively small, maybe there was a total of 10 tables. if three of the tables were occupied. Again, I must insist these are places that uh could really benefit uh from tourism, sustainable tourism, and um that are not crowded by tourists. The day that we were visiting this, this was literally the first week of October. So, the weather was still very good. And it was literally us and a bus of uh I think retired people from somewhere in Catalunia that have literally come from over uh from over the the border for the day because well, Barcelona is not that far away. It’s less than 200 kilometers away from here. So, you know, one of those things. Now, like I said, the views, the scenery definitely worth the while. Accessing the monuments is really not expensive. The area of the fortifications, I think it was like three4 per adult. Nothing nothing really, you know, big deal. But on top of that, a very different type of um scenery and spectacle activity for you to visit when you are in Villa Franch such as this. This is Kobasta and theopedia experience. It’s essentially like an underground theme park about dinosaurs and prehistory. It literally covers prehistory all the way to um Carboniferous period. It’s full of very cool, very welldesigned animatronics, replicas, uh etc. life-sized specimens, by the way, um which actually move and come alive as you go through it. It’s an old cave that essentially was just instead of left uh for dead, it was just repurposed because it doesn’t really have a lot of um let’s say geological interesting things for the sake of well creating this experience and it’s really cool. And yet another one which is very important right outside of the village um is this uh Leot de Canallet. This has been dubbed uh in the world of tourism as the underground Versailles. It is an incredible, spectacular cave. Beautiful like very few I’ve seen in my life. I grew up in cave country in the north of Spain. Guys, I know caves and I know beautiful caves with beautiful formations very well. And Lro canal is uh incredible. is under the Kanigo Massie and it’s uh familyowned. It’s private property. It only opened to the public in the 80s. You access this with a self-guided tour with an audio guide that takes you around the the different areas and it’s just spectacular because I must insist it’s not just the formations that you’re seeing in here which are breathtaking. They have gone the extra mile by including um audiovisisual representations, light um shows with music. It’s really really amazing and breathtaking. Again, super quiet place. I think entrance for adults was about 12 something like that. Really affordable, really good day out in vill. And then the final stop, Kol. Kol just like VR um used to be Spanish until the 17th century. It passed over two French uh hands with the treaty of the Pyrenees. And just like VR, uh the fortresses are also related to Seastian Bouvon. Well, the last attempt to take this part of of uh France back by the Spaniards uh was in 1793. The village itself has about 2,500 people, so larger than Villa Franch, but again, we’re still talking of a village. And this is the beautiful combination between one country and the sea. The views are spectacular. As you can see, this was not a sunny day. And the fact that it was not a sunny day did definitely not ruin this picture that I needed four takes to acquire because the wind was so fierce. But my god was it worth the while. Well, this is a very peculiar part of France because this is through and through Catalan country. You will hear more Catalan walking through the streets of Kol than you probably will French or Spanish. And yet all of those languages an oxyan are actually spoken in here. It’s very interesting because you get to experience a very different France. I think that most people’s idea of what France is about is Perry and uh the L Valley and you call it a day and it’s it’s just not fair. Not fair at all. France is an incredibly big and diverse country and really should be appreciated for all its glory. Well, now Koly was a very important place back in the uh 20th century. It was a very artistic town. People like Matis, Picasso, Mintosh came here and borrowed inspiration from the town itself. It’s very picturesque, very colorful, and being right on the edge of the sea gives it those dramatic landscapes that really become inspirational. Honestly, an absolute dream to walk around. um very dreamy I think it’s the word full of little shops not just souvenir shops I’m talking like you know again artisan workshops uh traditional places like that and sure a few touristic places here and there but you know really really really charming a few more people are here though k is a place that has perhaps a bit more tourism its evocative landscapes and its importance historically has driven a lot of people here both from France and Spain and particularly because of this castle and this is where I am afraid I’m going to have to engage with a topic that is not terribly fun but alas this is the job this is the castle which in reality is four castles put together the first one was done by the Templars once again here we are the second one by the kings of Mayora then by the Hapsburgs and then by the Bourbon it’s actually quite an an interesting castle to walk around to understand, you know, the shape of what a fortress actually is, how the um buildings have been preserved and what not is actually very cool. And the views from the castle are really amazing. Again, the tickets were really not expensive at all. 5 uh if I remember correctly. But the reason why I came to Kier and why I came to the castle is this. As of March 1939, it became the first um a disciplinary camp uh for refugees of the Spanish civil war. There is a huge work done by this castle by Kolio overall to help people understand what happened here. how a government that was in theory a liberal government because remember this is just before the second world war actually put people running away from a war from the Spanish civil war in concentration camps because because you know disciplinary camps but guys by the way are concentration camps. The only difference is that there was no active extermination. But often there were forced labor and the living conditions were not very nice. And well I say that eventually um in 1941 it will also be full of detainees from the Vishi regime which you know another fun part of history and often many of them were used uh and recruited um to essentially be sent to the North African front of the war to die in pretty unsavory conditions. So as um Spanish person with family in France as a result of the Spanish Civil War, I think you understand why this place was important for me. As a historian who is working really hard to bring awareness about these things this year 2025 50 anniversary of the death of Franco and the start of the long journey to move Spain from a dictatorship to a democratic country. And this is an important place. The work that the castle has done and the city of Kier has done to actually bring the lives of all of these people to the forefront to not be forgotten and to put the facts in black and white is incredible. I take my hat off to them because it’s not easy talking about, you know, the things that we’ve done wrong in the past and do it in a way that is both respectful, engaging, and educational. So kudos to Kier in that regards. And finally and the final piece of today is this and the reason why a lot of Spanish people as you can see come here. This is the burial of Antonio Machado at the local cemetery. By the way, this is nowhere in not a grand you know uh necropolis or anything like that. Um this is one of the greatest Spanish poets in history. Part of the generation of the 98, a modernist poet. He was from Seville, moved to Madrid, spent time in Paris, really helped shape a whole generation of of artists, of thinkers, of people. Um, eventually the war separated from his brother um as the country was literally uh split in half by the national rebels um who were against the regime of the second Spanish Republic. um these you know the national rebels will be the people who eventually will put Franco in place. He eventually escaped to the Levant of Spain with his mother as the forces were closing in. Um it was very obvious by then that the republic was going to have a hard time stopping the rebels from pushing through. So there was no choice but to go into exile with another half a million people that pretty much were forced to do nothing but either surrender or be shot dead or cross the border. And he actually would die in Kala out of pneumonia if I remember correctly in 1939. Machado never saw his country free of oppression. Um he died in a very unsavory way for somebody that had been pioneer for his people. Definitely not appropriate for a man of his stature. And yet, as you can see, the memorial here is incredible. The flags that you’re seeing, by the way, in case you don’t recognize, is the Spanish flag. That is a Republican Spanish flag. That is why it’s purple. It only became uh red, yellow, and red again after um this little hiccup. But that the three colors is actually the original flag of Spain at this moment in time. I don’t think I probably need to say more as to why coming here was important for me as to why for any Spanish person is so important to come here. If you care about history, if you care about what’s happening in the world around us in many places, if you care about freedom of speech, if you care about fighting for what’s right, if you care about the future, if you care about the arts, this is the reason why today I do something that is quite out of the ordinary for me, which is end in such a somber tone. because it’s my duty, because it’s necessary, because it’s important we don’t forget. Because it’s important that people like Machado and many others are commemorated, because it’s important that we learn to owe up to our mistakes historically and we talk about them and we talk about them openly and we learn to do better. And it’s important when we decide to go to another country that we let that country teach us something. Holidays for the sake of rest and vacation is very important. But it’s also important that we expose ourselves to the other to the things that we don’t know. They will leave a an imprint in our souls, in our minds. And hopefully that imprint will allow us to make the world a slightly better place if nothing else than what we found before we came along. And today, this is all I have for you guys. Thank you so much for listening to this. I hope this has given you some inspiration of some beautiful places, of some important places, places of reflection, perhaps for a holiday, perhaps for more. Uh, on that note, I hope to see you on the next one. Take care of yourselves, have a lovely day, and remember, there is always something that we can do better. No matter who we are, where we are in history or time, take very good care of yourselves. Bye-bye.
In this travel guide we explore the Mediterranean coast of France through the area of Occitan (Languedoc-Roussillon). With our base in Beziers or Montpellier, we dive into the history and culture of places such as Nimes, Carcassonne, beautiful villages such as Villefranche-de-Conflent or Collioure, and even into the countryside, to templar territory in the regional parc des Causses.
Join us for beautiful cities, off the beaten path locations, a different version of France that you knew before.
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