Carcassonne, France

Carcassonne, France – Travel Guide 4K. A short cinematic travel video and guide to the super famous medieval walled city in the south of France.
#carcassonne #travelguide #france

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00:00 Intro
00:30 Location and overview
02:22 Porte Narbonnaise
03:06 Fortified Upper City
03:35 Château Comtal & Inner City Walls
04:52 Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus
05:58 Porte d’Aude
06:22 Lower City

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Yep, this is an actual real place. It’s not from a fantasy film or
a video game. This is Carcassonne, one of the most astonishing places I’ve ever seen.
And in this guide, I’m going to show you all the best bits,
so let’s take a look, shall we? [music] Carcassonne is a medieval fortified city that is located in the south-west
of France. It has its own small airport, which has very limited flights from only
a few cities. So it’s more likely you will arrive by rail, bus or car. In our case,
we did Carcassonne as a day trip from Toulouse,
which is about 45 minutes away by train.
If you’re driving, there are several large car
parks right next to the upper city, so it shouldn’t
be a problem coming that way. Carcassonne has two distinct areas of interest. The first is the upper
fortified town, which is the main place you will want to spend time, but there is also an interesting
lower town to explore, and it’s also
worth spending a little time in. I will show
you that at the end of the video, as I know most of you will want to skip straight
to the famous upper city. The fortified upper city is
a medieval marvel and a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. The history of the location dates back about 2500 years and has been occupied
at various times by Romans, Visigoths and Crusaders. Some of the old Roman Wars are still
visible, although much of what you see today dates from the 12th
and 13th centuries. At some point it went into decline and was
then restored to its present condition in the 19th century by the famous architect and restorer
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. If you arrived via train,
you can get some great views of the fortified
city from the Pont Neuf, which is a bridge that you can cross on your way up to
the city. However, it’s probably worth staying
on this side of the river and walking down
so you can cross over the charming and much older Pont Vieux, which is the old bridge.
Here you can get more nice views as well as explore the Notre Dame de La Santé, which
is a chapel built in about 1500 for pilgrims
and is rather lovely. Whichever bridge you cross over, you will need to walk uphill to reach
the city. There are a few ways in, but I
recommend heading around to the Porte Narbonnaise, which is the most impressive looking entrance with imposing gatehouse, towers and
a drawbridge making it look like a mini castle. As you walk
in, you will pass through the outer wall and then enter the gap between the two concentric rings
of fortified walls. This is a very imposing and impressive space, and if you have the time
it’s worth taking a stroll along to explore it as the sheer scale of the location is
impressive. Being between the two walls will
also give you great insight into what a brilliant
defensive structure this was, and there are also
some great views over the lower city and surrounding
countryside. Continuing through the Porte Narbonnaise, you will enter the narrow streets
of the Old Town. This might seem a little
maze-like at first, but it’s quite compact and
easy to walk around. It’s worth spending some time exploring the different streets where
you can find many interesting shops selling
souvenirs as well as restaurants if you want
to try some local food. There are also a couple
of interesting museums, which I didn’t visit, but if you’ve been
in, let me know if they’re any good. Once you’ve had a good look around the streets, it’s time to look at
the main attractions. The city appears as one giant castle. In fact, if you include the inner
and outer walls, you might even say it’s one castle inside another. There is also an
actual castle inside the city called the Château Comtal. This castle was built in the 12th
century and then extended and improved in
the 13th century. You will need to buy a ticket
to enter, but it’s definitely worth it
as not only do you get to see inside an epic
fortress, but it also grants access to an interesting
section of the city’s inner walls. You enter via an imposing Barbican gate, where you can get a great view
of the impressive towers and defences. This
leads into a large courtyard that then gives
access to the rest of the castle. From here you can explore through the ramparts, allowing
awesome views of the city and surrounding areas, giving a good idea of what a strong defensive
location this would have been. There are also several
interiors to explore, many of which contain artefacts
relating to the history of the castle.
After looking around the castle part, you can access the inner city walls and walk along
them to get more great views. You’ll also be able to go inside many of the towers,
some of which clearly show their Roman origins
as you can see from the distinctive horseshoe
shape. Further along you can even look down and see the foundations
of some even older towers. Next up is the Basilica of St Nazarus and Celsus, which is a large and
impressive medieval church. It was originally
a cathedral before that was switched to a building
in the lower city which we will see later. Much of the
current building dates from the 13th century when it was reconstructed in Gothic style. Many elements of
the older Romanesque building dating from the
11th century still remain as well, as you can
see from the typical round arches in the nave that contrast with the slightly newer pointed
Gothic arches. Overall the interior is magnificent, with stunning architecture illuminated
by intricate stained glass windows so take your time to wander around and absorb all the details [music] Once you have finished exploring the
fabulous upper city you should exit via the famous Porte d’Aude, which
will allow quick access back down to the lower city. This is a famous photo spot where
if you stand in the correct spot you can
line up the faded circles to create an interesting
photo. These circles were part of a controversial
modern art installation from 2018
which were later removed leaving the discoloured
stone. Below the famous fortified city
sits the lower city which also dates back to medieval times. It used to have defensive
walls as well but not much of these remain,
although you can still see some of the gates.
It’s built almost on a grid plan so it feels
very different to the upper city so it’s worth
having a little explore as it’s also a good
place for eating or shopping. The main highlight
is the Cathedral of St Michael of Carcassonne which was built as a parish church in
the 13th century and then became the Cathedral of Carcassonne in
1803. It has a wide and gorgeous Gothic nave that is colourfully
decorated and full of interesting artefacts
so certainly worth having a little look around.
Nearby is the equally interesting Museum
of Fine Arts. The collection is housed in a former palace which is interesting to explore.
Inside there is a nice collection of art from old to new including portraits, landscapes,
historical scenes and even this odd thing of a man disappearing through a war. And yes I did
have a look around and he doesn’t come out the other side. Definitely worth having a look
around so don’t overlook this fascinating museum. That’s it for Carcassonne, there are quite a
lot of other interesting things to see. So if I missed anything essential let me know in the
comments below. Thanks for watching and cheerio!