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In the next 5 minutes, you will see a summary of the important sites that you would enjoy visiting while in Carcassonne.
00:00 intro
00:28 Google Earth view
00:40 main gate in wall
01:28 Place Marcou
02:09 castle museum
03:30 Basilica St Nazaire
03:50 walk to New Town
04:11 New Town
Carcassonne is a very special medieval town up on a hill in southwest France with a castle and a fortified double wall going all the way around it.
And within the walls is a small village in a pedestrian zone with historic buildings, some of which date back to the 12th century .Carcassonne is a very special medieval town up on a hill in southwest France with a castle and a fortified double wall going all the way around it.
And within the walls is a small village in a pedestrian zone with historic buildings, some of which date back to the 12th century.
The main entrance through the massive walls is into this fortified gate with a projecting Barbican that has stone walls along both sides for protection and drawbridge to create an effective barrier at this potential weak spot and keep out any attackers.
The main street we walk in on could keep some visitors busy for 2 hours right here on this one block. It's mostly souvenirs, but there's a variety of all kinds of goods. It's the main concentration of the town's shops.
Within the walls, we have an actual functioning town with shops. There's several small hotels and there's 50 homes for the local residents as well, and a vast pedestrian zone that you'll want to explore.
One of the nicest and most popular spots in town is Place Marcou, with its outdoor restaurants and bars, cafes, tables all around it. This is a happy place. During lunch and dinner it gets very busy.
You will find it's very rewarding to stroll about the lanes that are inside the village. It's not a large city by any means. The village itself is about 400 meters long, so it's easy to walk around and get a nice feeling for the whole place.