Carcassonne is located in the southwest of France. Is a well known fortified Medieval town part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The walled city is very old, founded by the Romans, and is the largest citadel in Europe. The walls of the city are 1.9 miles (3 km) long and have 52 massive towers.
This medieval town is a picturesque place, that attracts plenty of tourists, unfortunately, too many in my opinion.
Carcassonne was fortified by the Romans and strategically located between Toulouse and the Mediterranean sea.
I’ve visited Carcassonne 12 years ago and really loved it, this time I felt a bit disappointed. The walled city felt more like a theme park than a real town where normal life takes place.
I arrived early in the morning, and the entrance was already packed with buses and excursions.
Within the walled city all the buildings, squares, and alleyways have retained their medieval character.
La Ville Base
This time I have enjoyed more to walk around Carcassonne Town (La Ville Base) than the citadel. I found it quite charming and I really had a great time strolling through its streets.
From Toulouse, Carcassonne is an easy day trip and Bla Bla car works really well.
photography – all rights reserved – Ana Rocha
I just returned from a trip to France. Beautiful landscapes. Great photos!!
Beautiful photos and great post!
thanks Nilla ?
Beautiful pictures! Now I have inspiration to travel more. I live in an area with plenty of tourist spots, so I have found it best to time my visits to avoid as much of the traffic and crowding as best that I can.
where do you live ?
Northern California not far from San Francisco.
you definitely have plenty of nice places to visit around you 😉
I only knew about Carcasone through the boardgame that has the same name. In real life it is so much impressive of course. I know what you mean by it being too crowded, I felt the same when visiting Dubrovnik ‘s Old Town. But it is had to keep such a beautiful place away from the crowds:)
it’s true, when a place has such potential its difficult to prevent it to become crowded, to lose it’s authenticity and to be swamped by visitors
I’ve visited Dubrovnik many years ago and was absolutely fine, but I read that now they are facing serious problems. I read in the newspaper the other day that Dubrovnik will drastically cut the number of visitors allowed into its ancient center, in an effort to prevent ruinous overcrowding.
Sounds like a better get there sooner rather than later. It is a shame when tourism degraded the authenticity of a place. ?
Tourism has become a serious problem in many places, and governments will need to start dealing with it very soon, although, on the other hand, tourism can also bring many positive benefits and actually improve the sustainability of communities. We just need to find the balance and good strategies, to make tourism have more positive impacts than negative
Agreed. I don’t know the answer but maybe it includes somehow limiting the number of tourists which could serve multiple purposes: (1) limit the impact of tourists (trash, pollution, noise), (2) limit the dependence of the local economy on tourism (3) help preserve the authenticity of a place
A place I have always wanted to visit. One has to accept that, yes, there will be other people who want to see spectacularly famous places, some of them on the same day I’m there. Don’t have to like it, but there it is. Thanks for this look at Carcasonne, and the tip about visiting the village, too.
thanks Brad, Carcassonne Its a long way from Los Angeles but im sure you will have the opportunity to visit this village and other parts of France on your next trip 🙂
Fotos bonitas!
Um bom sítio para se conhecer! 🙂
Fiquei curioso! 🙂
obrigada 🙂
😀