TOULOUSE, CARCASSONE & CATHAR COUNTRY

16 -23 April 2009 with Paddy Marsh & Juliet O’Reilly

Accommodation: the holiday will be based on two Chambres d'Hôtes de Charme: the first is in the style of an elegant country house hotel, the Domaine Saint Martin de Ronsac where we shall stay for the first three nights just outside Toulouse, (to view pictures of this particularly lovely country house, Google Domaine Saint Martin de Ronsac, Toulouse). The second Chambre d'Hôte, la Maison sur la Colline (Google: la Maison sur la Colline, Carcassonne), is on the edge of Carcassonne where we shall also be spending three nights. 

The countryside around Toulouse, and particularly to the south of Carcassonne, is wild ‘garrigue’, an area which in the 12th and 13th centuries, was largely inhabited by shepherds and their flocks. The population was poor and had to work hard to survive; it was this simple, hard way of life which, no doubt, contributed to a significant part of the population adopting the manicheistic belief of Catharism. The Cathars were regarded as heretics by Rome and, in the early 13th century, a brutal crusade, led by Simon de Montfort, put an end to a possible schism. What remains of their faith, apart from the beautiful setting of the mountains and the moor–land, are the spectacular castles where the Cathar faithful defended their faith, very often, to the bitter end.

On arrival, participants will transfer from Toulouse airport to their hotel just outside Toulouse.
On the second day we shall visit Toulouse, widely known as 'la ville rose' since the old city has the unusual feature (for France) of being built almost entirely of red brick which has mellowed over the centuries giving the town its attractive pink colouring.
On the third day we shall go to Albi where there are two exceptional visits to be made; the first is the cathedral (if you have ever wanted to see the embodiment of the church militant, this is it...) while the second place of particular interest is the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. The mother of Toulouse-Lautrec (who survived her son by a number of years) left a considerable number of her son's works to the town of Albi; however, the good burgers of Albi, scandalised by the subject matter of many of the works, chose to wait until 1947 before deciding to put these masterpieces on public display. In the afternoon we shall visit the Cathar village of Cordes-sur-Ciel.
On the morning of the fourth day we shall transfer to Carcassone (a journey that will take us just over an hour) and establish ourselves at the Maison sur la Colline. We shall spend the late morning and the afternoon visiting this spectacular fortified town.
On the fifth day there will be an excursion to the Romanesque Abbey of Fontfroide; founded in 1093, the abbey boasts a particularly magnificent cloister while the abbey church itself is a fine example of Cistercian simplicity. After lunch there will be a trip in a canal boat on the Canal du Midi. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site, the Canal, completed in the 17th century, is an exceptional feat of engineering that required the labour of over 12,000 men who toiled for fifteen years to complete it.
On the sixth day, we shall visit two remarkable castles associated with the Albigensian heresy and the Cathars: the Château of Peyrepertuse goes back to pre-Christian times and the impressive ruins of the present fortress date back to the 11th century. The Château de Quéribus saw the end of the Albigensian crusades and it was here that one of the main figures of the Cathar schism, Benoît de Termes, perished in 1244.

On the seventh day in the morning we shall return to Toulouse and visit Bemberg collection of paintings and furniture in the fifteenth century Hôtel d’Assézat. After lunch, we leave for the airport and the flight home.