Review of holidaying in Carcassonne.
Among those areas that seem like they were planned by a committee with the brief "make it quite medieval and do not hold back", Carcassonne is one of those. Before you have even finished parking the car, towers, walls, turrets, and additional walls seem to emerge. Even if some of your brain is already whispering that it might be a little too much, it's impossible not to get a little excited the first time you see the fortified city rising above the contemporary town.Carcarsonne's tourism centres on the Cité, a beautifully preserved medieval fortress that doubles as a very effective visitor attraction. Coaches come in a neat line and let their passengers out like well planned medieval invasions, but with more cameras and less swords. Everyone goes up since that is what you do when lunchtime is most likely within the walls and history is above you.
Walking through the gates is dramatic even if you are following someone arguing about gelato tastes. Inside, the streets are small, lovely and meant to guide you past stores selling swords, shields, and suspiciously contemporary souvenirs. At first you roll your eyes. By the third store, you find yourself wondering where you might display a replica knight helmet at home without upsetting anyone.
It is ironic that Carcassonne seems most real when it is silent, yet its popularity makes sure it seldom is. The sweet spots are early mornings and evenings when the walls shine in the light, and you can momentarily picture life before tourism, gift stores, and folks yelling where the restrooms are. Then someone inquires about the location of the toilets and the charm is shattered.
The food repeats a pattern. Usually accompanied by photographs that seem a little apologetic, some tourist menus vow traditional cassoulet in five languages. Go a little farther from the main thoroughfare, and the experience changes drastically. The cassoulet now tastes like anything someone really prepared instead of something that came with instructions. It serves as a reminder that even in areas where everything appears geared to make effort useless, tourism rewards modest effort.
The appeal of Carcassonne goes beyond its past to include how forthrightly it enacts that past. The city understands your presence there. It leans into it, sometimes shamelessly, and you have to respect the confidence. This is not something to fake a discovery of. It is a well-known one, and it is acceptable.
As a tourist, you depart with varied emotions. You might complain about prices and crowds, but you'll also have taken far too many pictures of the same wall from a little different angles. Carcassonne reminds you that travel is a collective illusion. Everyone of us knows it's scripted, but we still like it—preferably with a nice dinner and a comfortable chair to sit afterwards.
