A barge with a hot tub, a big bell day and Lastour's castles in the sky

my cottage kitchen
see all photos »

Sunday, September 23.

I have a ton of pictures but they are taking too long to upload. I'll add them later if I can.

the last cheese plate I ordered, the server asked "mee" or "moo"? Ha! (goat or cow cheese)

I rented my bike next door, the day after I arrive. It’s nothing fancy, a cruiser with 7 speeds which is perfect for the tow path along the canal, but it sure isn’t going to get me up any hills! I ride around town in Trebes on Saturday evening and take pictures. The doors are fascinating to me, with their handles right smack in the middle. I take some pictures of my cottage too, for you to see.

doors with knobs in the middle
see all photos »

The Canal du Midi which runs right through Trebes, is 250km long, and runs from the SE shore of France (below Montpellier) to Toulouse. There are a series of locks that are still worked by hand to allow the boats up and down river, and I watch from the shore opposite Le Moulin de Trebes (Moulin is mill, it was built as a salt mill, now a restaurant) as two barges at a time maneuver through them. A huge set of metal gates open up to let the boats in, and then close behind them to allow water to fill the lock up raising the boats to the next level. It’s very busy as two people have to hold the lines on the shore and someone has to work the locks. They must get a key with the boat in order to do that. Surely they don’t want just anybody playing around with that amount of water. It gushes in, pounding and splashing, like being at the base of Niagra Falls. I get some great pictures. A little further down the canal is the biggest barge I’ve seen, waiting for its turn to come up. It takes 35 of my strides to walk from end to end. It has teak furniture, potted plants and a hot tub! Yeah, everyone is speaking English, so I guess it is “rich” Americans. No wonder we have a reputation of being over the top consumers. We are! The average barge is more simple, with plastic chairs and their bikes strapped to the back.

Clair de Lune, the barge with a hot tub
see all photos »

Sunday morning is a BIG bell day. At least the town is not fanatical about ringing them every hour all night long. The first one I hear is at 7am…a simple 7 dings, like, “wake up now sleepyhead and get ready for church”. The 8am bell is a medley, and they seem to ring about every 15 minutes or so. Their clamoring is more like,” Boy, if you aren’t up now and getting to the church you are in big trouble”. The first 6 or 7 dings sound like the opening bars of “Dixie” and I find myself humming “Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton” all day.

guys fishing in the canal with long poles
see all photos »

I am so pleased with my purchases from the Saturday market. Now I have flowers on my table. Last night I had cassoulet, a local type of stew with duck, pork and white beans, not so different than the navy bean soup mom used to make with ham in it. I have eggs, strawberries and croissants for breakfast. I am not usually a bread lover, but these croissants are flaky, buttery, and absolutely delicious. A little butter and homemade cherry preserves…I am very happy.

Today I drive to Lastours, just north of here overlooking the Orbiel Valley. There are ruins of four castles perched on the mountaintop, and an old medieval town. The newer town climbs up the hillside also, a river running along the road with massive palm-like plants , ferns and dense undergrowth. I take a picture of a house being renovated and there is (I’m guessing) a hundred foot ladder being used to get up to it to do the work.

the fancy barge, Clair de Lune
see all photos »

Of course you have to buy a ticket (4 euros), but there has been a lot of archaelogical digs here, and there are display cases of pottery, buckles, jewelry and tools that have been found. As I hike up, I notice several places that have been corded off in a grid pattern, so you know exactly which square you have found something in. The day is warmer than I thought, and I wish I had worn shorts.

History for the day: The Cathars always called themselves Christians or “Bons Hommes” (good men), but they were called Cathar by others which comes from the Greek catharos, which means “pure”. The Catholics who despised them because they could not be controlled and threatened the unity of the Catholic Church, derisively called them “parfaits” (perfect). They were not devil worshippers or anything weird. They believed in good versus evil, light versus dark, and in reincarnation which would bring them back over and over until they could reach a state of perfection. They were vegetarians! So basically the whole inquisition was about the territory and land, not the faith. Southern France was prosperous, fertile and rich. Religion was just an excuse for massacres of Bons Hommes (this included women and children), and thousands of innocent people who harbored them. All of Northern France united their knights for the crusade against the South. And we always thought the "inquisition" was in Spain, but actually it was in Southern France, where the border between France and Aragon (Spain) was somewhere way up here by Limoux and Carcassonne.

my first sight of Lastours
see all photos »

Lastours is really four separate castles perched up on the ridge. (It’s said there was one for each son). The towers and crumbling walls stand out as stark silhouettes against the sky. It’s breathtaking, in more ways than one. The rough stone and gravel steps have been updated a little, but it’s still quite a climb, snaking and circling the mountain cliffs as I climb and pant. At one point I have to walk through an underground cave and through some rock arches. Legend has it that there are lots of underground tunnels that the people used to escape sieges. I visit each castle and wonder who hauled all these rocks up here. They had cisterns for water and an underground water system. The biggest castle is “Caberet”, and didn’t fall to “the Host” as the crusaders called themselves, until 1211. Late in the day, a male voice breaks into song, in Italian. The acoustics are great, and his beautiful tenor bounces off the neighboring cliffs. He probably just wanted to hear himself sing, but I enjoyed it immensely.

One of the 4 castle towers at Lastours
see all photos »

On my way home I stop to see the “grotte of Limousis”, an underground limestone cavern. The whole tour is in French, and there are lots of kids screaming and running around. Yes, the stalagtites and crystal clear lakes were pretty, but I’ve seen caves in Arkansas and in Virginia. If you’ve seen one stalagtite, you’ve seen them all! To my mind, this was a bust. I enjoy driving home on the skinny roads through a few villages, and make it home in time for cocktail hour. I have a local Sauvignon Blanc (vin du Pays’Oc) named “Couleurs Du Sud” (colors of the South) which only cost 2.50 euros. No wonder the French drink wine every day.

the cave entry
see all photos »

Observations:

In all the public bathrooms there are NO toilet seats. Is this to encourage you to squat?

The French love to camp and picnic. On my drive down there were beautifully wooded rest stops everywhere with tables, and lots of campsites. The canal du midi is lined with the French version of winnebagos!

Eggs in the grocery stores here are not refrigerated. They sit out on a shelf. Is it because they are so fresh?

Lastours
see all photos »

There is a French town called Tampon!

French towns often look deserted. The windows (and some doors) all have shutters, and they are shut tight even when someone is home! Some of the villages I drive through, I don’t see a soul. Where are they?

They have a lot of one way streets, which my GPS keeps trying to send me down.

The last cheese plate I ordered, the server asked “mee” or “moo”? Ha! (goat or cow?)

Lastours from town
see all photos »

That's all for today!