Ben briefly mentioned Carcassonne in a previous post… but since then we took a few more photos that I wanted to share.

Carcassonne is really quite the sight.  It’s a fairy tale medieval castle in real life.   The walled city is huge and it’s always open so you can walk around and get lost on the tiny cobblestone streets.  We really enjoyed it, and I think kids would love it too.  However, I’ve heard that it’s usually full of tourists – we saw it in the early evening, so maybe that’s why it seemed rather quiet to us.

We arrived in Carcassonne without any hotel reservations – a first for this trip (but definitely not the last, I’m sure).  But we lucked out and the second place we stopped was fine – not too bad price-wise (55 euro ensuite), with free parking and free internet.  Plus is was just a 2 minute walk to a bridge where you see the entire Carcassonne city.  At night the city is lit up brightly and a nearby bridge has lights that changed colors.  We loved this place!