Thursday, 21 December 2023 - Castelnaudary and Narbonne
A quick navette ride to the parking lot and I was on my merry way this morning. I took the drive back down the mountain much slower than the ride up due to all the snow and ice but I made it to Castelnaudary in time for lunch. My plan had been to order a cassoulet in the town that claims to be the birthplace of the dish, but I guess the restaurant I walked into wasn't actually offering it today 😅 oh well, at least my "bar au four" was tasty.
Apparently "bar" is a type of bass that was roasted in the oven.
Castelnaudary seems like a quiet little town
From Castelnaudary, I made my way to one of the items listed as a "must see" in Narbonne, which was the Abbaye de Fontfroide. It was interesting to see the landscape and climate change as I left the mountains and entered a more Mediterranean zone. Once I got out of the car, I noticed just how ridiculously strong the wind was today, the Cypress trees were going crazy under repeated, strong gusts. The abbey itself was a pretty quick visit but appeared to be in good condition and pointed out several changes made to the abbey over the years as things changed for this Benedictine/Cistercian abbey.
At the entrance for our four-legged friends
Much of the abbey is constructed from sandstone
The refectory for the lay brothers, the unheated hall where they would eat their meals. Being a lay brother didn't seem like a particularly great career but I suppose there were slim pickings for peasants in the middle ages.
Fontfroide takes its name from the, apparently remarkably, cold water drawn from the bottom of this well.
The abbey also houses some more modern works of art. This one was titled "The Immortal" and I thought it interesting to construct a human visage from what I'm pretty sure are mousetraps.
This alley allowed the lay brothers to access their sleeping quarters and the cellar (both to the right) while the "real" monks could stay on the left side and not have to interact with the lay brothers.
The cloister here was pretty nice! Seconds earlier, this photo would have been all leaves from a strong gust just before.
Inside the church of the abbey. Vaulted stone ceiling made for some interesting echos.
I thought it was neat that people could walk along the roof of the cloister.
Good thing they have a rule about drunk monks.
This is ~1/3 of the original lay brothers' dormitory. In it's heyday, 200 - 250 laborers slept here with little wooden dividers. I'd hate to imagine the sound and smell.
The abbey also had a rose garden and some terraced gardens as well.
Bee hives (les ruches)
These cypress trees are tall...
From the abbey, it was a quick drive to my hotel in Narbonne just before sunset. I'd toyed with the idea of going to the Narbonne beach and seeing the Mediterranean, but with all the wind and a lack of light, I decided against it. Rather, I spent a couple hours walking around the centreville of Narbonne and seeing their marchés Noëls and decorations.
The palace and donjon were turned into an architectural museum.
Lot's of festive decorations here
The anchre (anchor) alley connecting the old and older building of the architectural museum. There was a light show going on in here.
There was also a light show in the cloister of Cathedral Sint-Just et Saint-Pasteur
Ooh, so dramatic
Similar color palette to Frolo's "Hellfire" song in Disney's Hunchback of Notredame
More of the cathedral, there was a mass going on inside. Flying buttresses are always an impressive site.
The cathedral was actually in the process of expanding when a slew of events (like the Black Death or the invasion of the Black Prince, not sure why but black doesn't seem to be a good color for these guys) basically stopped the funding and it's stayed incomplete.
The wind in this unfinished wing was enough to stagger me, must have been where gusts were being redirected from other parts of the building.
There's a lock here!
It seems Narbonne, similar to Carcassonne, is a town that has plenty of Gallo-Roman history and it's architecture shows the differences versus, as well as the transition to, the Visigoths. After meandering in the unceasing wind, I tucked in for dinner. I was seated next to the window of the restaurant so I had a first row seat to the whipping of the wind; it may not have been hurricane force gales but there really was a lot of wind in the region today.
Reminded me of that scene in Mr. Bean's Holiday, but I ate mine instead of putting it in a lady's purse.
Duck breast (Le magret de canard); I gotta say, I think I prefer the duck legs.
mmm, baba au rhum
Tomorrow I will make my way south to Spain/Catalunya for half a week. Let's see how far the 8 Espanol lessons I've done on Duolingo will get me 😂 (mi maleta no esta un perro). As the radio stations cut out intermittently during the drive, I started an audiobook: The Count of Monte Cristo. I think the last I'd read it was in 8th grade, I found it kinda funny that I'm headed into Catalonian territory and Edmond Dantes' love interest, Mercedes, was a Catalan. I don't think I'd noticed that in 8th grade and currently didn't realize that Catalan settlements (at least per the book) were spread along the coast as far as Marseille.
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