Michelin Driving Tour - April 26

Breakfast always slows the start to our day as Dave and Dale must drive into Mirepoix (too far to walk) to buy our croissants and bread for the day. Our host recommended this Mirepoix bakery for its croissants, and we agree! Finally ready, we hit the road.

Dave navigating the narrow roads into the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Today's adventure took us into the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. The Michelin Green Guide always has spectacular recommendations for a driving tour, so with no chores for the day, we left around 9:30 in the direction of Foix (about 15 miles from here) to start the tour.

Foix - of course there's a castle

Our history lesson for today involves understanding Catharism, an offshoot of Christianity considered heretical by the Catholic church. Catharism (from the Greek word for "pure") took hold in Asia Minor around 1000 AD and spread west to Europe. Especially popular in southern France, Cathars considered themselves true followers of the Apostles, aiming for perfection by living a life of poverty and working with their hands. They believed in a dichotomous world of Good and Evil where Good was the work of God. This directly conflicted with the medieval Catholic church that Cathars saw as rich and powerful, the opposite of Good. Thus, in 1209, Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars starting with the Counts of Albi (giving the name Albigensian Crusade to the church response). The Crusade to eradicate the Cathars was bloody and destructive across wide swaths of southern France, leaving behind ruined castles and churches across Languedoc and killing all those who wouldn't repent their "heretical" beliefs.

Our Michelin Driving Tour

As we travel today, we will see 4 ruined Cathar castles, but first, we head into the foothills of the Pyrenees. The scenery is breathtaking - and difficult to capture from the car. The high Pyrenees are snow-capped with pines of varying shades of dark green on their slopes. Valleys are almost neon in their spring green and the hardwood trees of the lower slopes, not yet leafed out, add contrast with their rust colored buds.

After climbing several miles along one lane roads we reached the bastide town of Roquefixade. (Bastides are medieval planned towns laid out in a grid with a central square surrounded by gated walls.) This sleepy little town is crowned by a ruined castle on a rock outcropping above the town. It is of course a ruin. However this castle was not ruined in the Albigensian crusade although Roquefixade did shelter Cathars. (The castle was used until destroyed by King Louis XIII in 1632.) 

This sleepy little town is easy to visit. It still retains its medieval character with closely huddled houses and central square with a fountain to provide drinking water to the town. The lavoir where women washed their clothes still exists although I doubt anyone uses it. Its water provides safe haven for protected toads to lay their eggs. Signs warn us not to disturb hurt the baby toads.

Lavoir at Roquefixade

On to the most important Cathar castle, Montségur. Dave has wanted to visit this castle since our first trip to Languedoc. Perched on top of a large rock, Montségur sits 1200 meters (about 5000 feet) above the valley [correction: Off by a factor of 10. Montségur sits 5000 feet above sea level and 500 feet above the valley.] and presents a torturous ascent to the top. This castle sheltered more than 600 Cathars when it was laid siege to in 1243. The inquisition forces finally captured the castle after 10 months. Anyone who renounced their faith would be spared along with the soldiers. The 220 souls who refused to give up their faith were marched to the valley and burned alive. The castle was destroyed. Today it sits in ruins above the town of Montségur. 

This is where we parked. See the castle wa-a-a-y up there? 

Dale & Kim starting the hike. Brave souls.

Look how far Dave has come!

The castle seen from the top.

The village of Montségur seen from the castle

Down from the castle, we found a spot in Montségur to eat our picnic lunch. A good place for kids as there was a nice playground with a view to the castle.

lunch in a park in Montségur

our lunch companion

Then on to a natural wonder. The Fontestorbes fountain is a natural geologic phenomenon claimed to be unique in the world. Water from rain and snow melt filters through the rock and gathers in pockets. The height of the water in these pockets makes the output of the fountain intermittent; sometimes there is a lot of flow and sometimes just a trickle. This cycle repeats itself regularly every 60-90 minutes. We were lucky to arrive at high flow and before leaving saw the flow of water diminish. Pretty cool.

Fontestorbes fountain-high flow

low flow a few minutes later

Onward along narrow, twisty roads to Montaillou, another town with a ruined Cathar castle. This sleepy little town clinging to the sides of the mountain became well-known (well, sort of well-known) in the 1970s when a medieval scholar discovered carefully transcribed transcripts of 13th century Inquisition interviews with the people of Montaillou, looking for Cathars. Off the beaten path, but located along these beautiful mountains and valleys, there's not much else to recommend it as a tourist destination, which suits us just fine. 

Montaillou castle

A quick look around the ruined castle and back in the car. This town won for the narrowest roads - along some parts we were barely inches away from a building on either side of the "road, " adding to the fun of the exploration. 

This next few miles went slowly along a very narrow road with a drop off on one side and the cliff side on the other - no guard rails, no shoulders. Grandma Lorna would have been whoop-whooping all the way as we traversed the side of the mountain headed to Lordat. Luckily we only met one car coming toward us and I closed my eyes as we pulled over toward the drop-off side of the road to pass the oncoming car. 

This was a wide spot and it had a stone barrier to keep you from falling down the hill.

As we neared the bottom where there was a wide pull off area, we met this cow: (not sure how she got there). We also could see the talc factory where this mineral, mined in the mountains, was processed in the valley. 

Moo!!!

Talc processing plant

We made our final stop in Lordat which looked a bit more lively as a town, but also looked much like the other Cathar villages - a ruined castle overlooking its small town below it. 

Lordat Castle

We didn't take time to stop and climb up to this one. Time to head home, via the fast route: the N20 - with 4-lane sections. We could drive 70 mph along this road. 

Once home, dinner was a simple meal of salad and turkey breast. We were all tired from the day's adventure. Tomorrow is the big market in Pamiers and Janis and Clark arrive. We need to get up at a reasonable time.