22 August
After sleeping in the van in a side residential street in Tarbes, Bud excitably woke up before sunrise to keep driving on to our destination….Villaseque des Corbiers. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the friendly faces of Brendan, Caitlin and Stuart (friends and ex-housemates from London) who were very eager to go exploring. We were very excited to be under a roof and sleeping in a bed again. After a guided tour of the village and an introduction to the local winery in which they pour wine into 5L containers using a pump, we took a drive up to one of the castles in the area.
Corbiers is one the areas in Cathar Country. Corbiers is the surname for each village in the area (eg. Villeseque des Corbiers; and Durban Corbiers etc). The history behind the area is fascinating and we were so amazed by the old buildings and castles describing the history. In the 11th century, Cathar people lived in small villages around the area and took refuge in hill top castles to protect themselves. The Cathars were Christians who did not believe in riches and wealth and lived a simple life. The catholic church saw them as a threat and wanted them gone. Around this time, the French Crown was confined to the North and wanted the land in this region. The French crown and the church got together and fought the cathars, demolishing their hilltop castles and those that refused to renounce their faith were thrown into a fire. After the crusades, many of the castles were rebuilt and used by the French to protect their land from the Catalans (Spain). After the 17th century, when France’s border moved further south, the castles were abandoned. Many of the castles have now been restored to retell this incredible story.
The first castle which we visited was the Castle of Peyrepertuse. As we drove along the very windy road towards Peyrepertuse, we could see the castle up in the distance situated upon a limestone ridge. We luckily got a front row parking, cued for tickets and walked the steep path to the castle. The history behind the castle is quite complex as it has been around since the start of the 1st century and has had various owners from both Catalan and French descent. The hill top castle is surrounded by a massive wall and high open mouthed towers, with a view of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse in the south and Roufiac-des-Corbieres in the North. The land surrounding the area is dominated by vineyards which extend for as far as you can see. It must have been such a job carrying building material and supplies up the mountain to create something this amazing. After exploring the ruins, we were very lucky to catch a Falcon show. Although the show was in French and none of us had any idea what they were talking about it, we laughed when they all laughed and admired the amazing birds. On our way back home, we stopped off at a place called Moulin de Ribaute waterfalls, which is situated half-way to Cucugnan, down a narrow dirt road. Here we found a series of crystal blue pools and waterfalls in a valley. We had some lunch and cooled off in the icy mountain water before heading back home.
We all woke up feeling very hazy after emptying our 5 liter container of wine, but sorted ourselves out and hit the road for a day of history lessons. Our first stop was a village called ‘Lagrasse’ which is classified as one of the ‘most beautiful villages in France’. I can certainly agree with this and as we walked the narrow cobble stone streets we found a very run-down house for sale and considered the purchase. Lagrasse is situated on the one side of the orbieu river. On the other side is the former Benedictine abbey which is a protected historical site and dates back to the 8th century. We walked around the old building and found the old architecture to be amazing. We stopped for lunch on the old humpbacked bridge which not only provided a good view of the village, but also used to be the only access into the town.
Our next stop was Minerve, an old Cathar village built between 2 gorges. Another beautiful old town with cobble stone streets and a massive natural tunnel in the one gorge. During the crusade against the Cathars, the Cathar people resisted attack for around 5 weeks before the French army, using giant catapults, broke through to the well and claimed the towns water supply. The Cathar people eventually ran out of supplies and were forced to give in. The 150 Cathars from the village, refused to renounce their faith and were voluntarily burnt alive. All that is left of the original Cathar village todayare the walls and the tower.
Our final day in Cathar country was spent relaxing at Leucate Beach on the Mediterranean. The weather was perfect, the water was clean and we had a well needed day of relaxing in themediterranean sun. Our time in Corbiers was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. We experienced some of the French history, some rural gothic towns, real traditional French wine and some good times with friends.