OK, so last night I had a pretty vivid nightmare. It centered on the idea that our dining in the hotel restaurant last night offended the wait staff and they came to our room to exact their revenge. They were planning to make me into human ham. Sounds ridiculous right? Well perhaps these photos of what they use to serve the local ham will change your tune. We saw these all over Barcelona.
Looks like some form of medieval torture, right? Well that and the awesome (but strange) restaurant turned into nightmare fuel somehow.
We've got a busy day today. We get up early-ish at 7:30 and get ready, get packed, and check out. The hotel lets us leave our bags in a closet while we head over and wait for the Dali Museum to open. The Dali Museum is the real reason we’re visiting Figueres. Figueres is Dali’s hometown. He returned here later in life. The museum houses the largest body of Dali work across his entire career. It’s also the last place he lived and he’s buried in a crypt in the building. We’re on a tight schedule. The museum opens at 9:30. We only have an hour to tour it because we need to make it back to the hotel (which is like a 2 minute walk away) and then get to the train station to catch a 11:20 train to Carcassonne.
We get there a bit early to check out the outside of the building. There are Dali touches to the square out front. There is no mistaking which building is the museum. After walking around we queue up to make sure we get in as soon as possible. By 9:30 there is a bit of a line behind us and a tour group also waiting. On the other side of the square is a church that chimes every quarter hour. When the church chimes 9:30 the doors promptly open and we buy a ticket and gain entrance.
The museum does not disappoint. It is weird. One of the interesting things about this museum is Dali himself helped pull it together in the 70’s. At that time he had enough influence to get the building (which had been damaged in the Spanish civil war and was vacant for a few decades) and had nearly two decades to prepare the space how he wanted it. Rarely is an artist influential enough during their lifetime to help control how their work is presented. In addition to paintings, there are collages, sculptures, furniture pieces, and odd stereoscopic experiments. One hour is a bit rushed but we manage to see nearly everything and make it back to the hotel on time. At the hotel we retrieve our bags and ask for the concierge to call a taxi. I go to the restroom very briefly and by the time I get back the taxi is here and our bags are loaded….how did he get here so fast!?!? The ride to the train station takes no time at all and we actually end up there early.
Our second high speed train ride. This time in first class with a fancy little table between Dawn and I so that we can stare at each other staring at the countryside go by. The ride between Figueres and Carcassonne is actually very pretty. The train skirts along the Pyrenees mountains then hugs the coast for a bit before heading back inland. When we arrive in Carcassonne we leave the train station with the plan to catch a taxi to La Cite de Carcassonne which is the ancient walled city we’re actually staying in tonight. However there are no taxis to be found at the train station much to our (and another group of much louder Americans) dismay. Instead of complaining Dawn and I decide to start walking through the city in hopes of finding another route to our destination. We cut through a charming village with lots of shopping and stop at a cafe for a sandwich and coffee. After being in Spain for a week it takes a bit of mental effort to change our greeting from “hola” to “bonjour”. At the other side of the village we find a bus stop that’s expecting a bus in 5 minutes that will take us to La Cite. Voila.
La Cite is amazingly impressive at first glance. As one would expect of a big walled city on a hill. As we cross the drawbridge and enter the city my heart sinks. I fear I’ve booked us a night a Disney World! The entire main street is flanked with crappy souvenir stores and there are a million kids running wild all over the place. I guess that’s what would you expect with a huge castle attraction? Hoping for an enclave of history buffs is probably asking for too much. We find our bed and breakfast and check in. The room is large compared to my prior B&B experiences. Like all B&B rooms, it’s a bit idiosyncratic being that it’s been adapted into a suite instead of being built as one.
We head out to the castle to take the tour. Upon further reflection I realize the this is nothing like what Americans would have done to giant walled city. There are no massive hotels located just outside the gates and no one has bolted a monorail onto the parapets. We get an audio guide with the castle tour and it’s actually done very well. In the 1850’s the French government hired architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc to restore the fortifications at Carcassonne. The audio tour is told with this architect as the guide as he shares his challenges, discoveries, and restoration decisions. The guide is also well structured. Each area will give you a brief overview and then offer options to delve into a couple of related topics. The tour is pretty in depth if you select all of the optional topics (like we did). The short version is that there been a fortified settlement in this location for nearly 2500 years since Greco-Roman times. It’s changed hands many times and lots of the owners added on to the city. The bulk of the fortifications that now stand were added in the 1200’s AD. In it’s heyday this was one of the best fortified locations in Europe with many layers of defenses.
After the tour we walk around the rest of the walled town. Again, most of the shops are cheap souvenir shops. We had asked the lady who runs the B&B for dining recommendations. She asked us if we wanted something touristy or something good. We said definitely good. She said the cassoulet is the regional specialty that we should try and recommended two places. I freaking love cassoulet. I’ve actually spent time working on my own version of this dish. Somehow I overlooked the fact that we were visiting the home of cassoulet, but now I’m psyched to get to each eat cassoulet in a castle! This vacation has everything!
It turns out that both the places that lady recommended are closed today. I guess Tuesday is their off day. We wandered around the city looking for a restaurant that doesn’t look too touristy and eventually settle on Maison Du Cassoulet. As the attractions are closing for the day, the souvenir stands are packing up their wares, and the crowds are thinning out the town start to change into something much more charming.
I’m in France, so I have foie gra and cassoulet for dinner. Dawn selects a nice bottle of wine and we have a pleasant meal. I won’t say the cassoulet was a life changing event. It was good, but I know this dish has more to give flavor-wise. On our walk back from the restaurant to the B&B the town is pretty much empty and we have the cobblestone streets and alleyways to ourselves. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for and hoping for. This is why my first impression with La Cite de Carcassonne left something to be desired. I wasn’t looking for an ancient walled city. I was looking for a private ancient walled city to call my own. If you’re planning to visit La Cite de Carcassonne be sure to stay the night so that you can experience the town in all it’s splendor.
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