Corbieres

This is our day to discover the region around Carcassonne, called Corbieres. Corbieres is generally extends south of the motorway connecting Carcassonne to Narbonne (D6113) until the mountains which were once the Spanish border. It is one of the biggest wine growing regions in France and has its own AOC. Corbieres is a hilly country and it possess many interesting sights.

The owner of the Chambres d'Hotes convinced us to go to Abbaye Fontfroide which is very close to Narbonne. So, we changed our plans and first headed there. Some TomTom mistakes brought us to the Abbey quite late, the only way to visit the complex was the guided tour which was going to have a lunch break. We decided to continue our trip and left the visit of this ancient Abbey to another day.

We used road D613 to reach Villerouge-Termenes. This village contains a renovated castle located inside the village. Thus begin our Cathar journey and our first castle visit. However they also had a lunch break, worse the restaurant serving medieaval food also closed its kitchen due to low number of customers. Disappointed we went to the only other eating option in the village to calm our stomachs. After lunch we visited the castle. Since the castle is owned by the village, it has some video films telling the Cathar story.

We continued towards Termes following route D40. The nature around this region is one of the most beautiful and exciting ones that we have seen so far. It is wild hills with dense forests. We reached the village Termes (if you can call it a village) and climbed up to Chateau Termes. We were virtually alone all the way up to the castle and no one was to be seen also in the castle.

We continued towards Lagrasse. On the way Ruins of Chateau de Dufort can be seen at the right side.

Lagrasse is supposed to be one of the highlights of Corbieres, a must-see! It kept its medieval character and has also an important abbey (actually 2!). We were again late to visit the abbey becuase it was closed at 17.00. However, we managed to visit the village.

We returned Carcassonne very tired, especially Burcu because she was the driver. Since it was Tuesday the restaurants were open this time. We decided to eat in Comte Roger, an elegant restaurant with delicious food.