Tochi's Hut

Several months before E08, I was cruising the web when I stumbled onto some photos of an amazing fortified city.  A quick search on the map showed Carcassonne was close to the French-Spanish border, almost halfway between Barcelona and Montpellier, France.  Fired off an email to the buds, “We have to stop here!” and added to our proposed itinerary: “Carcassonne - Giant ass Fortress on top overlooking town.”

Fast forward to two weeks before E08.  We were finalizing the plans with bookings.  Our schedule was very ambitious and I considered foregoing Carcassonne for an extra day in the French Riviera.  After chatting with BlueOrca, she mentioned she wanted to see this fort.  That was the motivation I needed.  We were going to Carcassonne!

We had booked the youth hostel in Carcassonne for the night.  One of the requirements for the hostel was a personal phone call for any check-ins after 6pm.  We were taking the evening train from Barcelona and was not due into Carcassonne until 10:30 pm.  We spent at least 15 minutes trying to call the hostel at Barcelona Sants before we needed to get on the train.   How do you call +33 (0)4.68.25.23.16?  Tired all sorts of prefixes but just could not connect.  While on the train, I kept on trying on my cell phone.  Finally, I was able to connect to the hostel (dial 011 + number, without the 0 in parentheses) only to have the train go into a tunnel. :( I did eventually manage to get in touch with the hostel long enough to tell them of our late arrival.

We had to switch trains at a small town named Narbonne.  Before the trip, BlueOrca, the romantic, had raised concerns about our evening train schedules.  She did not want to miss all the sunsets while sitting in a train.  We found a nice little restaurant just outside the train station for dinner.  We were the only patrons at the restaurant tonight.  Seafood course, candlelight and a very beautiful sunset.  The thing that worried me the most was accidentally knocking things over as I took off and put on my backpack inside the restaurant.

We waited around Gare de Narbonne for our Cascassonne express at 10pm.  Took some photos outside the train station to pass time.  Here is a shot of Avenue Pierre Semard from Gare de Narbonne.

We soon arrived into Carcassonne.  We came upon one of the toughest decisions we had to make on the trip.  Our hostel was inside the fort, about 1.5 miles crow’s distance from the train station.  It was nearing 11pm.  Should we take a taxi or hike there?  For all the right reasons, we should take the taxi.  It was quite late, we were tired, we did not know whether the town was safe and most importantly, we didn’t know exactly where the hostel was, only that it was inside the fortress.  On the other hand, the first waypoint of the only geocache in Carcassonne was in the city – a 10 minute walk from the station.  It was the most beautiful night, crystal clear skies with a FULL MOON.  I had caught a glimpse of the castle on the train and it’s all LIT UP at night!!!!

If I had been alone, it would have been an easy decision.  However, I had to respect BlueOrca’s wishes.  I probed her with some questions and got some very non-committal responses. ugh!  She looked tired but, officially, she was indifferent one way or the other.  Alarm bells ring in such situations – I *must* make the right choice, lol.  Anyway, we agreed to go and grab the first waypoint (geocaches always go down well with BlueOrca), and we will decide what to do from there.  Of course, I knew once we started hiking, we’re going all the way. :D  I think we would both wholeheartedly agree that we totally made the right decision on this fine night. 

The night experience at Carcassonne is impossible to describe.  Words just cannot do this place justice and even the photos fall horribly short.  To say without any exaggeration, the hike to the fortress was one of the most breathtaking, most mesmerizing experiences of my life.  I can only think of one instance where I've felt the same quiet amazement and wonder – my first night time landing at Hong Kong's old 啟德 airport.  The emotions and feeling evoked were quite surreal.

Starting from the steps leading up to Pont Vieux, a weathered stone bridge over the Aude River that gives you the first glimpse of the fortress, I just had one thought in my mind: “We are staying in THAT fort tonight!! :D:D:D”  To sit back and contemplate for a minute, there must have been thousands, perhaps millions, of travelers and pilgrims who trekked on the same road to the fortress over the past millennia.  When they first laid eyes on the castle after a long journey, they must have felt the same sense of wonder.  The fortress’s dominating presence must have resonated its strength, prosperity, commerce and peace.  But most importantly, the fortress laid at the end of the road – the home for some, the destination for many.  For me, that’s where my bed for tonight laid.  How cool is it that Tochi, on this very night, carrying my life belongings in my backpack, was retracing the same steps up to Carcassonne!

“How cool is this?!?!” 
“I cannot believe this”
“Wow”
“Damn!”
“This is so cool!”

I must have reiterated these phrases so often that night.  At one point, BlueOrca was talking to me, but I was not listening.  My eyes were fixated onto the castle, my ears lost in my own silent soliloquy, my mind caught in my own dream.  The castle was just so damn awesome.  It was a little embarrassing when I realized that she was speaking to me.

We had crossed the Aude River, cut across the lower town and got to the base of the hill upon which the fortress sat.  After collecting all the necessary waypoint data to determine the final coordinates of the multi cache, we began the hike up to the fortress.  Up the ramp with one switchback, we finally got to the arches guarding the entrance into the lower ramparts.  I could not resist taking a photo of us making our way into the fort at 12:18 am. :)

I realized after the trip while browsing in a store that Carcassonne, the board game, had a nearly identical cover.  This photo ranks as one of the most memorable shots on the entire trip for me.

Despite being past midnight, we decided to make an attempt at the geocache before heading inside the fortress.  There wasn’t anyone around at midnight, so it should make searching a bit easier.  We got to the ground zero location, and searched every nook and cranny along the wall.  In one dark crevice, I saw two beetles on top of each other.  This was my first lesson into primitive mating behaviour on this trip, but won’t be my last.  We spent a fair bit of time climbing and searching all the possible places, but to no avail.  Then all of a sudden, at 1:47am, the flood lights illuminating the outer castle walls suddenly turned off.  We were thrown into pure darkness, with only the moon as our guiding light.  Actually, we had our headlamps, but that was certainly the sign for us to give up for the night.

We made our way into the city, had to stop by a Best Western to ask for directions, and got to our hostel just past 2am.  Good thing the guy was still at the reception to check us in.  Got to my room and climbed into bed.  My first ever night inside a REAL fortress.  I was physically drained, but my emotions were so raw.  This was so so so cool!!!! :D:D:D