Carcassonne France

Legendary

Visit the beautifully restored medieval fortress that dates back to the Gallo-Roman period.

Photo by dchelyadnik

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Legend says a clever woman named Dame Carcas saved this city by tricking an entire army. During a long siege, she supposedly had the last bag of wheat fed to a pig, then had the pig thrown over the wall.

The enemy army saw the well-fed pig and assumed the city still had plenty of food left. Believing they could never starve the defenders out, they gave up and left. Some say that's how the city got its name.

People have actually lived in this area since the Neolithic period, thousands of years before recorded history began. Its location made it valuable for trade and defense, sitting between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

By the 6th century BC, a Celtic tribe called the Volcae had built a hilltop fort here. The Romans took over around 100 BC and turned it into a heavily fortified town, building strong walls and towers.

In the 5th century, the Visigoths took control of the region after the fall of Rome. They rebuilt and strengthened the walls, turning Carcassonne into a powerful stronghold.

Over the following centuries, the city changed hands many times. It later became part of the Kingdom of France, and kings continued adding towers, gates, and fortifications to make it even stronger.

Everything changed in 1659. That year, the Treaty of the Pyrenees ended a long war between France and Spain and moved the border much farther south.

Carcassonne suddenly lost its importance as a border fortress. Soldiers left, the walls fell into disrepair, and the city eventually became known for wool and textile making instead.

By the 1800s, the fortress was crumbling and locals were even taking stones from it to build other buildings. A historian and an architect stepped in to save it, restoring Carcassonne into the fairytale-like fortress visitors see today.

Walk along more than three kilometers of double walls and past 52 towers, the largest fortress of its kind in Europe. Explore the Château Comtal, the castle at the heart of the old city. Wander the cobblestone streets inside the walls, said to have inspired the castle in Disney's Sleeping Beauty.