Aigues Mort et Le Grau du Roi

Last Saturday, our group visited the fortified city of Aigues Mort and the coastal city of Le Grau de Roi.  Aigues Morts is similar to Carcassonne, but it's ramparts are still fully accessible all the way around the city and it is a residential city, which means it has many more residents than Carcassonne.  The big draw in Aigues Mort?  Salt marshes, red salt marshes to be exact.  My host father was an engineer at the salt company there for 15 years and it is quite impressive.  The mountains of salt lining the red water seen from the ramparts at Aigues Mort are pictured below.  According to our tour guide, the area is a habitat for pink flamingos, which become pink from drinking the red water and eating the "petits crevettes" (minuscule shrimp-like creatures) in the water.

Salt, red salt marsh as viewed from castle wall

The castle and ramparts were amazing for many reasons, in particular that the entire structure is still standing centuries after it was first constructed and because of its significance in the religious wars between Catholics and other Christian sects.  The grand tower at Aigues Mort was a women's prison during the protestant purge under King Louis XIV in the late 1600's.  We toured the towers where the women were held and though no pictures were allowed (technically), it was quite eery.  They engraved their names and how long they were imprisoned in the walls.  Everyone used the same toilet- a hole the floor in one corner that led to a deep hole.  There was almost no light in the towers and the conditions were horrible.  The crime these women committed was being married or somehow associated with a protestant male who refused to convert to Catholicism.  The men were frequently killed, but their wives were put in prison.

King Louis XIV, whose statue sat in the prison tower

City of Aigues Mort as pictured from the ramparts.  The castle in at the end of the road the middle.  This picture shows just how big the ramparts were and how they stretched all the way around the city.

The final part of this trip was a two hour long catamaran trip.  We cruised on the Mediterranean along the coast and it was quite wavy, but overall an excellent sail-yacht ride.  The Mediterranean has deepest blue water I have ever seen and the day was perfect- sunny, warm, and just a bit breezy.  Sadly, no pictures here other than of the sail to give an idea of how big the catamaran was.  There were topless European women so I couldn't really take any pictures once we got going...

Sail of the large catamaran we rode on

Overall, it was a great saturday trip, the last one before classes start.  I have been to two of my classes so far and they have been mostly with other Americans, but taught in french.  Today was my first day of grammar and writing methodology and it's a class I'm actually looking forward to, because it will help me immensely when I have to write papers for actual french professors.  I have class monday afternoons, wednesday mornings, and all day tuesday/thursday, with fridays off.  This makes a great schedule for travel!  I'm most likely going to Paris in three weeks and I'm spending a week in the UK at the end of October.  Blog posts will be less travel stories, more life in france oriented until I travel again.  I'm going to a post about a typical day's food, the french university system, french culture, and of course, keep updating about what I'm doing in my classes.  Until next week...au revoir.

The Medieval Castle at Carcassonne

The past week has been full of new challenges, one of which has been finding time to post on this blog!  So, today, after a trip to the fortified city of Aigues-Mort and the port city of Grau du Roi, I decided I would do a post on last week's visit to the medieval city of Carcassonne.

This week,  I have mostly spent my time figuring out the french university system and getting to know my host family.  French universities are very different from the US and not in a good way.  They are highly bureaucratic and lack any organized structure.  For instance, each department decides for themselves when to start classes.  So on thursday I went to my first class only to discover that the history dept. will not commence classes until next monday!  

After the three week orientation course ended wednesday, everyone in the program chose their classes for the semester at the university.  I chose to take five classes:

• Contemporary european history 1815-1989
• Medieval french literature
• Theatre and politics in 16th c. french literature
• Grammar and writing methods in french
• French civilization

Three of these classes are with only other American students and two- the history and politics classes- are with other french students in an integrated setting.  I'm really looking forward to starting all my classes and getting into a routine, one that allows me to sleep and travel more.  This should be possible, because I have no classes fridays or monday mornings.

Living with my host family this past week has been an educational, and immensely positive experience.    The food has been mostly traditional french and southern french style food and each night we eat a multi-course dinner with plenty of cheese and wine.  I've decided that I love the cheese, but I don't love the wine.  It reminds of paint thinner and I'm sure that's insulting to french wine, but I can't stand drinking it.  But that's ok, because my host family doesn't expect it.  And my host sister doesn't like cheese at all.  The running joke is that between us, we are banned from france!

Since my host parents are older, they often correct my french slang that I have learned in the states and they always correct my grammar when I speak incorrectly, which I appreciate because it helps me improve as much as possible.  Living with a host family is an amazing experience and I am enjoying every aspect of it.  There are oddities:  no clothes dryers or microwaves in real french houses, separate rooms for bathroom and toilet, excessive darkness in the house because electricity is so expensive.  

A quick overview of last saturday's trip to Carcassonne.  The city and it's castle are about two hours west toward Spain from where I am in Montpellier, but it was definitely worth the two hour bus ride to get there.  This is where every movie about the Middle ages has ever been filmed.  The castle contains a small city with merchants, restaurants, and an amazing Cathedral.  The castle was first built to defend southwestern France from attacks during Roman times in 100 BC and it remained important throughout the Middle Ages as warring kings fought over it until 1659 when the french border moved further south toward Spain, reducing its importance.

It felt like being a movie set walking around the ramparts and inside the towers.  We were given a tour of the entire outside portion of the castle and spent hours walking around the small city inside.  They actually let vehicles drive around inside too, but only for a few hours each morning to bring in supplies for shops and restaurants.  

Most of the castle was restored in the 1800's which is why it is in such good repair today.  The walls, towers, and ramparts are well remarkably restored.

The most amazing part of the trip for me however was not castle itself but the Cathedral that serves the city. 

The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous and remains in very good condition, with an intricate organ and fantastic stained glass windows (not pictured).  While we were in the church, a male quartet began singing a cappella hymns.  If I can figure out how to upload the video I took, I will.  It was beautiful and made the trip really special.

I wish I could describe Carcassonne with better detail- I encourage you to Google it and read about it.  It is truly an amazing place and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which keeps it protected and renders it a huge tourist destination.  It lives up to its fame as a Medieval castle with Roman heritage.

There should be another post tomorrow about today's trip to see another castle and sail on a catamaran yacht.  It was very cool, especially the yacht.  I'm also going to try to do a post on the food I have been eating, most of which has been excellent and very regional cuisine.  Look for another, shorter post tomorrow.