I will never tire of seeing the amazing castles - or what is
left of them - scattered around the south of France. There are countless
remnants that once stood tall and strong, built for defence often at the top of
a mountain, with a small village at the foot.
I have enjoyed reading stories about the history of this
area, which saw so many wars and battles before our country was even
'discovered'. One set of castles in particular attracted my attention.
Always keen to check out a medieval castle, Marty and I decided to take the short 45 minute drive north-east to Lastours to check them out.
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| Three of the four Castles of Lastours |
We took a moment to take in the village, with its ancient Roman ovens on the river bank in the middle of the village. Some of the houses were built into the surrounding rock mountain walls, others built on top of the walls.
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| A view of Lastours from above |
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| Hiking up the mountain |
From the town at the base of the mountain we could see the
first of the castles. The round tower stood proudly on the edge of the mountain
overlooking the valley. We began our ascent to this tower, and it wasn't long
before I felt the climb in my legs. I wondered to myself how they would have
built such an impressive structure so long ago, when I couldn't even imagine
how they would do it today.
We stopped half way up at a small look out to take in the
sights around us; we were surrounded by mountains in every direction, and the
small village below grew even more interesting as we could see it from a
height.
The modern steps that assisted our climb so far had ended
and we were on our own on the narrow, pebbly path as we continued up toward the
first of the castles, called Quertinheux. This structure had a circular tower
surrounded by various walls, the one at the entrance built in a zigzag for
defensive purposes.
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| The first castle, Quertinheux, up close |
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| Quertinheux on its perch |
This castle was amazingly built into the rock atop a separate
part of the mountain that seemed to stand on its own. It wasn't until we were
past the castle onto the second one that we could see how impressive the
structure really was.
The second castle, called Surdespine, was larger than the
first, with more walls still standing, even if they were only in part. The main
difference however was that it's tower was square, not circular, and there were
very few loop-holes in this tower.
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| The square tower of Surdespine |
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| Marty on his way to the third castle, Tour Regine |
The third tower had the most interesting element to it.
Called Tour Regine, this castle was built to assert the king's supremacy when
the other three were rebuilt following a siege. It had a round tower similar to
the first castle, but this tower had a ceiling built of rock. It was curved,
and really made an impact when entering the tiny room in the tower via a
modernised staircase.
It was difficult to capture how impressive this room was in
photos, but we spent some time just marvelling at the structure with a curved
stone ceiling.
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| The last two castles |
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| The curved ceiling of Tour Regine |
The first three towers were all built for defensive
purposes, with the fourth one being the principal castle, called Cabaret. The
entrance to the castle had remnants of structured walls designed for defensive
purposes, and inside was divided into separate areas, with the whole structure
being a lot larger than the other castles.
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| The other three castles can be seen from Cabaret |
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| The arched walls of Cabaret, with the ramparts above |
The keep was polygonal in shape, and we could walk up a set
of stairs to overlook the other three castles. We could see the structural
remnants of a main room or building on the ground floor and another tower at
the other end.
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| Marty scoping out the ramparts of Cabaret |
The walls had an amazing arched detail to them, with the layers
of rocks living proof of meticulous construction. What was left of the walls
showed evidence of ramparts where soldiers would walk around to keep watch and
use for defensive positions.
On the far side of the last castle, down the mountain into
the valley, there were remnants of an ancient village that had once housed
people alongside the river. This village has only been discovered in the last
20 years after research and ongoing archaeological digs, which have unearthed
an almost intact village, including household items from the day. This suggests
that the village was abandoned almost immediately during a siege, with the
residents fleeing and leaving everything behind.
Further reading has told me of the area's colourful history,
starting with evidence of life in the immediate area dating back to the 6th
century. The three original castles were built closer to the village by the
Cabaret family in the 11th century, but were destroyed, along with the village,
by royal troops at the end of the crusade against Catharism in the 13th century,
in retaliation for the role they played in supporting the Cathar movement in
the area.
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| Remnants of the village at the bottom of the mountain |
Rebuilt on top of the mountain and with a fourth tower added,
the castles became a military and administrative centre for surrounding communities
before being occupied by the Protestants in the 16th century, and finally
abandoned after the French Revolution.
It is an amazing experience for us to be able to not only
see, touch and walk through what is left of these ancient structures that once
housed people and endured wars, but to learn about their history gives us a
greater understanding and appreciation for the area that we have been lucky enough
to live in.
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