Gorges de Galamus and Peyrepertuse

Author's note: My camera battery died on this day, so all of these photos are copied from a variety of Internet sites, but I chose ones which looked exactly like what we saw. A lot of the prose is also borrowed from Wikipedia, but with my own flair.

In keeping with our castle explorations, we travelled about an hour away to see the Cathar castle, Peyrepertuse. Since we are never ones to get to a site directly, we went up and around and through a very interesting, beautiful and knuckle whitening gorge called Le Gorges de Galamus. The entrance was beautiful with a nice view overlooking l'Hermitage de Saint Antoine. There is also a short trail to closely view the hermitage, but we were eager to see the castle.

I should have pushed for the hermitage trail because the drive through the gorges scared the life out of me. Please note that Craig (not Kris) was driving the somewhat large Pilot down this very narrow cliff-hugging path that is barely wide enough for automobiles, but seemed to be a well-used route for transport. We had a few tight squeezes, but the road was well-equipped to allow for passing. My husband is so much braver than I am because I never would have even considered this way. I did keep my eyes open the entire time though because it really was "gorge"ous - couldn't resist that one!

The road is to the left in this photo.

Time for Wikipedia: "Probably the finest of the 'Cathar castles of Languedoc', Peyrepertuse is situated in a very dramatic location atop a very high, thin rocky needle. The castle appears almost invisible at first, so closely it resembles the rock on which it is built and we can only wonder at the incredible feat it was to build a castle in such a location." The location is very remote and the road to the castle very windy and steep. After arriving at the parking area, we had a quick picnic and proceeded up the dramatic trail. This place was well-worth the trip!


"Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrenees. The name of Peyrepetuse is derived from the ancient language called Occitan and means Pierced Rock. The lower portion of the castle was built on a strategic location along the French/Spanish border by the kings of Aragon in the 11th Century and the upper portion by Louis IX later on. The two castles are linked together by a huge staircase. However the castle lost importance as a strategic castle when the border of the two countries was moved in 1659. It was abandoned. Unlike many other castles in the region was never subjected to siege, instead it was handed over to the French government in 1240."
It is also known as one of the "five sons of Carcassonne", five major castles which were used to protect the border. As we drove back home, we were able to see another "son", Quéribus, atop its mountain and it was also impressive. That castle can be seen easily, but most of the castle is actually situated underground.

Okay, time to vacuum!