Number 1 – Carcassonne Castle.
Also known as ‘La Cite’ and found in the Aude Department (11) of France.
The best time to visit is the 14th July so that you can experience the Bastille Day celebrations and an amazing fireworks display that starts each year at 10.pm. Visit Carcassonne for more information.
Number 2 – Montpellier Capital of the Languedoc Roussillon region of France and a truly cosmopolitan city with a thriving cafe culture.
A lovely place to spend a day visiting the sites of interest and taking a long leisurely lunch to enjoy the cuisine and watch the community going about its daily business in a people watching extravaganza.
Number 3 – The Millau ViaductSimply to marvel at the splendor of the worlds tallest bridge and admire the accomplishment of this incredible engineering feat.
Just north of Montpellier on the A75 to Clermont-Ferrand. Visit Millau Viaduct for more information
Number 4 – LagrasseCapital of the Corbieres wine producing region and a lovely stone built medieval town. Driving through the vineyards and rolling hills of Corbieres to reach this lovely little town makes the effort worthwhile in its own right. Visit Corbieres for more information.
Number 5 – The Canal Du Midi
There are number of places to catch up with the Canal Du Midi, the one illustrated here is at Castelnaudary where there is a 5 level lock. Pretty impressive really.
A few other nice places to see it, not too far away, are Bram, Bezieres, Carcassonne and Trebes.
Number 6 – Toulouse, Ville RoseThe capital of the South of France and a beautiful city sitting on the Garonne River. Home to France’s aerospace industry and host to more places of interest than you can shake a stick at. These include the Victor Hugo food market, the Canal Du Midi, Donjon du Capitol and much more. Visit Toulouse for more information.
Number 7- Mirepoix
Gorgeous little medieval city which oozes character and interest. Not sure the kids would enjoy it, but mum will love the shops and dad will love having a beer or a glass of the local vino and watching the world go by.
Number 8 – Revel & St Ferreol
Famous for its food market, rated in the top 100 for France, and benefiting from its location at the foot of the Black Mountains national park. La Montagne Noire is an area of outstanding natural beauty and will appeal to the lovers of the out doors.Visit Revel for more information.
The Lac de St Ferreol is only 5 minutes from Revel and is a lovely man made lake that feeds the Canal du Midi.
Number 9 – Collioure
A beautiful little fishing port on the Mediterranean coast just south of Perpignan. Well known for its famous inhabitants that were very capable of putting a brush to canvas i.e.Picasso et al.
I would recommend lunch at one of the many seafood restaurants over looking the small pebble beach.
Visit South of France for more information.
Number 10 – Minerve
Minerve is the capital of the Minervois wine region in France. A stone built medieval town which has the dubious honour of being the first town laid to siege during the Albigensian Crusade that had its inhabitants burned to death for refusing to renounce their faith.
Visit Minervois for more information.
The scenery and landscapes surrounding Minerve are quite spectacular and the town is a fabulous place to visit, possibly as part of a wine tour of the region.
If you click on the photographs you should get a bigger photograph, definitely worth doing for one or two of them.
These are really good places to visit.
NSW south coast accommodation
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Reading your blog makes me want to just forget about everything here, pack up and fly to France. to visit your picturesque gite and the places above. see you soon.
One of the greatest places! The food is of exquisite taste, and the places are of great style and architecture. Very favourable!