Languedoc

Making a southerly beeline, we reached our next hotel, just outside the entrance bridge of Carcassone's La Cité, Europe's largest fortified city. On a hilltop strategically identified by the Romans around 100 B.C. as Julia Carsaco, later Carcasum, the walled city eventually became Carcassone. The impregnable fortifications once protected the peaceful, vegetarian Cathars, until they were forced to surrender in 1209 by the crusading army of Simon de Montfort. In 1853, the masterful architect and engineer Eugène Viollet-le-Duc undertook restoration when Carcassone was threatened with demolition, having fallen into grave disrepair.

La Cité was hot and dusty in the late afternoon. Seeking relief, I stumbled into the small Musée de l'Ecole, which contains a reconstruction of a late-1800s classroom. Also on display were documents, furniture, and school materials from the time of Jules Ferry, who wrote a set of French laws that established the first free education in France in 1881. Later, stuffed with the hearty local specialty, cassoulet, and an equally robust house red, we set off for a cooler night-time walk along the warmly illuminated walls of our fortress city. The massive double walls are nearly two miles around and include 53 towers.

The next day Patrick outdid himself by taking us to a marvelous Languedoc winery, in the process of being renovated and modernized. Practicing "Integrated Agriculture" in every aspect of the winemaking process, Serge is building an energy-efficient winery with solely natural materials. Their Château des Hospitaliers, Coteau de Languedoc vin rouge and vin blanc are being marketed in the U.S. After a gracious and informative tour, they hosted an ambrosial tasting of several of their wines, followed by a buffet lunch on their sun-dappled patio. We heartily partook of several kinds of cheese, crusty French bread with black and green olive patenade, fresh-picked apricots from the orchard and, of course, more wine. (Learn more about French wines, and what does terroir really mean?)

Warm and fuzzy from the wine, comfort food, good company, and sunshine, we were off next to Provence and the astonishingly well-preserved 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard. The Pont was a critical link in the 30-mile-long aqueduct that carried 9,000,000 gallons of water per day to Nîmes. The main arch is the largest ever built by the Romans — appropriate because Nîmes was one of ancient Europe's largest cities. I couldn't resist a quick swim in the cool water near the arched aqueduct. (For a 360° QuickTime close-up tour of the Pont du Gard, click here.)

Our day ended happily with a group dinner in a vaulted dining room in Arles and a restful night in the Hotel Calendal near the Théâtre Antique and the Roman Amphitheatre. But not before we took an early evening walk around the neighborhood, including a close look at the stunning facade of the Romanesque Église St-Trophime in the Place de la République. Nobody describes this better than Rick Steves, "Like a Roman triumphal arch, the church trumpets the promise of Judgment Day. The tympanum is filled with Christian symbolism. Christ sits in majesty, surrounded by symbols of the four evangelists...It's Judgment Day...some are saved and others aren't. Notice the condemned — a chain gang doing a sad bunny-hop over the fires of hell.... In an illiterate medieval world, long before the vivid images of our Technicolor time, this was a neon billboard over the town square." (For a 360° QuickTime close-up tour of the facade of Église St-Trophime and the Place de la République, click here.)