Journey home part two

We left San Carles de la Rapita and headed out on the motorway once again, this time heading towards the delightful city of Carcassonne and here things went a little wobbly, to say the least. Our apartment that we had found on AirBnB was low cost, shall we say. However, it turned out to be low rent. We should have realised that things were not quite as we might expect when we were asked whether we had our own bedding. In fact we did, so no problem there. Then we had to pay €10 for towels.

When we arrived, the street looked dodgy with a gang of men huddled at one end. Pulling into the courtyard we realised that our motor stuck out like a sore thumb! Fortunately, we had garage access so could hide it away quickly. When we found our way to the apartment, it was through a dank concrete staircase that was lit by a timed switch, which we struggled to find at first.

Finally getting into the flat, after wrestling with the key, we were faced with a bedroom - containing a bed and not much more. There was however a pack of Polyfilla on the shelves. Always handy. Downstairs, the living and dining area was OK-ish, but was cheap and fairly nasty, with a concrete balcony facing out onto the river. The building was like a soviet blockhouse. We made the best of a bad job ... until we realised there was no toilet in the bathroom. Where was it? It was under the stairs and so tiny that you had to crouch to get into it.

We went out to a rough supermarket where the frozen food was two months out of date - well spotted, Hadley! Then we went back, made a bizarre dinner and settled down to watch a film and then go to bed. At least it was our own linen!

At 3:45am there was a loud clack and 50 cycles per second buzzing - the sound of an electrical circuit. We tried to ignore it but something had gone wrong. We hunted and found the noise came from the "wardrobe" - a cupboard that also housed the electricity consumer unit, which had no cover on it, leaving the electrics open to the elements. Beneath this another switch was buzzing and taking my life in my hands, I flicked a tiny sub-switch below it. The noise ceased and we went back to bed. We shouldn't have been surprised. The whole place was jerry-built and falling apart - see the pic of the light fitting in the bathroom!

Neither of us felt very safe and we fretted through the rest of the night, finally waking up around eight and diving straight for the phone to look up Booking.com and get a room for that night. The Hôtel l'Aragon is situated right beneath the outside of the city walls. It was clean, cheerful, bright and welcoming. However, the water was off for three hours when we arrived! Nonetheless, we settled in and then visited Carcassonne proper.

What a delight this place is. With its medieval walls restored in the 19th century by a well-meaning architect, there is much controversy that surrounds the image that it portrays. How true to the original is it - no one knows. So the architect made his best efforts and rebuilt whole swathes of the walls and the inner towers, providing a sight that is quite spectacular. You can tour the walls and the inner buildings, listening as you go to an audio commentary.

We loved the place and strongly recommend it to anyone who loves this type of visit. The hotels and restaurants inside the walls were a bit tourist trap-ish, but none the worse for that. We ate well and slept well, before setting out on the final leg of our journey home.