Thursday, November 19, 2009

Chateaux of Lastours

With the extra unplanned day in Carccasonne we ventured out into the surrounding country side. Approaching Lastours we see a castle on the hill.
There are four castles as seen from the belvedere viewpoint.
The castles are from the 11th century and were built by a father for his four sons.
It was beautiful warm day and we felt we were up for the challenge.
So up the hill we climbed. Walking past the spires of cyprus trees, climbing stone steps, and walking through a stone tunnel passage way we arrived at the top of the hill.

Stepping into the shells of these castles felt like stepping back in time.
I could picture the men in their military garb and the ladies in their dresses. I could imagine lute music playing and food cooking in the ovens.
What a spectacular view and touch with a time long ago.

6 comments:

Gayle said...

What a wonderful day! I adore the castles. What I do notice is a lack of windows. I wonder if living in them would be rather dark and cold?

Cathy said...

I'm enjoying this journey so very much. Lovely pictures.

Marilyn Miller said...

Yes Gayle, I thought the same thing. I also wondered about the smoke from fires and wondered if it was difficult to breathe.

Angela McRae said...

I think I'd be tempted to write a historical romance if I had gone on your trip! You certainly have created a wonderful "sense of place" for us!

parTea lady said...

Wonderful photos. I thought the second photo looked like a lovely old painting. It must have been a great time exploring the castle on the hill.

Relyn Lawson said...

Sigh. Such a wonderful, wonderful experience. You made me think of one of my own timeless experiences. When I was nineteen I went on a sixteen day missions trip to Egypt. One of the things we did was go horseback riding in the desert. I let the group go over the rise ahead of me so that I was alone. Timeless. It was amazing.

There isn't even a word for what it was when I caught up with my friends and topped that rise. The pyramids of Giza were below us.