The Castle of Queribus

Travelled : 162km
Stay: Esperaza - area,  free parking and services on the Aude River.  N42.93371 E2.21581
Visited : Queribus Castle in Cathar Country

Today we said goodbye to the Pyrenees and headed into Cathar Country.

 We drove along the windy and narrow D118 to Axat, experiencing the Gorge de l'Aude and the Gorge de St. George. 

We then turned East on to the D117 and drove up to the remains of the Cathar refuge Chateau Puilaurens. We weren't sure if we would get a good view as the clouds had come in low and as it sits on a perch at 700m alt. 

We decided that we would not visit this castle but continued on the road to Maury where we then headed North and stopped to visit the Chateau de Queribus. This castle is perched on its peak at 728m dominating the plain of Roussillon and offered spectacular views of the Pyrenees and towards the Mediterranean. Paying €6.50 each we walked up the hill to have a closer look. Most of the complex is in ruins but it had had some conservation works to enable us to explore some tunnels,  dungeons and the vaulted central hall. Earlier on it had been under the rule of Count of Barcelona and had been  part of Aragon.  It was the last stronghold to fall to the hands of the French crusaders in 1255. It had been totally reconstructed by the French kings in the 14th century but lost its strategic interest in 1659. It has been a classified monument since 1907. 

 

Please note these next 2 videos are with the gopro that we didn't realise was on... but some interesting facts were discussed about the castle... (view at own risk haha).

From here we took the roads less travelled on the D212 past Auriac but abandoned our plans to continue on this very narrow windy roads and took the D613 instead to Esperaza where we did some much needed laundering at the Intermarche before stopping at the very picturesque aire on the River Aude.