Tourist Attractions in France - Montsegur

A delightful little city in the Ariege department of the Midi Pyrenees is Mirepoix. The centre square is the jewel of Mirepoix with its overhanging medieval buildings, covered square and magnificent church. A great day to visit is a Monday when Mirepoix has its market day. It is a favourite amongst tourists and never fails to impress the first time you go there.

From Mirepoix you can head towards Lavelanet and Chalabre, turning left off the Lavelanet road to head towards Chalabre means you will be afforded some gorgeous views of the Pyrenees which at the right time of year can be a wonderful scene of snow capped mountains which you view down a lovely valley of open countryside. Chalabre itself is a quaint little town of tree lined avenues and a central square. On this particular trip however we decided to only pause briefly in Chalabre before heading on up the hill to Puivert where we could get a view of the Château there.

For us this was an opportunity to stop for lunch and we found an Afghan restaurant that served very nice pizzas and a few other choice dishes including some specialities from Afghanistan. The food was served quite quickly and was very good, we weren't very adventurous and stuck to the pizzas but it was good and the restaurant was very clean and decorated in an Afghan style. So yes it is recommended if you want a quick lunch.

After lunch we resumed our journey towards Montsegur and on route we discovered the Fontestorbes fountain. Fontestorbes fountain is a remarkable underground hydro-geological phenomena.

Rain and snow from the 'Pays de Sault' plateau filters through a calcium rock formation to the accumulate in a myriad of underground pockets before going on to feed the 'Hers' tributary in the Ariege. It was recorded to deliver a flow rate of 15,200 litres a second on the 7th December 1966.

There are 2 different flow modes depending on the time of year, it is either 'Continuous Flowing' through from autumn to spring or 'Intermittent Flowing' during the summer months. During the times of low water in the summer the water flows strongly for a period then dwindles to a small stream before building back up again to a strong flow. The cycle varies between 60 and 90 minutes in length.

The reason for the intermittent flow is due to a system of naturally occurring channels that creates a mixture of air and water which subsequently causes the changes in the rate of flow.

If you visit, you can get a full explanation of the phenomena with illustrations in several different languages displayed on the notice boards around the fountain.

Personally I preferred to look at the rock formations caused by the flow and the fountain itself, you can get into the cave along the stepping stones at low flow for a good look at the interior of the cave.

Montségur is at an altitude of 1207m to the south west of Carcassonne near the Pyrenees. You would think that due to its location that it would be impossible to breach, but actually it is known as the last significant fortification to fall towards the end of the Albigensian crusade.

Besieged by an army of around 10,000 men the Cathars, who were considered to be heretics by the Roman Catholic church, surrendered in March 1244 after a crusade led by Simon De Monfort which had lasted more than 30 years. Two Hundred and twenty Cathars that refused to renounce their faith were burned to death at the base of the fortress.

It is rumoured that during the siege of the fortress some Cathars managed to slip away carrying some form of treasure considered to be of extreme importance to the Cathar religion; perhaps even the 'Holy Grail' itself. Although what was rumoured to have been removed has never actually been identified or discovered. All sounds a bit Da Vinci Code to me.

The climb up to the fortress is quite steep and passes by the village of Montsegur which sits below the fortress. On arrival, there is quite a bit of car parking space, but the final climb to the fortress itself is on foot and a reasonably steep walk. So not for the faint hearted. The views from the peak are pretty impressive however and you can see for miles all around on a clear day. If you are going to walk up you probably need to allow yourself around half an hour each way, depending on fitness levels.