Sometimes it was almost surreal as we toured France that everywhere we went there was a big, beautiful, medieval castle overlooking the city. Castles dating back 2500 years. That's much further back than my mind can think. Ironically, I had been reading The Mists of Avalon before our trip, which is a Camelot/King Arther novel, and as we walked through some of these castles it was like I stepped right into the Mists of Avalon world. Weird. This is the Castle at Lourdes - a small ville that was part of Brennan's area when he was in Tarbes, a bonus because . . .
We actually came here to see this.
The largest Catholic pilgrimage destination in France, and for a city of only 17,000, that's pretty impressive. Of course there's a story which, in a nutshell, is that in 1858 a poor peasant girl named Bernadette saw a series of 18 visions of the Virgin Mary here. People come from all over the world to hold Mass, drink from and bathe in the water of this Grotto where the sightings occurred and wait for the Virgin Mary to appear to them.
It was interesting, but not being Catholic, I was much more interested in the castle on the other side of the valley. And these circular stairs. Every castle had circular stairs, which makes sense because of the round towers. How else are they going to get up and down those towers without circular stairs? Notice how deeply each step is worn away in the center. Centuries of people have walked up and down those stairs.
The cool thing about this castle was that it incorporated the rocks and cliffs of the hillside it was built on into walls of the castle, which gave the appearance that it wasn't built there at all, that it just rose out of the ground and was part of the hill on which it sat.
Teeming with history, these castles are. Here I am looking through a doorway with medieval spikes on the bottom of the door that lifts and lowers instead of opens and shuts. I've always wondered about the spikes. Are they there to impale the enemy if he almost gets in? And notice the cool cobblestone streets. They are not comfortable to walk on, even in good shoes.
These are called murder holes. Appropriate, though a little morbid. They threw rocks and shot arrows at the enemy through these holes, which are placed all along the castle walls.
This is just a cute picture of the boys I drug along on my trip with me. They are sitting in the garden just outside the castle. I was going to join them for this picture but look, no room on the bench.
And here is a cute picture of me and my little boys checking out a map of the castle which was engraved on some kind of stone. This one was a replica, but on the other side was an original map from castle days long ago. Don't we look like medieval royalty? If it wasn't for the coldness, I think it would have been fun to live in a castle. Especially considering that if you didn't live in a castle you were a peasant, and being a peasant doesn't sound fun.
And this is a view of the city of Lourdes from the top of the castle. A very pretty little ville at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. This one you HAVE to click on to enlarge. You just can't get see the true beauty of the ville from this small pic. And if you think this post was long, just wait until we get to Carcassonne, the real castle of castles.
Sometimes it was almost surreal as we toured France that everywhere we went there was a big, beautiful, medieval castle overlooking the city. Castles dating back 2500 years. That's much further back than my mind can think. Ironically, I had been reading The Mists of Avalon before our trip, which is a Camelot/King Arther novel, and as we walked through some of these castles it was like I stepped right into the Mists of Avalon world. Weird. This is the Castle at Lourdes - a small ville that was part of Brennan's area when he was in Tarbes, a bonus because . . .
We actually came here to see this.
The largest Catholic pilgrimage destination in France, and for a city of only 17,000, that's pretty impressive. Of course there's a story which, in a nutshell, is that in 1858 a poor peasant girl named Bernadette saw a series of 18 visions of the Virgin Mary here. People come from all over the world to hold Mass, drink from and bathe in the water of this Grotto where the sightings occurred and wait for the Virgin Mary to appear to them.
It was interesting, but not being Catholic, I was much more interested in the castle on the other side of the valley. And these circular stairs. Every castle had circular stairs, which makes sense because of the round towers. How else are they going to get up and down those towers without circular stairs? Notice how deeply each step is worn away in the center. Centuries of people have walked up and down those stairs.
The cool thing about this castle was that it incorporated the rocks and cliffs of the hillside it was built on into walls of the castle, which gave the appearance that it wasn't built there at all, that it just rose out of the ground and was part of the hill on which it sat.
Teeming with history, these castles are. Here I am looking through a doorway with medieval spikes on the bottom of the door that lifts and lowers instead of opens and shuts. I've always wondered about the spikes. Are they there to impale the enemy if he almost gets in? And notice the cool cobblestone streets. They are not comfortable to walk on, even in good shoes.
These are called murder holes. Appropriate, though a little morbid. They threw rocks and shot arrows at the enemy through these holes, which are placed all along the castle walls.
This is just a cute picture of the boys I drug along on my trip with me. They are sitting in the garden just outside the castle. I was going to join them for this picture but look, no room on the bench.
And here is a cute picture of me and my little boys checking out a map of the castle which was engraved on some kind of stone. This one was a replica, but on the other side was an original map from castle days long ago. Don't we look like medieval royalty? If it wasn't for the coldness, I think it would have been fun to live in a castle. Especially considering that if you didn't live in a castle you were a peasant, and being a peasant doesn't sound fun.
And this is a view of the city of Lourdes from the top of the castle. A very pretty little ville at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. This one you HAVE to click on to enlarge. You just can't get see the true beauty of the ville from this small pic. And if you think this post was long, just wait until we get to Carcassonne, the real castle of castles.
3 comments:
Gorgeous. Wow. That's what I loved about driving around in Europe. You would just see a castle off the side of the road. It was so much fun! Great pictures, I am loving them!
I have thought the EXACT SAME THING about the spikes on the doors. I have only seen them in movies though, that's funny that they actually had spikes on the bottom. Maybe it's just an intimidating factor. It would definitely intimidate me! Beautiful pictures. We saw one castle in Spain, but we didn't get to go in.
That last photo is absolutely gorgeous...what a beautiful view.
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