Day 1: 7.31am London St Pancras International to Gard du Nord Paris and a short metro hop to Montparnasse station for the south-bound train to Toulouse
Montparnasse station is clearly undergoing a major renovation, there are bare concrete walls and temporary wooden hoardings everywhere. It’s also currently undergoing an evacuation, with several policeman gesturing at me to leave the area where I’m currently having my first French coffee of the trip.
I have been brushing up on my French language skills using the Duolingo app but since I haven’t yet progressed much past identifying apples and greeting people, I’m not really sure what they are saying to me. I catch the word ‘baggage’ and so I bundle up my bags and follow along with everybody else.
Around the corner, people stop walking so quickly, here everything seems business as usual and people are buying baguettes and pastries from stalls in the vast station concourse, under the large lit-up boards with their lists of destinations. It’s not until half an hour later, when I’m hurrying along to platform 8 to catch the 13.47 to Toulouse that I see someone’s replied to my evacuation Tweet with the word ‘explosion’ and hitting Google Translate – very quickly – I discover that the station was closed when the authorities found a piece of unidentified baggage and carried out a controlled explosion to destroy it.
Had they found an disposed-of-incorrectly used-coffee-cup, they couldn’t have acted with any more calmness, efficiently or ease. It’s been a lesson in how to not panic a large group of people – the fact that one of that group had no idea at all what was happening is beside the point – and also a lesson to all of us travellers, not to stupidly leave our bags unattended. Because not only will we cause a major incident – we will also find ourselves suddenly without any luggage.
I like the trains in France. The Eurostar from London to Paris has been comfortable but with Eurostar you expect that, zipping easily through 50.45 km of underground tunnel under 75m of seawater. Now I’m boarding a double-decker train for a 4-hour journey to Toulouse and my seating area is kitted out like a multi-functional work-station – I have plug sockets and phone charger connectors, a large and small size folding desk, a pull-out coat hanger and a pull-down footrest, integrated lighting, a cupholder and – love this – an in-seat mirror.
We travel through the vineyards of Bordeaux and Agen on the river Garonne, the sun is warm when we reach Toulouse and my hotel is just a 4-minute walk from the station. I’m going budget when it comes to accommodation for this Interrail trip; just 65 euros tonight in my beside-the-station-hotel that is rated as basic on TripAdvisor but with great staff.
And that’s the truth, the staff go out of their way to be helpful at The Occitania – the man on the desk going up to my room to see if he can manage to shove my misbehaving UK adaptor plug into an unyielding French socket. And he can.
There are plenty of neighbourhood bars and brasseries around here and I have a beer sitting on the pavement opposite a boulangerie, so I can watch the customers leaving with their French bread. It’s the equivalent of sitting outside a vegetable shop in Ireland watching the Irish haul home sacks of potatoes.
Then, tired after having spent a large part of the day on a train, I lie in my very comfortable, crisp-linened bed, still feeling like I’m being gently rocked as I drift off to sleep.
Day 2: Toulouse to Carcassonne: scheduled journey time 40 minutes; actual journey time following thunderstorm, slightly different…
Toulouse is a cool city. It’s got plenty to see and a nice laid-back vibe, lots of big squares kitted out with umbrellas and outdoor tables and small winding streets. Not only does it have a scenic river running through it, it also has a canal and the area in-between is where most of the action takes place with shopping streets, historic sights, hotels, restaurants and bars.
The city made its money from the colour blue. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Toulouse grew rich from the pastel trade with its isatis tinctorial plant the only means of dyeing textiles blue, the colour of nobility and royalty. Fortunes were made and mansions were built and today, while the pastel merchants are long gone, you can still visit some of their houses. The Dumay Mansion and the Hôtel de Bagis are both beautiful buildings, dating from the 16th century, and you can even go inside the Hôtel d’Assézat to see the Bemberg Foundation art gallery.
There is, of course, a cathedral; the Cathedral of St Etienne, with its magnificent organ hanging aloft over the nave, its music soaring majestically to the heavens. It’s not ornate however as its nearby neighbour, the Basilica of Saint Sermin, which was built between the 11th and 14th centuries and is one of the largest preserved Romanesque buildings in Europe. Its elegant apse and peaceful side chapels almost magical in their beauty.
Saint Sernin was a key stopping-off points for pilgrims following the Way of St James and the Santiago de Compostela, as was the city’s other great historic building, the Hotel-Dieu Saint Jacques hospital. Both today are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. And so is the famous Canal du Midi, with its boat trips and cycle paths
There are a staggering 160 parks and gardens in Toulouse and down near at the Grand Rond and Jardin des Plantes, in quiet gardens between the city traffic, you will catch the locals engaging in games of boules while enjoying a couple of beers in the sun.
There’s an aerospace museum, as well as a chance to visit the A380 and A350 aircraft assembly lines. Toulouse is home to Airbus, as well as the Dewoitine and Aerospatiale aircraft manufacturers, and many of the world’s most famous aircraft make their maiden voyages from here.
You won’t squeeze it all into a day but I fit in as much as I can and am on the train to Carcassone at 6.50pm. It’s a nice short journey and we’re due to arrive just 40 minutes later. But an hour later the train is still sitting in the station, the deluge of rain we had earlier in the evening appears to have flooded the tracks.
So, we’re all given large boxes containing salads, snacks, treats, juice, water and – get this – a colouring book and pencils. Workers are pumping water from the tracks further down the line we’re told, as we sit here eating our dinner and doing colouring-in. We don’t move until 9.30pm, are on a bit of a go-slow due to the wet tracks and so I don’t see Carcassonne until 10.30pm.
But, just like yesterday, it’s all managed calmly and efficiently by the staff. I meet some lovely people on the train including French Edith who is surprised to find an Irish woman with a French name while hers is so very English. And Marie Do, in whose AirBnB studio I am staying for my two nights in Carcassonne, not only drives to the station to pick me up, she also gives me a big hug when she gets there.
And so I get my first view of the stunningly beautiful Cite de Carcassonne, high on its ramparts with towers floodlight against the night sky and Marie Do stops in the middle of the road so I can take a photo. Then I’m taken to a cosy studio apartment filled with books, dressed in fairy lights and sporting its own private outdoor terrace. I sleep the sleep of the very-tired-but-happy.
Day 3: Carcassonne, medieval monuments and a day without trains
800 years after the overthrow of the Cathars by the Crusaders, there is another ‘big row’ brewing in Carcassonne. It’s to do with concentric circles. Large yellow ones, specifically.
The stunning Cite de Carcassonne is a tiny fortified city enclosed by two outer walls and 53 towers, following a concentric design. It was first fortified by the Romans around 100BC, ceded to the Visgoths in the 5th century and passed through various rulers until it became a stronghold of the Occitan Cathars in the Middle Ages. Persecuted and driven out by the Catholic Church’s Crusaders, the city surrendered and passed into the hands of the King of France in 1247. He also founded the ‘new town’ across the river, today a thriving city centre, overlooked by the mighty fortress.
The fortifications date from a number of different periods, from Roman to medieval to modern, and were given a complete restoration in the 19th century by the famous French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. He was criticised heavily for his use of some non-authentic materials in his renovation and now, here in the 21st century, the howls of criticism over another contemporary update can be heard again.
This time it’s Swiss artist Felice Varini suffering the tide of abuse. His crime? He’s covered the outside walls of the fortress around the Porte d’Aude with huge yellow concentric circles, a project commissioned by France’s Centre of National Monuments (CMN) and scheduled to run until September 2018.
He’s certainly brightened up the view on that side of the city – and also divided the locals. The city has aligned itself into camps of ‘Oui’ and ‘Non’ on this one. I was only 10-minutes inside the walls when I had met two vigorous advocates of both. My tour guide – ‘Oui’ – and a knight – ‘Non’.
The knight is Jean-Francois Vassal, who can trace his family in the area back to the 15th century and is one of only 50 people allowed to live within the ancient city walls. He’s a knight by design, rather than by honour, running the Centre d’Histoire Vivante Medievale offering guided tours and battle re-enactments, demonstrations of knightly lifestyles and insights into everyday existence in medieval times, as well as language courses and historical perspectives.
He holds an MA in Medieval History and one of his recent publications includes a chapter in the academic study From Carrickfergus to Carcassonne. Carrickfergus, as anyone who is familiar with the song ‘I wish I was in Carrickfergus’ will know, is an Irish town in Co Antrim, one of the oldest in the country. It’s not a place I expected to come across in Carcassone, much less find a scholarly book linking the two, but I’m liking the synchronicity.
I’ve wanted to see Carcassonne for a very long time, yes, even before the Germans invented the board game or Kate Mosse wrote Labyrinth . The ancient city itself is tiny and, as expected, quite busy with tourists. The best time to visit is morning, before most of them are up, and the best months to come are April, May, September and October, when the weather is still fine but the tiny ancient cobbled streets are quieter.
As well as the castle, there’s the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire to visit, currently being staked out by a quartet of Russian tenors who sing arias inside the beautiful building throughout the day, in the hope of selling CDs. There are shops stocking everything from local liqueurs and gourmet snacks to plastic swords and medieval princess costumes.
And there’s cassoulet. The quintessential dish from this part of the country that combines duck and sausage with flavoured white beans and is so famous it has two organisations dedicated to its support – the Academie Universelle de Cassoulet and the Route des Cassoulets.
There’s also the Carcassonne treasure. Stolen by the Visgoths from the Romans in the early Middle Ages, it reportedly languishes deep in one of the old city’s 22 medieval wells, though apparently the Germans had a good rummage around for it during the Second World War occupation.
But the beautiful sunshine common to this part of the world has eluded it so far today; by early evening the sky is dark and brooding and the towers are throwing mighty shadows across the Porte Narbonnaise and its drawbridge. There’s a light wind blowing and if you listen carefully you can almost hear the horses’ hooves clattering up the cobblestones to the gate, the knights of the Cathars back once more to claim their birthright.
For a great up-to-date guide on the best of Carcassonne to see and do, as well as history and culture, eating and drinking and even advice on moving there, check out this information page, maintained by @CarcassonneAude – you’ll find him on Twitter – yet another Irish-connection I made on the trip. There are two official tourist offices in the city, in the old town close to the castle and in the new town’s Rue Verdun, close to the Place Carnot. Visit the website here.
Day 4: Carcassone to Montpellier: scheduled journey time, an hour and a half; chaos caused to schedule due to a train strike, huge
The man at the information desk in the train station is pointing to a screen that says the train to Montpellier leaves at 19.33, I am pointing to the information I have written down from the website that says it leaves at 13.27, with subsequent trains due to leave at 15.00 and 17.00. ‘Non’, says the man. ‘Pourquoi?’ I ask, thinking that Duolingo language app has really come in handy on this trip. He shrugs his shoulders. ‘La greve’.
Duolingo didn’t cover that one so I Google it. A strike. There’s a train strike and so, rather than getting to Montpellier to spend the afternoon wandering its old town, it looks like I’ll be staying in Carcassone and checking out its new one. While it’s pretty annoying having to wait 7 hours to get on a train I thought I was getting on right now, I’m glad that at least there is a train today and, as I didn’t have time to visit the main centre of Carcassone yesterday, I head for there now.
The ‘new’ city of Carcassonne is actually 800 years old and very atmospheric with lovely old architecture – the obligatory massive double doors and trellis-work balconies trailing hanging plants – and narrow pedestrianised streets that break out suddenly into a big sunny square with a fountain. And after paying a visit to the cathedral of Saint-Michel where I ‘find myself’ – St Bernadette deep in prayer in front of Mary,Queen of Lourdes – I take up residence for the afternoon in a red-cushioned wicker chair in the square, the Place Carnot.
Unlike the dark and somewhat brooding Carcassonne of yesterday, today is bright and sunny and although I should probably be feeling frustrated at not being in Montpellier by now, I’m not. I’m just sitting watching people and taking it all in. Not reading, not writing, not listening to music, not posting on social media, not even looking at my phone. Just sitting looking around me and enjoying it all. And I drank a beer and nobody came to hassle me when it was finished about buying another.
If I had gone to Montpellier on the train like I planned to, I would have been out now with my guidebook and my maps, pounding the pavement and seeing how many sights I could cram into an afternoon. But because I had no plans for Carcassonne I just sat and enjoyed it. It was a wonderful afternoon, snatched free from days of activity and travelling, one of the most enjoyable of my whole week. All because of a train strike. It reminded me that while we constantly ‘do’, sometimes it’s great to just ‘be’.
Day 5: Montpellier to Paris: scheduled time 3 and a half hours; Paris to London: scheduled time 2 and a half hours. Actual time: all of the above
I wake to intense bright sunshine and deep blue skies. Mainly because I hadn’t worked out how to close the shutters on the windows of my Montpellier AirBnB bedroom last night before I went to sleep.
I arrived at twilight in a street paved with shiny paving stones and lined with palm trees, into a mansion building with marble floors and a glass-covered courtyard. My bedroom is in a beautiful eclectic city apartment two floors up, with high ceilings and tall French windows looking out into the street. I have a whole little section to myself, with bedroom, bathroom and small foyer space, decked out with a microwave, kettle, utensils and a box of red wine. There are little madeleines in a bowl in the bedroom, a box of instant soups on the shelf by the kettle.
This interrail trip has been my first experience of using AirBnB and it’s been quite a revelation to stay with real people in the middle of areas where real people live, rather than holed up in a hotel in the tourist spots. Being nosey by nature – why else did I become a journalist – heaven is the inside of other people’s homes and AirBnB has given me legal access. From my cosy studio in Carcassonne to my mansion bedroom in Montpellier, the wonders of AirBnB have been a revelation.
I met my hostess Marvena briefly last night when I turned up 8 hours later than scheduled – the beauty of the AirBnB app makes it easy to communicate with your hosts and keep them updated on any changes – there’s even a ‘translate’ button for communicating in any language. Turns out on the AirBnB app, I speak French seamlessly.
This morning I meet Marvena’s brother who recommends that I visit the city’s Jardin des Plantes – dating from 1593, one of the oldest Botanical Gardens in Europe and the first to be created in France – and also mentions the cathedral. And so that’s what I do for the few hours admiring fountains and pretty squares as I wander the winding streets of the old town, climbing the cobblestone hill to the Saint-Pierre Cathedral and buying Hermione Lee’s biography of Virginia Woolf in a second-hand shop in the Place des Martyrs de la Resistance.
Then it’s time to catch the train from Montpellier to Paris Gare du Lyon, get myself by metro back to Gard du Nord, sit outside in the sun for a while eating a baguette – honestly, if I eat any more bread on this trip I will bleed yeast – and finally, get back on the Eurostar to London.
It’s been quite a journey – from explosions and floods to train strikes and meeting knights – but I’ve had a blast. I’ve been delighted, frustrated, excited and bemused in pretty much equal measures. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat and very much plan to. From just £220 to travel for six days in one country, what could be better than that?
I’ll tell you what. Buying a multi-country pass to travel in several countries. And that’s what I plan to do next.
An adult Interrail pass to travel in France for 6 days within 1 month is £220, travelling on any trains in the country. The pass does not have to be used within 6 days but allows for 6 days of travel over a month so you can stay for as long as you want at each destination. Simply record all of your journeys in the ‘journey details’ section of the travel report, printed on the ticket cover of your Interrail pass. You will need to show a valid passport/identify document together with your Interrail pass to train staff when requested.
All trains do not require reservations; however, reservations are required for all European night trains and most high-speed trains. Eurostar reservations, allowing you to travel from London to France to start your journey, usually cost about £30. The Interrail rail planner app provides information on the validity or your pass and additional benefits, and also allows you to make e-reservations.
You can buy an Interrail pass up to 11 months before you plan to leave.
For more information on interrailing in Europe and to book, visit www.myinterrail.co.uk
Images: Bernadette Fallon, Paul Palau