When my husband found out that we might pass near Carcassonne went crazy and did everything in his power, including driving for another 5 hours after the visit, to check it out. I was responsible with checking if Luna was allowed inside and after a short google search I agreed to this little detour.
Have I searched more maybe I would have found what is this Carcassonne really about, but I found out as soon as we stepped on the cobbled stones that it is similar to Mount St. Michael in the sense that it is a castle/fortress surrounded by a city, where of course Luna was allowed, but she was not allowed inside the castle. I was happy to find a shaded terrace and tour the souvenir shops while my husband visited the thing.
So much about the castle you will not find in this article, my husband loved it, but then again he likes most of the castles we visit. It did not have furnished rooms which led me to believe it was more of a fortress than a castle, in my head the difference is, a fortress was used to defend something as opposed to a castle where lords and ladies or even kings and queens would live. I am not moved by the way people chose to defend a structure in old days, but I am fascinated by the way they lived, how they managed to decorate those creepy castle walls, how they kept warm during winter, what they were wearing, those sort of things.
Still, if you are in the area, or if you are passionate about castles, it is worth a visit. Inside the citadel (I guess I have to explain this one too, in my head a citadel is a castle surrounded by a town, similar to Minas Tirith in Lord of the Rings, so not only a defensive structure, but a living one as well) you will find a lot of affordable terraces with decent food and souvenir shops, you can discover all the hidden alleyways so, if you like me, have to stay outside with the dog, rest assured you would have plenty of things to do.
I don't remember parking being a hassle, but I think it was a little hard to find as usually in France they have a different logic, in the sense you really have to solve a puzzle to find the parking as opposed to say Ireland, where all is easy to find.
In total, I think we spend three or four hours visiting Carcassonne and on the same day reached Barcelona in Spain, so if we did it, you can also do it. Here are the pictures:
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