Canal du Midi begins: La Vie En Rosé

Monday, May 20, 2019,  Canal du Midi--Does life get any better than this?  As we gently cruise at 5 kmh down the Canal du Midi, we can reflect on the meals and the wines we have enjoyed in less than 24 hours--a Caesar's salad for lunch with a local grenache gris vin rosé, followed by a perfectly ripe camembert and apricot bread pudding with white peach sorbet;  a breakfast of cold cuts, yoghurt, eggs and baguette, croissants etc; and, a dinner last night of a local pinot noir, which is quite full-bodied compared to a burgundy, turbot as the main course with harissa and quinoa with mixed vegetables, and as a starter asparagus, egg, local ham, and hollandaise with parmesan cheese.

And we did enjoy the wine.  It's really hard to keep up with the number of wines and cheeses we've had since there are generally a local rosé and one or two cheeses with lunch two at each meal (John says "just") one.  

Monday, in spite of all the wine Sunday night, rising at 8 AM, we left about 9 AM for Carcassonne, a truly world-famous medieval fortress, restored by Violett le Duc in the 19th century.  Its history goes back to the Romans, with many walls from the Trancovel dynasty of the 10th century, and the Simon de Montfort and the Albigensian crusade.   Pictures describe Carcassonne better than words so we'll try with some.   Much of the castle's foundation dates from Roman times, but most of it is medieval.  It fell into disrepair when it ceased to be a border fort in the 17th century after boundaries were set between France and Spain.  At that point it was used as housing, becoming a slum, then a quarry as builders needed materials for new construction, until fears in the mid-19th century that it would be totally destroyed, a group hired le Duc to rebuild it.  Among other things he also rebuilt Notre Dame de Paris.

Carcassone, Main Entrance

Today much of the castle is the 19th century idea of the 14th century, but it is magnificent.  Its pinnacle towers, rebuilt walls and wooden soldier sites are what we consider a medieval fort.   

The happy 10

12th century rose window

Inside the church has some stained glass windows that date from times when the alchemists knew how to develop chemicals that allowed the glass makers a chance to make some of the deepest colors, as shown in the 12th century rose window.  Some of the other windows show the life and ancestry of Jesus Christ and another the Tree of Life.  

We got lost on the walls as we were trying to leave.  It took us half an hour of walking the turrets and archer positions till we could get down and get back to the boat.

Minerve: Cesse River Valley Canyon

Minerve

Medieval stained glass in the Gothic apse

At one of the canal's major points

Iris from the days of Louis XIV

We spent the afternoon aboard the barge, though Ben and some of the others took off for a walk, at the same speed along the banks, then dinner:  shallot tarte tatin, then roast pigeon with blood sausage beignets, puréed carrots and celeriac.  The first course had a white from La Clape, granache blanc, and the main course was kept wet by a mixed red, also from La Clape.

First steps to olive oil

Lucques olives

Tuesday, May 21, on the way to Capestang--This morning we headed off to olive and olive oil tasting at L'Oulibo, a cooperative, where we tasted exquisite Lucques and Pincoline olives and then olive oils made from them.   We learned how to pick olives (by hand for green, by machine later for the ripe black), and how the system grinds the oil and refines it and sometimes clears it.  

From there we headed into the mountains to Minerve, a mountain fastness of a village of religion that the Pope held to be heretical and ordered extinguished by a crusade.  Known as the Albigensian Crusade it was the first crusade of Christian against Christian, and foreshadowed the Inquisition.   

We returned to lunch of Norwegian fish soup, tomato salad, frittata, goat cheese with goji berries, and the final touch--bay leaf and walnuts ice cream.  Our wine was a 9% rosé.