Visit castelnaudary and its neighbourhoods

Castelnaudary has a particularly long history. 2000 years with periods of exceptional prosperity: the century of gold of the pastel (1463-1562) or the centuries of the wheat (xviii and xixème)… come to discover all its treasures!

Chapels and monasteries  Circuit discovered at the beginning of the vestiges of the convent of Carmelite friars, then halt in front of the old convent of the cordeliers. Visit the collegial Michaelmas whose architecture is typical southernmost Gothic, stop in the vault Saint-Pierre of Présidial, old prison of the XVIIe century, finally discovered jewels of Castelnaudary: the vault Notre-Dame de Pitié, unique in France by its decorations out of wooden gilded over the Holy Week.

Mills of the hills, and those of the channel  Castelnaudary and its mills, what a novel! One can first of all imagine the mills pasteliers of XVIème century in the district of the Slap. The mills fariniers were also particularly numerous there. In 1520, one counted 22 of them including 14 in Pech: “they resemble giant birds stopped on the ground with wings nailed in the sky” (Prosper Estieu). From 1700 to 1800, there would be 32 mills around Castel. There remains one today about it: that of Cugarel, extremely well restored with identical of what it was in 1962, in particular inside where the mechanism and the grinding stones are original parts. Cugarel is the symbol of the economic power of Manor house and Lauragais, power based on the corn and which perdure still today, with the enormous co-operative of the GCO (old CAL).

Around the présidial  It is necessary today to walk in the so picturesque district of the old streets around Présidial or on the hill of Pech, to admire the Southern frontage of the museum, type Renaissance (XVIème or rather let us write beautiful time of the pastel). The become streets of the staircases, remote landscapes that one discovers, the Pyrenees, the Saint Barthelemy (thus Montségur), Bugarach, the Black Mountain.

Stop at the threshold of naurouze  It is necessary to see the arrival of the Drain which feeds the channel, the summit pond, the locks of the Ocean and the Mediterranean, the obelisk of Riquet; in Montferrand remainders of the castle, the headlight of Air-mail (Mermoz, Holy Exupéry), the Romance church and the steles discoïdales, the church paléochrétienne of the 4th century, the sarcophagi Visigoths, the thermal baths Romans (to ask for the authorization of visit with the town hall of Montferrand).

Castelnaudary, capital of cassoulet  What would be a visit of Castelnaudary without a tasting of our cassoulet? Each restaurant has its specific receipt and its wine of accompaniment. It is well here that the capital of this marvellous dish resides. It is imperatively necessary to return Monday, market day, to stroll on the alleys.

Montferrand   Montferrand is one of the villages lauragais richest in archaeological vestiges. Gallo-Roman thermal baths, the remainders of a church paléochrétienne of IVème century corresponding to the beginnings of Christianity in Lauragais, and transformed into cemetery, it shelters forty sarcophagi Visigoths the VI and VIIème centuries. The church Saint Pierre d' Alzonne is Romance, except for the bell-tower. Inside, one can find a beautiful collection of steles discoïdales. On the hill, walls of supporting of the disappeared castle, defended by Beaudoin against Simon de Montfort. But Beaudoin betrayed and passed on the side of the Cross ones; it will be hung a few years later on the order of his brother. The headlight transports us as for him towards the pilots of Air-mail, Mermoz, Saint Exupéry, Guillaumet and opens imaginary tours to us towards Barcelona, Morocco, Senegal, Brazil, Chile…

Under the plane trees…  Castelnaudary, city emblematic of the channel of midday, invites you to discover by the means of visits and walks this “way which goes”. It is in Castelnaudary that the royal channel of Languedoc on May 16, 1681 was officially inaugurated. A hike, of the four Saint-Roch locks to the old bridge, will enable you to discover the history of Castelnaudary and the creation of the Channel by Pierre-Paul Riquet. To finish the day, from April at October, you will be able “to take the broad one” on board a boat for a ballade of one hour or two on the channel.