There are 14 texts before mine and the vast majority of them are rather positive.

I had already visited the walled city as a child with my parents and then later a second time with my children, but in 2023, my wife and I returned with the WHS filter in our eyes.

We arrived by bike from the Canal du Midi, crossed the new town from the canal port and the old bridge (the introductory photo) then climbed the slope to the main entrance of the old town, on the east side, where a priest was blessing bikes and cyclists, strange!

And since you cant' teach an old dog new tricks, seeing a delirious crowd crowding at the entrance to the City where buffoons were clowning around in period costume,

We decided to let the tourists crowd into the narrow streets while the cyclists toured them peacefully... via the lices (Double rampart), which is great because there aren't many remains of this type left in Europe. And their size is impressive!

I will not return to the controversy surrounding Viollet-le-Duc's interpretation of the medieval fortified town, contrary to the theories of John Ruskin, but it should be noted that his idealized approach is the very foundation of modern heritage conservation methods, a counter-reaction to his work, if I may say so! The best thing to do is to go and see his greatest achievement, in the Oise, the Château de Pierrefonds, which he almost entirely rebuilt. And we must not forget either that according to Wikipedia it was not Viollet-le-Duc who was behind the safeguarding of the city, but a certain Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille, a notable and historian living at the foot of the City, relayed by the Chief Inspector and friend of Viollet-le-Duc, Prosper Mérimée.

So Carcassonne would have little medieval authenticity given that it was almost in ruins before the intervention of Viollet-le-Duc, but, when we look at the photos before his intervention, at the beginning of the 19th century, we must admit that the majority of the ramparts were still in place!

If we compare it to many other fortified cities listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites in Europe and the Mediterranean (Avilla, Toledo, San Gimignano, Valletta, Sousse, to name just a few), it is neither uglier nor more beautiful, neither more nor less interesting.

Finally, for those who might be tempted by the attraction of the fake touristy old town, it's nicer to escape the crowds and go and have a bite to eat on a terrace in front of the port of the Canal du Midi.