September 13 Lunch and Church

After trudging up and down every stairway in the castle, we were all ready for lunch. What a lunch it was! Pure Langueduc!

A huge bowl of snails. Not stuffed with parsley and butter, but served in a thick spicy red sauce!

Salad served with warm crisp bread and soft cheese.

A charcuterie plate topped with a sprig of currents.

And cassoulet, a perfectly seasoned mixture of duck, pork, and white beans! Delicious!

After lunch we were off to church . . . Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse

There has been a church here since the 6th century, ordered by Theodoric the Great, ruler of the Visogoths. That church no longer exists. The present one was built in the 11th century. It was later enlarged and remodeled in the Gothic style (completed in 1330). The exterior of the church was redone by the same architect who restored the chateau and the walls of Carcassonne. The interior is still as it was in 1330.

Some of the grotesques that decorate the outside of the church.