Special hotels are often found in very special places. I once stayed at a hotel perched in the mountains right next to Machu Pichu. At night, after the crowds left, we had the whole place to ourselves and could wander around at will. The same was true of Mont St. Michel. There is something special about a beautiful place when it is almost deserted. My husband and I experienced all this magic all over again on a wonderful trip to the enchanting city of Carcassone, where we stayed at an equally enchanting hotel, the Hotel de la Cité. It turned out to be the perfect hotel for the perfect stay.
What makes this particular hotel extraordinary is that it is embedded into the ancient walls surrounding this fortified town, which seems to be lost in time.
Upon approach, the walled city of Carcassone can be seen from a distance. Ominous and magical at the same time, it is a fortress out of a fairytale with its fifty-two watch towers and double wall, the result of sixteen centuries of work.
No sooner had we pulled into a parking area, we were picked up by the small blue van sent by the hotel, driven through an old gate and up to the doors of the hotel. As the van inched its way past a group of onlookers who must have wondered if we were royalty, royalty is what we felt like stepping into the marble floored reception hall filled with antiques and a resplendent odor of Easter lilies that had been arranged in an enormous vase and placed in the middle of the sumptuous room where we were checked in.
Hotel de la Cité is one of the Orient-Express Hotels found all over the world, renowned not only for the train of that name, but for their attention to luxury that keeps a faithful clientèle coming back again and again. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, we knew that the only thing we had to worry about was how we were going to spend the blissful evening before us.
Built on the site of a former Episcopal palace, and in operation since 1909 (it was purchased in 1997 by Orient-Express) the Hotel de la Cité has a long guest roster that includes Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill, Colette, James Stewart, Goldie Hawn and many other celebrities.
The Hotel has three restaurants. The most famous is a gourmet bastion, La Barbacane that features dishes such as free-range guinea-fowl rubbed with vanilla and carpaccio of foie-gras on a bed of pink lentil salad. A less formal lunch or dinner can be enjoyed at the brasserie Chez Saskia with its large selection of traditional French cuisine including cassoulet, the famous dish of this region.
When the weather is beautiful, there is a lovely restaurant in the Jardin de l'Evêque where a meal can be enjoyed under trees in a garden. There is also an area for private wine tastings or medieval candlelit dinners in the wine cellar with its arched brick ceiling, red terracotta floors and bottle-lined oak panelling.
Our room was perfect too: a marble-lined bathroom with a sumptuous tub to luxuriate in, a signature container at the foot of the bed where, at the touch of a button, the TV rose up for viewing on the horizontal. The room had a beautiful view of some of the city walls, and we were able to look down onto the busy narrow streets snaking below.
The best part of our visit was after dinner when we wandered around the now empty streets. The walls, now lit up, and the calmness everywhere made us feel like kids again, and we climbed up and down stone stairways, peeking through portals along the top of the outer wall, marveling at the city down below. That was when, gazing up at a star-studded sky, I had a smidgeon of an idea of what it must have been like centuries ago to stand on these very ramparts and know that no matter what goes on outside the walls of Carcassonne, time rolls on.
Web site for city: www.carcassonne.culture.fr
Web site for Hotel: www.orient-express.com
Hotel de la Cité
Place Auguste Pont
1100 Carcassonne, France
tel. +33-468 71 98 71
fax +33-468 71 50 15
6 comments:
This is such interesting and helpful information. Just wish I was planning a trip to one of these amazing places ... but probably will someday.
I had what you might call the opposite "deserted" experience.
In February '06, my son and I took a *very* early train to Carcassonne from Toulouse.
We arrived before the fortress was officially open. Nobody was there.
It was cold, overcast,very, very empty--and quite atmospheric.
We wandered the freezing stone pathways, stairs and towers by ourselves for about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, there was no blue van, let alone a cushy hotel room waiting for us afterwards.
However, it was indeed a magical experience.
Things that remain of the distant past really stir the imagination in a way that modern things don't. Sounds like a perfectly exquisite place and probably very expensive too.
What scenic hotels.
i stayed here last year, it was delightful! and the dinner was amazing!!!
I've only ever been past Carcassonne on a fast-paced trip from Toulon to Angoulême - but this post makes me want to go back and check it out! Actually, we stopped to check out the fortifications from a distance (the highway rest area) all because I was sure there was a line about the "garçon de Carcassonne" in Cyrano de Bergerac... but now I can't find it! (Perhaps it was in the film, I don't think I dreamed it!)
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