Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Limoux to Quillan - 20th May

Today’s end destination was the town of Quillan, 52kms South of Carcassonne. I chose this town based on a book I read about a New Zealand family who lived in Quillan in 2014 and 2017 to experience life in France. They endured all four seasons in the Pyrenees and then decided to buy a house in the town, living parallel lives in NZ and France; so called because they live on the same parallel in both countries.

Before we can even contemplate a trip out of town we had to go into town for the Saturday market and to get our bread.
The photo below doesn’t do it justice but the Market stretched way into the distance on both sides of two roads. Although most of the non-food stalls were full of crap and riped-off labels, I managed to pick up some cotton for my tapestry.

Our favourite bakery seems to be everybody’s so today we had to queue. Bonus: the baker was on hand and was churning out warm baguettes.

Limoux: Apart from attractive roundabouts its main draw card is that it was the first place in the world to produce sparkling wine, sometime in 1531, according to wine historians.

Alet-les Bains: The town has the remains of an Abbey built in the 10th century; it survived most of the Crusaders vs Cathar era; however it fell victim to the War of Religions of the 16th century, between the Catholics and Protestants. You can visit the remains for €4 or, for free, do the geocache in the neighbouring cemetery and get better views without worrying if a part of the Abbey will fall on you. The other photo below is an example of what the houses look like in the village.

Coustaussa: This is a small village up the hill from Couiza and it has its own chateau ruins which were closed today. Both towns were on my list to visit because I am currently reading a book based in this region and it gave me an idea of the geography. [Ed: Citadel, Kate Mosse]

Rennes-les-Bains: This is the poor cousin of Hanmer Springs in New Zealand; not much to see although I was tempted to take a photo of the lady at the baths office dressed as an abattoir worker in her white gumboots and overalls - the mind boggles what spa treatment you get.

Rennes-le-Chateau: Always take the road not suggested by two GPS's; a drive on narrow, hilly, country roads add to your odometer and journey time, but they are character building!
The town’s history, as stated in a geocache, is that a priest arrived in the village in 1885, when you could only get to it by a 3km uphill winding dirt path. In 1891 he spent millions of gold francs renovating the village and adding buildings including a tower that reflected his obsession with Mary Magdalene. There were also reports that he used to dig in the cemetery at night and that he installed bizarre things in the church that weren’t in keeping with his faith. The mystery remains unsolved as to where he got all the money for the project.

The geocache location also remains a mystery to quite a few including a French couple who arrived at the same time as us; ear-wigging into the conversations of lost Kiwis didn’t help them either. After nearly two hours of looking we found it by a stone tower on an outcrop a long way from the village. The tower has been maintained, as had the Roman road that led to it, the strange water feature in a nearby paddock and the lone stone column that survived a tourist.

Quillan: A quick tour of the town square, an old bridge, the geocache in the chateau's ruins and we were off home, none the wiser about what the NZ family saw in Quillan.

Limoux: Our return journey saw us passing through Limoux at 7.45pm so we decided to have tea at McDonalds. Ordering a McDonalds’ Happy Meal has always been my nemesis in France since 2007, even with an English translation ordering system. There are so many questions, but for €4.50 I got a burger, wedges, creamy sauce, ice cream, a drink and a toy; probably not worth the hassle but it filled the gap until we got home.

Cheese Experience No.29 - Écusson du Pays Cathare Below is a photo of a very little cheese we picked up from this morning’s market for a euro. The vendor was selling goat cheeses, yoghurt and milk poured fresh into your own container. This particular little morsel is the shape of a shield and is dark in colour because it has been well-aged. Because of its age it has a very sharp spicy taste and a dry texture. Only 7 local goatherds contribute the milk for this cheese which is then matured in farmhouses.