Jardin des Carmes

The Jardin des Carmes is a public garden in Carcassonne, and it is worth knowing that most of what the city is famous for lies in the Cité, the medieval hilltop fortress that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The garden belongs to the quieter side of the town and is useful as a place to rest between visits, away from the crowds that fill the fortress lanes in summer. It is a modest space of lawns, mature trees and paths, open to everyone without charge, and it makes a good place to sit in the shade, read or let children play.

The name recalls the Carmelites, the religious order of the Carmes, who had a convent in Carcassonne in the Middle Ages, and the garden is thought to occupy part of the grounds of that former house. Gardens of this kind often began as monastic enclosures, with orchards, vegetable plots and shady walks, and later became public parks when the religious houses were closed and the land passed to the town after the Revolution. In the bastide of Saint-Louis, the lower town laid out in the thirteenth century on a grid, public gardens like this one give breathing space in an area of dense buildings.

The fortress above has its own stories, and one of them is the most famous legend of Carcassonne. According to the tale, during the early Middle Ages the city was besieged by the army of Charlemagne for five years. The defenders were starving, and the widow of the lord of the town, Dame Carcas, ordered the last pig to be fed with the last of the corn and thrown from the ramparts. When it burst on the ground, the besiegers, thinking that the town still had plenty of food, gave up. Dame Carcas then had all the bells rung, and Charlemagne's men are said to have cried out that Carcas sounds, in French Carcas sonne, which gave the town its name. The story is a legend with no historical basis, but it is told everywhere in the Cité, and a carved bust of Dame Carcas is displayed at the Narbonne gate.

The garden is a short walk from the places that make a visit to Carcassonne worthwhile. The Place Carnot, the main square of the lower town, with its fountain and its market on certain mornings, the Halles de Carcassonne, the covered market, and the Canal du Midi, whose basin is near the station, are within a few minutes. The Pont-Vieux leads across the river Aude to the Cité, with the Château Comtal and the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire, and the Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation and the Tour de l'Horloge are other stops. The Jardin des Carmes is a pleasant place for a break, and it suits families and anyone who wants a moment of calm.