Peyrepertuse was our first three-star Michelin guide attraction, and it was one of my favourite parts of my trip. It is an ancient ruined Cathar castle which used to guard the French-Spanish border, but which then became abandoned when the border was moved south later on. It is set high in the mountains and is within sight of another Cathar castle called Queribus, which unfortunately we didn't have time to visit. These two castles were part of a chain of fortresses and castles in the mountains that were stragetically built so that they could signal to each other (very Lord of the Rings-like).
The nice thing about Peyrepertuse was that there were no tour busses in sight. Getting there involved at least a half hour of windy mountain roads, plus a steep twenty minute hike to get to the lower castle, and then a slippery climb up the smooth stairs cut into the rock to get to the higher castle. It was a lot of work! This was a prime attraction and yet there was no commercialism at all - no tacky postcards or ugly t-shirts at this place. I loved it. It was cool climbing around the fortress, seeing the arrow slits and taking in the gorgeous view. No wonder they built a castle so high up, because one can clearly see any enemies who are on their way!
Here you can see Queribus in the distance, in the upper left corner.
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