Bordeaux and Palmiers

Paziols is in the Occident region of France: the southwestern Catalan country. The Occitan, aside from having its own culture and language (Occitan, which is very similar to Catalan), also has its own history.

In the early Middle Ages (from 800 to 1100), the Occitan region served as a home for the Cathars. The Cathars were a religious sect that divorced from the Catholic Church in order to pursue a more “Christian” way of life. The Cathars believed that God could not have created an evil world, and that all war, famine and general unpleasantness was the work of Satan. They built châteaux along the French-Spanish border as a stronghold to protect themselves against the Inquisition, who believed them to be heretics.

It is said that Europe produced two great cultures: the Greeks and the Occitans. The Cathars were a part of this Occitan culture. They believed in the art of Courtly Love, in troubadours, in etiquette and manners. But they were wiped out with the Inquisition as heretics, and now all that remains of them are a few crumbling châteaux high up in the garrigue of Southwestern France, a reminder of the military stronghold that existed along this border.

We visited Aguilar last night, in the evening, after the information office was closed and the tour guides had gone home for the night. We climbed up the remains of what had once been a stunning castle atop a hill: not like the castles you see in now-large cities, that seem to hold entire villages in them. These are more like early bunkers: just enough for a battalion and a few prisoners of war.

It’s also a “chantier botanique,” or a botanical path. As we climbed the stony ledge to the top, we saw wild fennel, fresh rosemary, and other plants indigenous to the area growing along the sides.

Aguilar is the lowest of the châteaux, and as such, is the one that has been ransacked the most over the past several centuries. There is much less left of it now than there is left of its neighbors. However, it is also the easiest to climb, which is why we let our invalid come along for the ride.

Although one of the counselors had to cart him back down.

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