Carcassonne

A day trip from Toulouse to Carcassonne about 40 minutes by train. Carcassonne is divided into the fortified town, Cite de Carcassonne, and the more expansive lower town, the bastide Saint-Louis. It was founded in the 5th century although the Romans had fortified the settlement area around 100BC. It is, as you would expect, rich in history, battles and industry that continued well into the 18th century.

The fortified city of Carcassonne fell into such a state of disrepair with the ramparts being used as stone quarries and in 1835 the French government decided that it should be demolished. There was an uproar and a campaign to preserve the fortress as a historical monument was started. 
 In 1844 the architect Viollet-le-Duc was commissioned to restore the city to its medieval appearance. He undertook a complete study of the fortifications but the restoration was strongly criticized for some interpretations Viollet-le-Duc had made, but in the end, the city was identified as the finest example of medieval military architecture and became one of the largest restoration sites in Europe.  It is very hard to photograph because it is just too big!
Without his vision and leadership there would be nothing left for us to enjoy as we did today.
Interestingly, not everybody was fascinated with the architecture

Sadly the whole place has become a big tourist grab and its full of shops, bars and restaurants and looks quite artificial, but if you can overlook that aspect, the history lesson is great.