Quillan Trip

Quillan, France

You have to really want to go to Quillan to get there.  Sounds like Yogi Berra, doesn’t it?  While Quillan has always been a crossroads, it has been a crossroads to places that not many people want to visit any more.  It is about half way between Carcassonne and Perpignan and is situated on the banks of the Aude River.  Before the new highways, this was the only way to get from the Canal du Midi to the seaport of Perpignan and thus it was a well-traveled route for the early Cathars. They established many of castles, fortifications and lookout points all along the route, most of which are still standing and open to the pubic.

The city itself used to be a bustling trade center where logs from the surrounding woods would be gathered and rafted down the Aude to Carcassonne. After that it was the center for making hats and belts and other things from the hides of animals that thrived there.  In the fifties it was home to the largest Formica factory in Europe. All of these industries made Quillan a rich city and there are some beautiful large houses along the river where the burghers of the city made their home.  Sadly, there is no longer any industry that brings in lots of money and many of the houses have been left to decay, although foreigners who love the deep valleys and high mountains of Quillan have restored some of these homes.  The area provides opportunities for competitive kayaking and offers a host of hiking opportunities for all levels of fitness, but tourism is struggling due to a lack of infrastructure.  There are few quality hotels, restaurants or services in this remote area of southern France.

We were drawn by the opportunity to rent a two bedroom, two bathroom home with a fireplace right in the center of Quillan. The price was right and we thought it would be a wonderful place to use as a base for exploring the entire area.  The pictures looked great, the kitchen seemed fine for our needs, and the village hosted a market twice a week, so we booked it for two weeks at the end of March until Easter.  As I mentioned, the other couple was unable to go but we wanted to get away and so we left Spain, headed into France, and by two in the afternoon we were in Quillan.

The owner had told us that there had been a small water pipe break and he didn’t know how bad it was but his agent had fixed everything up.  He offered us the option to cancel the entire two weeks, but our minds were already there so we continued with our plans.  We finally got into the house - they had changed the code on the lockbox but hadn’t told us the new code but ever-resourceful Cindy had the owners’ Wifi password and was able to log on from the parking area and get the new code via email. Upon entering the house we were overwhelmed with the combined fragrances of old chimney smoke and fresh mold and mildew. It was horrible, and that was just the first impression. We tried to open things up but almost all of the windows had been damaged by the water and had swollen up and couldn’t be opened.  It took us two hours to force the big kitchen window open so as to allow dry air into that area of the house.  For the next several days we did a lot of heavy lifting to dry out the house.  We were able to take a few breaks for day trips and market runs but it was getting to the point that we felt like we were working for Habitat for Humanity as opposed to being on vacation. For those of you contemplating purchasing a home in a foreign country that you are not going to occupy until you retire, take a look at these photos before closing!

One of our two-day trips took us to Rennes le Chateau. This is a cool castle that since the publication of The Da Vinci Code has drawn thousands of visitors who want to see a part of the history - and some say conspiracy - associated with Saint Mary Magdalene.  We just wanted to get out of Quillan and we enjoyed the lovely day and lovely ride along the river.  After viewing Rennes le Chateau, we headed down the river to a little town called Esperaza.  This is a town that was made famous by its hat making, producing hats for generations of people around the world.  We wanted to go to the Hat Making Museum, which is right next to the Dinosaur Museum - who knew there would be so much culture in one day?  The hat museum was really cool. First you sit and watch a movie about the history of hat making, and despite the fact that it was all in French we found it fascinating and a great way for us to understand the rest of the displays in the museum.  On the way out of the museum we shopped at the sale bins and I found a perfect hat, as did Cindy, for a fraction of what it would have cost in a store.  You have to see these photos. 

On another day we drove to the Chateau de Puivert, which is an old Cathar castle that is now in private hands.  It takes forever to walk up the hill to get there and then you have to pay to go in and walk up narrow, dark and dangerous steps to see all the rooms and galleries.  The exercise was good, the castle not so much.  Here are some photos of the castle and some of the fine examples of building in Quillan.  One of the coolest is the Tourist Center, which is an old Turkish Bath that has been fixed up and converted.  Of the two markets that take place on Quillan, only one of them has food; the other is just a flea market. Very disappointing, but we did get some good ingredients from which I created a lovely lunch on our last day in Quillan. After only five days there we couldn’t stand it any longer and took off for a new and exciting city that Cindy had discovered for us to explore.  The owners of the house were very pleased with all we did to help them and they returned all of our money, which was very nice of them.  Prepare yourselves for the joys of Céret, which we’ll visit tomorrow. 

Best to all, William