There’s an online travel information source called “Global Wanderlist” who describe themselves as, “We’re here to fuel your wanderlust with detailed destination guides, must-see attractions, hidden local gems, and travel tips that help you explore more and stress less.” As the company name suggests, they publish lists covering worldwide vacation spots to help you narrow down the choice of where to visit, when to go, plus some tips to make the journey even more enjoyable. They are headquartered in India so their Bucket Lists favor itineraries for that country with intriguing names like Mysore, Spiti, Sikkim, and Lucknow. As exotic as those sound, my attention was drawn to their recommendations for France.

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It’s not often that the word little (petite) is used in the same sentence with Carcassonne. After all, with 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) of double walls surrounding it, we’re more likely to see descriptions including “Europe’s largest medieval walled city” or “giant fortress”  or even “most formidable fortified city”. That reputation has attracted up to 3 million visitors during an exceptionally busy year, half of whom were from nearby Spain. Historically, it’s that proximity to our former adversary, now ally to the south that required the construction of those protective walls. In fact there’s a string of fortifications along the French/Spanish border that provided security to this area for hundreds of years, including one in the village of Camon, also known as “La petite Carcassonne”.

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