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797km (495 miles) SW of Paris; 92km (57 miles) SE of Toulouse; 105km (65 miles) S of Albi

Evoking bold knights, fair damsels, and troubadours, the greatest fortress city of Europe rises against a background of the snow-capped Pyrénées. Floodlit at night, it captures a fairy-tale magic, but back in its heyday in the Middle Ages it was the target of assault by battering rams, grapnels, a mobile tower (inspired by the Trojan horse), catapults, flaming arrows, and the mangonel.

The city, which was used as a backdrop for the 1991 movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, is overrun with hordes of visitors and tacky gift shops. The elusive charm of Carcassone comes out in the evening, when day-trippers depart and floodlights bathe the ancient monuments.

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