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Hi,

What a fantastic three day break this was to the South of France 🇫🇷

Linda really did bag us an amazing deal, our flights from Manchester to Carcassonne were just £20 each way. She also got a cracking deal on our apartment, booking and dealing with the owner it was less than £170 for three nights and was perfectly located in the centre of town.

Entrance to the courtyard of our apartment

After a 1 hour 45 minute flight we arrived in town just after 1pm. So after a text book quick unpack we made the 5 minute stroll to the town square complete with impressive Fountain of Neptune for a quick snack and opted for a stunning French Onion soup and duck fat frites 🤤 washed down with an Affligem Blonde.










Time to explore and the medieval Castle was a must do so may as well tick it off. It was a gentle 30 minute walk (all uphill  ) but it was worth every step.

What a beautiful place this is, perfectly preserved you really do feel like you're stepping back centuries.














Now Carcassonne wasn't the "beeriest" of locations but that was no problem, we were here to celebrate our wedding anniversary and just relax, we did however find one or two little gems.

The first (and one we visited most) was the Jungle Taverne, a tiny bar that housed just 2 small tables but had plenty of outdoor seating (complete with deckchairs).

Beer wise it had 6 taps and a healthy bottle list with the theme strongly Belgian (you can see why it was such a hit with us) and the owners welcoming and knowledgeable.










Like I said it had a strong Belgian influence, in fact it was a Cornet ambassador...there were signs and glassware everywhere.






Another great beery bar was My Beers, a large one room bar located a short 2€ bus ride away on a large retail park. At first we were unsure if we were in the right place but trusting google maps we soon found our destination.






It had 10 beers from tap and plenty of bottles in fridges and also beers available to take away.






Impressive two bottle pouring whilst answering the phone  








A little snack in the form of delicious chicken wings and fries.






Buying some bottles to bring home I asked if I could buy one of their branded TeKu glasses but they said I could have one for free as their gift...such great hospitality 

As a stroke of luck right next door was a large supermarket and boy do we like food shopping, this was one of the best we've visited.








Affligem was everywhere as was another Heineken owned beer Pelforth Blonde.








A bit more info on that last Pelforth picture, on the Wednesday evening we happened to stroll past a very locals looking bar so thought why not.

This bar L'Entracte (like almost every other) was filled with local residents and not an English voice could be heard. Luckily the bar owner spoke perfect English and she gave us the warmest welcome, we ordered a couple of beers, and just enjoyed that "special" moment.

The funny thing is that both me and Linda said just how much its interior reminded us of Rudy's old bar Bierboom, maybe it was the pale wooden bar and shelving?

The lady owner stood on the left.






We hadn't been in long when she locked the door and pulled the curtains closed, with around 6 other people still inside they all sat at a table next to us and stated playing cards as she told us "no problem".
To sit there accepted and not ushered out or made to feel in the way was another of those occasions we'll always remember...it's not about the beer, it's about that special moment.




Finishing out drinks I had a quick look at the time thinking it must be late, it was 9pm (quite a few bars in town close early)
we were let out with a cheerful goodbye




Back to the beery bars and quite rightly the Jungle Taverne deserves its Belgian recognition 🇫🇷🇧🇪
We visited three times and thoroughly enjoyed them all, every time the bar both inside and out completely filled with locals (and a couple of tourists  ) all here to enjoy good beer.

La Trappe Blonde and Dubbel from tap




Cornet Oaked and St Bernardus ABT12




Another Belgian beer that we saw in quite a few bars was Paix Dieu Triple, seeing it from tap and it was an obvious choice.






What a an awesome time we had in Carcassonne, a place we would definitely recommend to anyone - the food, the bars, the beers all make for a most memorable experience and speaking of food just across from our apartment was La Pipelette Boulangerie, to get up each morning and picking up a freshly baked baguette and pastries is yet another of those "moments" and all this for less than 7€.



Cheers
Jay