The Place
What to do, what to see in the area ?
In this part of French south-west, formerly border zone between the kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of France, the history is present at each step. The village of Rivel, located in the middle of this area which formerly saw flowering the Cathar heresy lived on live the drama of the Crusade known as of the Albigensians.
From here, it takes few minutes to go to Montségur, last bastion of the "Cathars Perfect". A few minutes also for Puivert, another Cathar castle but where were held, especially during all the Early middle ages, famous Courts of Love of the troubadours, a kind of international festival of poetry where one came from thousands of km to the round, undoubtedly after a halt in the City of Carcassonne, not far from there.
Not very far from Rivel, the Cathars castles of Roquefixade, Puylaurens,
Arques or Villerouge-Terménès which saw the burnt at the stake
of the last Cathar, Guillaume Bélibaste.
To visit, also, the superb abbeys of Lagrasse, Fontfroide or St Hilaire,
where the monks elaborated the Blanquette of Limoux, which gave rise to
thereafter - said the legends - Champagne!
A few minutes are enough to bring back thousands of years to us by visiting the many caves of Ariège.
Impossible to circumvent the museum of the Dinosaurs of Espéraza or, of course, Rennes-le-Château, its mysterious priest and his treasure, inexhaustible subject of reflexion and strolls.
Impossible to come in the area without visiting the Medieval City of Carcassonne and the "Canal du Midi", two classified sites with the World Heritage.
Close to Andorra, take some time for visiting the free taxes shops which are truely irresistibles for any amateurs of shopping!
With just a little more than one hour of driving by car, you can choose, according to your tastes, Toulouse, the Rose City with the intense cultural life or, on the other hand (from a geographically point of vue) the beaches of the Mediterranean sea.
Lastly, during all the winter season, the ski stations of Ariège or the Plateau de Sault are there to propose downhill skiing or ski touring and rackets in these dazzling landscapes of beauty, specific to the Pyrenees.
The gastronomy should not be forgotten! Castelnaudary, the fatherland of the Cassoulet is there, not very far from Rivel. Concerning the wines, Limoux and its Blanquette, Corbières and Minervois generally conceal large treasures for the palate… at low-costs!
And in and around the village itself ?
- Tennis court (free) to 100 meters
- Ground of game of bowls ("pétanque")
- Lakes of Montbel and Puivert at a few minutes: bathe, fishing, windsurf, pedal boat, surfaces of picnic.
- Arranged cycle track.
- Book Shop Dragon d’Oc.
- All around the village: horse-riding; many hiking trails.
- In the immediate vicinity, in the Castle of Chalabre (4km), live one day of the life of a knight to the Middle Ages (attend tournaments, learn the handling from the weapons, initiate you with the old plays, the dances, calligraphy, etc)
- Always in the immediate vicinity, some curiosities not to be missed like the Butterflies' Farm, the intermittent fountain of Fontestorbes, or the center of gliding flight of Puivert where first flights await you.
- Lastly, for the art lovers, the center of contemporary art Cat' Art proposes exposures and initiations to some creative techniques.
In the immediate neighbourhoods
- Museum of Puivert: music of the troubadours
- Mirepoix: superb medieval country house
- Cathars castles of Montségur, Puivert, and Roquefixade
- Medieval City of Carcassonne
- Rennes-le-Château and the mysterious treasure of the priest Saunière.