2
‘The Pont Vieux led straight into the Quartier de la Trivalle, which had been transformed from a drab suburb into the gateway to the medieval Cité. Black wrought-iron railings had been set at intervals along the pavements to stop cars from parking. Fiery orange, purple and crimson pansies trailed out of their containers like hair tumbling down a young girl’s back.’
At the end of the Pont Vieux, turn sharp right into rue Barbacane – which follows the ancient path of the River Aude – past the Pharmacie. You will pass rue de la Gaffe on your left, before you arrive in Place Saint-Gimer.
To the left of the church – which was built in 1854 by Viollet-le-Duc, the man responsible for the restoration of the medieval Cité – are the ruins of a stone barbacane that replaced the two wooden palisades between which Alaïs threads her way to the hidden glade by the river in Chapter 2 to gather herbs.