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‘She walked forward until she was standing in front of a sweeping semicircular wall that protected the Château Comtal. Behind the imposing locked gates were the turrets and battlements of the castle. A fortress within a fortress. Alice stopped, realising that this had been her destination all along.’
Ahead of you is the Château Comtal where Alaïs lived alongside her father Bertrand, her husband Guilhem and sister Oriane in the dynastic home of the Trencavel family. The semi-circular stone barbacane was added in the mid-13th century. The Château itself dates from the mid-12th century, constructed on the foundations of a much older castle. There are options to visiting the Château – a guided tour and the more restricted independent visit. For both, you pay at the kiosk just inside the gate.
Once inside, cross the flat stone bridge across a dry moat and enter through the Eastern Gatehouse into the Cour d’Honneur. In Viscount Trencavel’s time, a feudal elm stood in the centre of this main courtyard, mentioned in many documents and edicts of the time.
