Travel 2016 – Tip 18 – France – Alet-les-Bains

On the way from Carcassonne to Rennes-le-Chateau (or vice-versa) make sure to visit Alet-les-Bains. Nostradamus lived here for a number of years. There is an old abbey and plenty of timber and stone houses. The town is situated in the heavily forested Aude valley.

On the edge of the town away from the river, there is evidence of holes being made in a rock face, with the removed stone being used to arm siege-engines firing missiles at the walls of the village.

The town has a loud-speaker system where announcements can be made from the Hotel de Ville. When I was there, an announcement was made that a lost cat had been handed in to the authorities – could the owner please come and collect the cat. Brilliant.