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The Cathar Fenouilledes country train runs along a railway between Rivesaltes in the Pyrenees Orientales ans Axat in Aude, dignified heritage from the City of the South and a radial relationship between Carcassonne and Rivesaltes.
Along the way you can see numerous and remarkable works of art as it winds its way through valleys and tunnels: Flirting languidly with the rivers Agly and Aude, it reveals the rocky countryside, sprinkled with vineyards on the mountainside, dominated by many notables sites (The Catlar Castle at Queribus, The Tour of Far, the relay station of froça real...) before reaching the forest at the end of an audacious railway journey.
One must savour
this changing
countryside and
the villages
that punctuate
the trip.
Without
forgetting the
spectacular
arrival on the
viaduct opposite
the Cathar
Castle of
Puilaurens or
the horseshoe
descent to Axat,
with imposing
tunnels... |
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Specialities
Explore this hundred-year-old railway line at the pace of our trains.
It links Axat (Aude) and Rivesaltes (Pyrénées-Orientales).
Travel in normal or open carriages, depending on the season, to encounter a mosaic of different landscapes.
There is a commentary on the route.
Opens: 60km of railway journey awaits you: Come and discover the countryside composed of vineyards, mountains and forests, in Aude and the Pyrenees-Orientales, between Axat and Rivesaltes/Espira de l'Agly.
We offer you one day rides, half day rides or rides of approximately 2 hours
Language(s):
 
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Opening Train touristique du pays Cathare et du Fenouillèdes:
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23 march to 21 december
- From 09:45
Equipments and Services: |
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* Shop
* Group guided tours
* Pets allowed
* Coach parking |
* Bar
* Groups accepted
* Individual guided tours |
Axat
Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet | Agly Fenouillèdes
Rivesaltes
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The Corbières is one of the wildest areas of France with one of the lowest population densities. It is picturesque with wine growing areas alternating with garigue and mountainous countryside. It is located mainly in the Aude département and partly in the Pyrénées-Orientales département. The River Aude borders the Corbières to the west and north. To the south is the River Agly and to the east the the Mediterranean Sea. The name Corbières comes from "cor" a pre-Celtic word meaning "rock" and "berre" from the River Berre which runs through Durban. The eastern part of the Corbières with its Etangs, borders the the Mediterranean Sea and is called the Corbières maritimes. It has its own distinctive climate and characteristic vegetation known as thermomediterranean vegetation...
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Randonnée
Le Chateau
de Puilaurens |
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 This castle is located at an altitude of almost 700 metres and overlooks the village of Lapradelle, in the midst of a pine forest. The first records of the castle date from 958. Since it played a major part in defending the former frontier between France and the kingdom of Aragon, it can boast the full range of medieval military architecture. Access is via a pathway with chicanes preceded by a barbican. The Château de Puilaurens (Occitan: lo Castèl de Puèg-Laurenç) is one of the Cathar Castles of the Languedoc in what is now the South of France. It is located in the commune of Lapradelle-Puilaurens in the Aude département. The castle here had belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuxa before it was acquired by the King of Aragon in 1162. As Aragonese property it was outside the territory ravaged by the Crusaders during the Cathar wars. Like Queribus it therefore provided a refuge for those fleeing from the invading forces. Those who took refuge there included both Cathars and faidits, that is to say those who had forfeited their property because of their opposition to the invaders. These faidits included high nobles, such as Guillaume de Peyrepertuse...
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Train touristique du pays Cathare et du Fenouillèdes |
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Leisure |
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Gare d'Axat
3 Bis Place de la Gare
11140 AXAT
Phone1 +33 4.68.20.04.00
Phone2 +33 4.68.59.99.02
Gare de Rivesaltes
Avenue René-Victor Manaut
66600 RIVESALTES
Phone1 +33 4.68.20.04.00
Phone2 +33 4.68.59.99.02 |
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info@letrainrouge.fr
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www.letrainrouge.fr |
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Return journey -
(Axat ➟ Rivesaltes ➟ Axat
• 60 km, whole day ):
Adults: 4.30 € tot 24.50 €
Children: 3.00 € tot 15.40 € |
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Rivesaltes
Axat
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The castle of Puilaurens (also written Puylaurens) is mentioned for the first time early in the XIIIth century. It was a shelter for cathar people from 1241 to 1246. The date of its surrender to the royal troops is not known precisely, probably around 1250. As several other castles around, it was integrated by the King Saint Louis in the defensive plan of the border with the Aragon Kingdom. After the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, that has fixed definitively the border, the castle was downgraded and have been occupied by only a little garrison. This castle is located at an altitude of almost 700 metres and overlooks the village of Lapradelle, in the midst of a pine forest. Access is via a pathway with chicanes preceded by a barbican...
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3 miles north of Saint Paul, the awe-inspired site of the Gorges of Galamus is an imposing, protected place. It probably was the first inhabited place in Saint Paul: our ancestors found shelter in the limestone caves that can be seen in the giddy cliffs . The river Agly rushes down a deep break, much to the pleasure of the adepts of canyoning and rafting. Typical mediterranean plants grow on its steep slopes, such as evergreen oaks, jumper trees while Bonneli eagles soar over the winding narrow road that clings to the cliff. To the South, the impressive Gorges de la Fou, cut through the mountain - the exact replica of galamus - opens to the South and the gallo-Roman bridge...
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The Cathar castle Queribus in the south of France (located in the heart of the Corbieres) still stands today as an impressive memorial to the Albigensian crusade of the thirteenth-century. It was only in 1255 that this mountain top fortress fell to French Catholic knights. Queribus held out an additional eleven years beyond the more widely known Cathar castle at Montsegur, which gave Queribus the distinction of being the last of the Cathar castles. As a result, in many ways the capture of Queribus represents the end of the organized Cathar movement and is sometimes referred to as "the last bastion." Geographically, the castle is high and isolated.The exhausting hike up the mountain, a few hundred steep meters, that is necessary to reach the castle is rewarded by the stunniing military architecture of Queribus. The gothic style hall and its polygonal keep are especially worth seeing...
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Through the department of Aude and through, enables the Cathar Trail hike (or bike) combining the beauty of the landscape, visiting several Cathar castles and athletic relaxation. History and Geography are two inseparable matters when it comes to the Cathar Trail.
Put your foot on the Cathar Trail, and you'll be transported 8 centuries ago, in a rich History environment, without the use of a time machine, just by using your feet!
The success of the book and movie of the Da Vinci Code has fed a new awakening of interest in the Languedoc and its fabulous Cathar castles. These 'Castles in the Sky', perched on their vertiginous rock pinnacles, are some of the last remnants of the ill-fated Cathar 'heretics' and the legends that linked them to the Holy Grail...
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Sandwiched between two walls of folded Cretaceous limestone in the Pyrenees, Corbieres and Capron, the land of mountains Duilhac only. As its inhabitants were given the nickname "Skip-rock" (rock-jumping). Clinging to the rocky heights of the High Corbières, at an altitude of 800 metres. Peyrepertuse emerges from the midst of the Mediterranean scrubland known as the "garrigue" and overlooks the small village of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse. This huge fortress covers the same area as the citadel of Carcassonne. Each year the largest medieval festival in the South of France takes place here when many troupes perform in the castle and in a reconstructed medieval village...
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The Cathar castle Queribus in the south of France (located in the heart of the Corbieres) still stands today as an impressive memorial to the Albigensian crusade of the thirteenth-century. It was only in 1255 that this mountain top fortress fell to French Catholic knights. Queribus held out an additional eleven years beyond the more widely known Cathar castle at Montsegur, which gave Queribus the distinction of being the last of the Cathar castles. As a result, in many ways the capture of Queribus represents the end of the organized Cathar movement and is sometimes referred to as "the last bastion." Geographically, the castle is high and isolated.The exhausting hike up the mountain, a few hundred steep meters, that is necessary to reach the castle is rewarded by the stunniing military architecture of Queribus. The gothic style hall and its polygonal keep are especially worth seeing...
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