Like many things in life, this waits. From the train station in Nice, France, my traveling companion Bibsy Carballo and I took a hiatus from the Cannes Film Festival and boarded a six-hour TGV high- speed train for a weekend sojourn in Carcassonne. I could hardly believe I was finally headed to this medieval citadel in the south of France. The scenic terrain along the Languedoc-Roussillon region along the Mediterranean coast prepares the senses for what is about to unfold. The sight of sprawling vineyards, grassy carpets where black-and-white- spotted cows graze, and colorful flowers strewn across the rocky promontory is intoxicating. The lovely fortress of ancient history beckons, magnetizes as we gravitate toward the epicenter of nobility and historic charm.

The highlight of our stay here was the opulent Hotel de la Cite, which is strategically located inside the medieval city. We were definitely in good company as we learned that luminaries like Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Cecil B. DeMille, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Queen Elizabeth, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, and Julio Iglesias have stayed here. And why wouldn’t these famous people gravitate toward Hotel de la Cite, when it is proudly among the list of the MGallery Hotel Collection? The Hotel de la Cite was built in 1909 on the site of a former Bishop’s palace, next to the Saint Nazaire Basilica. It is the only luxury hotel within Carcassonne and has undergone major renovation to restore it to its former glory. 

I have always been awed by castles, stories of knights in shining armor, and fairy tales with happy endings. Truth is, this fascinating medieval setting is far beyond what I had imagined. Suddenly, I realized how humbling it is to attempt to measure up to a glorious structure built as early as the first century AD. It was a cool morning the day we left the Cite as I raced around the moat of the castle. It was exhilarating to run through such a historic place of drama and realize that to appreciate the past is actually an attempt to remember it. And Carcassonne is simply too beautiful to forget. No matter what tale it narrates, this medieval fortress is a timeless witness to history preserved and perfected.