Have You Been to the Languedoc?

Hello travel-mates!

Anyone passing through the Langue d'doc (Languedoc) in southwestern France? Maybe driving from Barcelona or driving around the Pyrenees? I'm reading my travel journals from 2001 and remembering the fascinating secret mysteries of the Languedoc area (this was two years before Dan Brown's famous novel was published in 2003). It's the land of Troubadours, Mary Magdalene, the Cathars, and Knights Templars. Rennes-le-Chateau and the castle enclosure of Carcassonne (the largest medieval fortress in Europe) are two mysterious and historical places you may want to visit on your journey if in the area. The Languedoc and Provence  is where Mary Magdalene traveled and lived after leaving the Holy Land, supposedly bringing her children whose father was youknowwho. In fact, the cave where she lived and taught pilgrims for 30-years is near Aix-en-Provence.  Pilgrims still venture there to this day.

My most favorite wee town of the Languedoc has nothing to do with mysteries, it's Collioure [photo by MJ Milne] a small seaside village almost at the France-Spain border. Almost as quaint as Cassis. It's where all the Provencal artists hid out to paint and drink, such as Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, etc. There's a cafe in town that has Picasso's on the wall---when he had no money to buy a round, he gave the owner paintings or did a drawing on a napkin!

On your way from the Languedoc toward Provence, is the walled medieval city of Aigues-Mortes and the marshy Camargue with wild horses & cowboys, plus Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer where Mary Magdalene's boat landed near Fitou harbour, a well-traveled trade route in those days, and where the Gypsies meet every May for a festival honoring the Magdalene's black maid Sarah.  Keep your gold rings at home :-)

More Information:
Carcassonne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy2h821BBE0)
Collioure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aTuECHm8vI
Provence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQiqiQudKOQ ; 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWIhxHlcCzE
And in French, Rennes-Le-Chateau and the mystery of Saunière & the Lost Treasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QsoC0N8aoQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gcjNrj9hU