Foix

Walking around the side of the Chateau in Foix

Our Wednesday outing today was to Foix. What a lovely place. We walked up to the chateau which is smack bang in the middle of town. It’s a well preserved/restored castle which used to be home to the Counts of Foix, built in the 10th century. Later in the 16th century it was a prison and you could see where the prisoners had etched their names and messages in the stone walls in their quarters. It was a steep climb up curling narrow stairs which I must admit I have a bit of trouble with. I don’t know how people older than me manage it because at the end I was out of breath.

Foix seemed to have a lot of younger people and students. We also went to Labouiche which is an underground river, the longest river in Europe. The boat we were in had no motor and we were pulled along a series of ropes along the sides of the caves by the tour guide. It lasted over an hour and involved changing boats 3 times for the different levels in the caves. 30 euros admission and at the end (apparently) the tour guide requested tips. I was incensed. After paying the hefty entry price we were now expected to cough up more euros in tips. I don't normally mind tipping if I'm happy with the service but we didn't even get any of the information in english. We're paying the same prices as everyone else but only getting half the experience.

Wouldn't you think in a country like France which "welcomes" 70 million tourists a year and all the economic benefits that must ensue, that they would cater just a fraction more so we could at least understand what we were looking at and the history of it. Mind you, they wouldn't have to go overboard (like at Carcassonne with all that crap they're trying to flog off), just a few simple translations would suffice.