Chasing Cathars in Southwest France

The visitor’s reward for a steep climb on foot along a twisting rock-strewn path is a stunning 360-degree view across the Corbières range, with countless hectares of vineyards carpeting the slopes. One can almost feel ghosts of the Cathars who fled the brutal crusaders to seek asylum here from the sympathetic lords of Termes, owners of Chateau d’Aguilar since the 11th century. After the crusade ended in 1255, Aguilar became an important redoubt on the Franco-Aragon frontier until the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees settled the border between the two countries.