Tarascon.....

Tarascon Castle

I know it's been awhile since my last post so I do have some catching up to do. We've been to a few places since my last entry so I have added alot of photos to the computer files. A couple of weekends ago we returned to the town of Tarascon that sits on the Rhone river south of Avignon. The Tarascon castle and St Martha's Church are 2 impressive landmarks in the town.

Construction on the castle was started in 1441 and finished in 1449. It is one of largest and most well preserved castles that I have seen since arriving here. They spared no expense when building this fortress that has many levels and some nice courtyards inside the walls. Starting in the 16th century the castle was used as a prison up until the 19th century. When touring some of the rooms you can see some very artistic carvings in the stone left by those prisoners. Many of those incarcerated were from the Spanish and English navies so many images of boats and ships cover the walls.

Just across from the castle stands St. Martha's Church which has its origins in the 10th century but was almost entirely rebuilt in the 14th century. As you would expect the church is very ornate on the inside with those high, arched ceilings that many of the churches in this region exhibit.

St. Martha's Church - photo taken from the top of Tarascon Castle 

Inside the church

Street view of the church 

Courtyard inside the castle 

Large rooms with very high ceilings 

A room used for prisoners and one of the carvings right into the stone wall.

Another carving of a ship that I imagine the prisoner served on before being captured.

A very small room right next to the king's main chamber.  Gives a whole new meaning to the term, "the royal throne."