Tuesday July 19, 2016

Today we went to Grotte de La Bouiche, a cave with the longest underground river in Europe.  It was discovered in 1938 by a young man.  We took three different boats with a guide through the cave (had to get out and walk past a waterfall and another section that was too narrow for the boat).  The guide pulled the boat along the river by using a series of cables in the walls of the cave.  I found it interesting that the boats had to come into the caves in pieces and built on site as they wouldn't fit through the opening.  Cameras were not allowed inside of the cave so I only have a picture of the exit.  There were a couple of wonderful structures.  My favorites were the birthday cake, complete with candles and a giant foot structure aptly named Big Foot.   We then drove to Foix where we had lunch in a cafe just under the hill that the castle stood upon.  The castle is on a very tall rock structure in the middle of the city.  We walked up to the castle (Chateau de Foix) and enjoyed a self guided tour.  This is a medieval Cathar castle first mentioned in 987.  The round tower, however, was not built until the early part of the 15th century.  Not surprisingly, it was only taken once in 1486 and that was due to treachery between two branches of the Foix family.  I got

a picture of the boys climbing up to the castle and the girls at the top of one of the towers. There is also a view of the town from the castle as well as one of Dan and Ella standing inside of a fireplace.  We came back to the house and had a swim before a wonderful dinner made by Nick.