Right on the main Toulouse-Montpellier train link, CARCASSONNE couldn't be easier to reach; and for anyone travelling through this region it is a must - one of the most dramatic, if also most-visited, towns in the whole of Languedoc. Carcassonne owes its division into two separate "towns" - the Cité and the Ville Basse - to the wars against the Cathars. Following Simon de Montfort's capture of the town in 1209, its people tried in 1240 to restore their traditional ruling family, the Trencavels. In reprisal King Louis IX expelled them, only permitting their return on condition they built on the low ground by the River Aude.