Student Life August 2019

TRAVEL
CO-EDITOR CAMELIA ATOMEI
OUPIA
BY FRANCESCA
MULVERY
Back in June, I flew into Carcassonne
Airport for a long-awaited holiday.
My parents had organised it as a treat for
their wedding anniversary, inviting friends
and family to join them, though everyone
else had left when I arrived. I actually liked
this, as it meant it was a relatively quiet
house despite friends from Menden in
Germany being there for one of the two
weeks I would be spending there.
The views from the house, both from the
terrace and the first room I stayed in were
gorgeous, with the Pyrenees Mountains in
the far distance, there but not seen unless
– according to local folklore – the following
day would bring bad weather, though we
could see the foothills. You could also see
the vineyard fields, for the Oupia area is
famous for its brewing of wine, all around
and another smaller village not far in the
distance, and all these views gave me a
distinct feeling of Déjà vu as it looked so
much like Umbria in Italy.
Oupia, the village we were staying in,
in a gorgeous house is a beautiful little
place with medieval streets and houses.
There was a little shop-come-restaurant
five minutes or so down the road that my
mother would occasionally visit to buy
croissants for breakfast and when it acted
as a little restaurant there would be music
from wonderful musicians.
The house itself had cool white walls inside
and out and had four bedrooms, one of
them at ground level with immediate
access to the house’s pool which was
heaven during the hot weather while I was
there. The nearby town, on a Tuesday (as
far as I know, this is only during the early
summer months) holds a market with
stalls selling all-sorts; clothing, jewellery,
dreamcatchers, knick-knacks and antiques
etc – there was even a part of the market
that sells food!
Then of course there was Cité de
Carcassonne, the main attraction. The
citadel was amazing and so full of history;
the signs of the stores within the citadel
written in old text to fit in with the
medieval feel even though the shops
themselves didn’t give off that old-world
feel and the views from behind the walls
of the citadel were gorgeous. The new part
of the city, on the other side of the citadel
via a wonderful bridge is a cornucopia of
shops and (sometimes) markets much like
in Oupia’s town, with brightly coloured
umbrellas hanging high above the bustling
streets; open upon my visit.
38 • AUGUST 2019 • STUDENT LIFE