Tarascon Castle
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
This is a tour of the magnificent medieval Tarascon Castle. It was constructed to protect the Provence region from attack.
Outside the Castle
Inside the castle gardens, here is a good view of one of the round towers in the picture below.
This is what you would expect from a medieval castle built between 1401 and 1433. The entrance to the castle is over a moat bridge. The 4-foot-thick walls have two round towers on the east side and 2 square towers on the Rhone side.
Inside the Castle
There are 30 rooms that could be toured on my excursion. For many, there are not many furnishings inside the castle, and it may appear a little bland.
This is a picture of the herb gardens inside the castle.
The castle was created for protection of this region to protect the lands of King Rene. King Rene held the titles of King of Naples, Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence.
In one of the display cases, the round picture just a little left of center below the overhead picture of the castle is King Rene.
After King Rene’s death, the castle and lands become part of the kingdom of France and no longer was necessary to defend this area of Provence.
The castle later became a prison and also a hospital in the 1700s. One of the first rooms on the tour was the apothecary, used by the nuns to treat the sick. Here are 2 photos:
The next room we visited was the Dungeon. Here are 2 photos:
Next was an inter-courtyard area:
Next was the chapel:
The next room was the banquet area. The red floor coverings were added within the last ten years as part of a art project to add some interest to the interior.
King Rene made the castle an important place for social gatherings. Many festivities happened in this room of the castle.
The roof beam construction is solid and interesting. There are beam roofs in most large rooms of the castle.
In the Great Hall, there were displays of the wall decorations. These decorations added color to the stark walls of the castle. Here is a sample of the displays:
Here in this room is a large image of the entire castle:
Next, in another room, were some artwork of life in the middle ages and life in and around the castle:
Across the river, there was another castle in ruins. It is called Beaucarie Castle. It was a Cathar stronghold. This castle was under siege during the Cathar Religious wars in France in around 1209–1229. The Cathers believed in 2 Gods and were defeated by crusaders under orders of the Pope and the castle was destroyed.
There were also some wall carvings in another room that were quite impressive.
These date back to 1480, and were engraved into the walls by a prisoner enemy of King Rene.
And with our interest in how folks handled daily living , here is one of the bathrooms in the castle:
From the top of the castle, the Tarascon Collegiate Church of Saint Martha is an impressive Gothic church.
Our Final Thoughts
Castles have always fascinated me. It is fun for me to try and imagine what it was like during that era. We hoped you liked this article and learned something new about the castles of Provence.
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ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent