This is Templar country! Exceptionally well preserved, the village of La Couvertoirade possesses all the elements of medieval town planning. The towers of its surounding walls rise out of the chaotic natural rocks. Inside, a maze of streets and alleys invite our imagination to pretend what it would have been like to roam these streets in the 15th century.
Tucked in little alcoves and hidden behind fortress doors, trades people can still be found plying their trades. I bought a necklace from a jeweller who crafted the Templar symbols onto the metal.
A Templar castle rubs shoulders with the cemetery adjoining the recently-restored church. Inside the church, the symbols for the Alpha and the Omega are prominently displayed.
Steep staircases hewn out of the living rock lead to an enormous public cistern fed with the rainwater from the church roof. The name Couvertoirade comes from the "cover" to the cistern.
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