I recently completed a road trip through parts of Spain. On my way, I made one stop in France to see the fortified city of Carcassonne.

I spent the afternoon inside the walls, walking the ramparts and visiting the cathedral. It was more impressive than I had expected and I thoroughly enjoyed wandering and getting lost in its narrow streets. It is no wonder UNESCO designated this place as a World Heritage Site in 1997. As pretty as it is inside the walls, in my opinion, the best view is from a hillside just south of town.

There is not any parking near this location, so I left my car by the city and hiked out until I reached this hillside vineyard. Once I found this spot, I set up my tripod and watched a colorless sunset turn into the blue hour. I always hope for a vivid sunset, but the illuminated walls provided a nice alternative and a pleasant contrast to the darkening sky.

For the photography geeks...While it looks fairly close, the spot where I took this is a couple of kilometers away from the city. I used a telephoto lens (approximately 210mm) and while I could have captured the scene in one image, I decided to zoom in as much as possible and take several images. I then stitched them together in Photoshop to create a high-resolution panorama.