Carcassonne - 2500-year-old medieval fortified town in South of France

I can't remember exactly why Carcassonne was in my itinerary... Partly because of the fortress, the castle? Partly because I simply wanted to stop somewhere before Avignon as I had to skip Aix-de-Provence in this journey? Anyway, I arrived to Carcassonne at noon, it was a bit hard for me to find my hotel by a "paper Google map", I was almost close to it, but then I took another way and I got lost.

                     One of two main gates to the fortified city, the other one by the river Aude.