Paris 2024 Olympic Games: where and what time to see the flame in Aude and Carcassonne, the route on May 16

It has already been a week since the Olympic flame has crisscrossed the country since its arrival in Marseille on May 8. Between sea and mountains, Aude will be in the spotlight this Thursday, May 16 with the arrival of the Olympic flame in this department of Occitanie. A relay of 94 porters is on the program for the day, including a collective sailing relay in the tourist resort of Gruissan.

It all starts at 8:15 a.m. at the Fortress of Peyrepertuse, with its panoramic view of the valley and a passage on a zip line for twenty minutes. Then head to Narbonne from 8:55 a.m. until 9:40 a.m. At the sub-prefecture, the porters will leave from the Narbonne Arena then go up Avenue du President Kennedy. They will admire the Saint-Just-et-Saint-Pasteur cathedral on the heights of the city and the Palace-Museum of the Archbishops before arriving at La Via Domitia.

At 11:30 a.m., the flame bearers will enter Lagrasse and stay there for 20 minutes, passing in front of the Sainte-Marie canonical abbey. At noon, Limoux and the Notre-Dame-de-Marceille basilica will be highlighted until the arrival at the François-Mitterrand esplanade and the aptly named Olympia gymnasium at 12:45 p.m.

The lit cauldron in Carcassonne

At 3:25 p.m., Castelnaudary will receive the flame to the Winning Hall at 4:15 p.m. At 4:40 p.m., the collective relay will set off from the Gruissan marina, a tourist resort which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Around captain Camille Lecointre, double Olympic medalist in Rio and Tokyo, 23 other sailing players will be present on the sandy coasts of the Languedoc infralittoral. The end is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. at the Château de Gruissan.

The final meeting of the day will take place in Carcassonne from 6 p.m. until 7:20 p.m., when the cauldron will be lit. In the medieval city, which receives more than 2 million tourists per year and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Canal du Midi will also be promoted.

The flame will pass near the Pont-Vieux then take the colorful streets of the Bastide Saint-Louis, the true heart of the city. The festivities will end at the Porte Narbonnaise, the main entrance to the medieval city via the two towers built around 1280.