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Villefranche-de-Conflent and Mont-Louis : UNESCO Sites!

The fortifications of Vauban are listed on UNESCO's world heritage site.
 
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Villefranche-de-Conflent and Mont-Louis

The Catalan flag, the legend, the story

There is the legend, one that every Catalan knows and has been protecting for centuries...

It begins in 848, when Sunifred 1st dies after losing a battle against Salomon, a nobleman of the Frankish king Charles the Bald's entourage.

Salomon inherits Sunifred's counties which he administrates until 870.
And this very year ... his destiny changes when a son of Sunifred 1, Guifred, named "the Hairy" challenges him to a duel: Guifred is injured, Solomon is dying.
Guifred then plunges his hand into his bleeding wound and with his fingers (except the thumb) draws on his golden shield four vertical lines using his fingertips: the Catalan flag is born.
This is why the Catalans refer to their flag as "Blood and Gold", and not "Red and Yellow.
And then there is the story which says that shields only appeared two centuries later ... but this story, the Catalans seem to have forgotten it...

 
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