The lower town on the left bank of the River Aude, built in the 13th century by Louis IX (Saint Louis) after he expelled the original inhabitants of the Cité. Where the Cité is medieval theatre, the Bastide is a working French town: a grid-iron street plan, the handsome Place Carnot market square with its Neptune fountain, bourgeois mansions from the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Saint-Michel Cathedral, which serves the diocese today where the basilica inside the Cité does not.
The Bastide is where most of Carcassonne's better restaurants are — the cassoulet in the Cité tends to be overpriced tourist food; the Bastide has the places locals actually eat. The Saturday market on Place Carnot is one of the liveliest in Languedoc, with stalls selling the region's wines, cheeses, charcuterie, and seasonal produce. Cross the Pont-Vieux over the Aude to walk between the Bastide and the Cité on foot.