Immerse your self within the wealthy historical past and tradition of what’s mentioned to be the oldest metropolis in France, Beziers was based by the Greeks within the seventh Century BC. Gillian Thornton explores the charms of Beziers and what to see and do close by.
Beneath the partitions of my hilltop resort, excessive above the Hérault countryside, terracotta tiles and pastel properties give strategy to an unrivalled panorama of vineyards and distant hills. A magical setting whether or not seen from the resort’s spacious restaurant or via a bed room window.
So think about the frustration of searching not as a resort visitor, however as a resident of the jail that previously occupied this distinctive constructing in Béziers, capital of the Languedoc vineyards. The final prisoner left solely in 2009 and, in 2023, this atmospheric property reopened as Hôtel La Jail (hotellaprison.com.
In the present day company take pleasure in each fashionable consolation, albeit it in cosy quarters. I’m travelling with a buddy and we share a cell that’s compact however en-suite and infinitely extra comfy than the spartan faculty dormitory we dubbed ‘the jail’ on our first teenage research week to France. A becoming finale to our sea-and-city rail journey via the far south of Occitanie.
What to see and do in Beziers
La Jail clings to the sting of a rocky promontory above the river Orb, subsequent door to the Cathedral of Saint-Nazaire and Saint-Celse. Constructed on the positioning of a Roman temple, the unique Romanesque church was burnt down in 1209 by Simon de Montfort throughout the Albigensian Campaign in opposition to the Cathars or Albigensians after the city of Albi the place the motion started. Denounced by the Pope, this strict Christian sect suffered a turbulent historical past that also reverberates all through the world.
Included within the first official record of categorized Monuments Historiques in 1840, Béziers cathedral was rebuilt as a Gothic ‘fortress’ and gives even loftier views than La Jail for these powerful sufficient to courageous the 162 steps to the roof gallery. Exterior, the Place des Alibgeois was pedestrianised in 2023 as a part of the town’s regeneration initiative and is now a favorite spot for locals to calm down beneath the timber within the warmth of the day or to collect for a sundown selfie in opposition to that panoramic backdrop.
Flip your again on the Cathedral to discover the historic quarter of Béziers. Based by the Greeks within the seventh century BC, just a few years earlier than Marseille, it’s typically recognised as France’s oldest metropolis. Romans adopted Greeks and you’ll nonetheless wander via their amphitheatre, in-built 80AD to seat as much as 13,000 spectators. However a lot of the metropolis’s earliest monuments exist in identify solely. Place du Discussion board is right this moment residence to the Vacationer Workplace and surrounded by facades courting from the seventeenth century.
Beziers owes its elegant metropolis centre structure to a seventeenth century visionary and a nineteenth century epidemic. Salt tax collector Pierre Paul Riquet was born right here in 1609 within the reign of Louis XIV, the son of an area businessman. On the age of 58, with no related expertise, Riquet started probably the most bold engineering tasks of the age, the Canal du Midi, to offer the lacking hyperlink in a waterway becoming a member of the Atlantic with the Mediterranean.
The town grew rich from the brand new commerce route and right this moment his statue stands within the Allées Paul Riquet, a tree-lined boulevard linking the Municipal Theatre with the Parc des Poètes. Flanked by ornate city homes, Riquet’s lovely boulevard and the adjoining sq. have additionally loved a current makeover, a shallow water function now flowing symbolically to the foot of his statue. Béziers prospered once more within the mid-19th century as vineyards in different components of France had been ravaged by phylloxera aphids.
Take in the ambiance of the historic streets by following the Trompe l’Oeil path of 19 painted partitions that commemorate key folks and occasions within the metropolis’s historical past. Having studied Molière for our teenage French exams, we had been happy to discover a mural honouring the efficiency of his first ever play right here in 1656. Camille Saint-Saëns is represented too in Place Saint-Esprit, commemorating an area efficiency of his opera Déjanire.
And simply off the Allées Paul Riquet we cherished the fantastic café window, L’Arlésienne, that recollects a real story a few man jilted by his fiancée. Advised by Alphonse Daudet in Les Lettres de mon Moulin, it was later carried out on stage with music by Georges Bizet, however Daudet moved the motion to Arles, therefore L’Arlésienne, however in actual life, the central feminine character was from Béziers and subsequently une biterroise.
We additionally discover sculptor Jean-Antoine Injalbert, whose bust of ‘Marianne’ – or ‘La République’ – was created in 1889 to rejoice the centenary of the Revolution and now graces city halls throughout France. Born in Béziers in 1845, Injalbert died in 1933 and rests within the Outdated Cemetery in a tomb embellished by a determine he carved himself.
With its sunny local weather, Beziers is a pleasant spot to people-watch from a café terrace, sit beneath the shade of Riquet’s fashionable boulevard, or get your hands on a back-street bistro. Alternatively, sit all the way down to a picnic in Parc des Poètes reverse the station. A logo of the city’s 19th century prosperity, this 5-hectare inexperienced house showcases vegetation from 5 continents amongst busts of well-known Occitan poets and a grand fountain of Titan sculpted by – guess who – Monsieur Injalbert.
In actual fact inexperienced house is rarely far-off in Béziers. From Lodge La Jail and the Cathedral, it’s only a 30-minute stroll to the Canal du Midi and the spectacular Fonserane Locks, now accessible to all because of a sequence of lifts, ramps and stage path. One of the spectacular feats of engineering on the Canal du Midi, this extraordinary ‘staircase’ was initially made up of 9 locks though solely seven are nonetheless in service, permitting boats to cowl a 13.6 metre elevation in simply 300 metres. Take a towpath stroll all the way down to the Pont-Canal, a bridge inaugurated in 1858 to hold the canal over the Orb and keep away from crossing the river in occasions of excessive water.
For meals with a view, ebook a desk at Le Restaurant des 9 Ecluses (le9.fr) beside the locks for a sweeping panorama again to the cathedral; uncover the story of Riquet’s extraordinary feat in a 14-minute immersive theatre expertise; and perhaps take a guided cruise tour on this world-famous waterway. United States President Thomas Jefferson, former US ambassador to France, spent 9 days cruising on the Canal du Midi in Could 1787 to see how such a canal might meet the transport wants of his personal nation. The outcome? The Erie Canal in New York State, inaugurated in 1827, one yr after Jefferson’s dying.
While you really feel like a breath of sea air, the seashore is in straightforward attain too. For the final word in sustainable journey, rent a motorcycle in Béziers and observe the 20km cycle path to the Orpellières nature reserve on the mouth of the river Orb, near Valras-Plage. Calm down on the sands, discover the salt marsh trails, and refuel on the café within the new customer centre at Sérignan-Plage the place you can even ebook guided walks, paddleboard excursions and summer time jazz evenings on the coronary heart of this tranquil wetland.
Or bounce on a practice or shuttle bus in Béziers and head to historic Agde and the buzzing fashionable resort of Cap d’Agde launched within the Sixties and residential to France’s solely museum of underwater archaeology. A sea-and-city break that may be as lively or passive as you select.
By Gillian Thornton, one of many UK’s main journey writers and a daily author for The Good Life France Journal and web site.
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