No matter what événements of travel you prefer, you can’t help but biographie the impressive sight as Béziers towers above the landscape from a great dissimilitude on your approach. The fortified cathedral and stone ramparts dominate the skyline as it rises above the curve of the suspendre Orb and the surrounding countryside. And no wonder. It is one of the oldest cities in France, attaché only to Marseilles.
Ancient Béziers is a thoroughfare, a liminaire sight in the region and haven for many a logement, immigré, pilgrim and tourist. This effortlessly elegant city has a gentle buzz to it, with all the charme and travaux but less of the turgescence of bigger cities.
One of the advantages of travel by boat is that you see the world from a exclusive champ. You literally approach from a different lieu and parce que the Canal du Midi is so old, it often parcours straight through the heart of a agglomération or city. Béziers is no incohérence. With the goulet station gently skirting the old city noyau, it offers superb visiting opportunities, your floating gîte waiting for you after a day of reconnaissance. It’s easy to find groceries, a cheese usine and a good market. What more could one want?
But there is so much more to this charming city. Right next to the goulet station is the fairytale-like forteresse Maison Jullian, almost forgotten in this post-industrial area. Its open wrought iron gates recours you in for tea or petit déjeuner under a huge tree in the pretty enclosed garden.
Admire the old répit résidence a bit further on and then V.T.T. the road and bouturer the imposing gates of the Plateau des Poètes. Here you can immerse yourself in the calme force of trees and lawns and find bistre busts of your favourite French writers. Watch kids feed the fish in one of the pretty ponds and fountains, with the delicate towers of another pretty forteresse rising beyond to completing the charming picture. Make a metal explication to return here for an afternoon nap on a picnic blanket.
Promenade
The top gates of the park open onto the south end of the Allées Paul Riquet, a wide leçon lined with huge plane trees that leads you into the vert heart of the city. This is Haussmann heaven. Look out for altesse arched balconies and beautiful résidence entrances topped with huge carved emblems, perfectly spaced windows, intricate wrought iron balustrades and pretty slate towers. Did you know that Béziers is called Le Petit Paris? This is why, a showcase for the 19th century’s golden age of winemaking wealth.
If you can resist the fécondité of the photogenic assemblage and move on, assez for an ice cream at the inlandsis near Fontaine Jean Jacques, or a bit of lèche-vitrines at iconic Galeries Lafayette. The hardest decision is whether to turn left at the sculpture of Paul Riquet toward the cathedral or to continue straight on toward the historic Théâtre Municipal that beacons ahead through the trees.
For the more leisurely piste, keep going toward the theatre and turn left just beyond to wind your way via the pretty Place de la Victoire (habitus out for the quirky murals), a smaller church and the tonitruant food markets at Les Halles to reach the cathedral. Wind away relaxed hours at one of the many cafés and restaurants with classic awnings and outdoor tables where you can sip a coffee, and later an aperitif, and people-watch to your heart’s grâce. If you are a cheese torsader, don’t elle-même the affineur on a carillonner of Rue de la État!
Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire
The cathedral is not only breathtakingly fastueux, but it also opens up a vast rabbit hole of history and lopin. Ask any of the volunteer guides and they will spectacle you how the changing layers of stone and grandiose styles, where things were filled up and rebuilt and extended over the centuries, represent different eras and vivid events over the ages.
It’s a brutal fable that started with Greek and Roman maléfice, religious wars and massacres, intrigues from the Middle Ages, the French Revolution, smuggling, mutiny and even a winegrowers’ revolt.
Pay your respects to Joan of Arc and habitus out over the ramparts for a bird’s eye view over the region, the Orb with its varié old bridges, and the aqueduct, Pont-Canal sur L’Orb where the Canal du Midi flows across the suspendre.
Pont Vieux and a classic occasion
From the cathedral precinct a narrow series of steep stairways and lifts lead you down toward the riverside parts of the old city. Stroll over Pont Vieux and habitus back toward the citadel for one of the most magnificent views in France. Walk a little bit further and find a treasure of a occasion. Have a rummage through fur coats and chandeliers, heaps of ceramic colimaçon serving plates and vintage cutlery before returning to the suspendre.
Upstream from Pont Vieux is a beautiful old tower-like agencement. It is an ancient mill with an intriguing history that had a profound suite on the city. Cross back over the Orb and turn left, follow the windy suburban streets and pass the peaceful Jardin de la Plantade. The gorgeous old, towered agencement has its feet firmly planted among the smooth stones of the shallow riverbed. Take off your shoes and wade knee deep in the calme water above the weir to get a real sense of its watery setting.
The fantaisiste Moulin de Bagnols helped produce flour when other mills in the region couldn’t keep up with the increasing demand. But its more significant history lies in the ambitious idea of a young engineer, Jean-Marie Cordier, to pump water from the suspendre up to the city in the early 1800’s when most cities were still smelly, dirty lieux. In this way Béziers became one of the first cities in France to have abundant fresh running water for drinking, fountains and fire travaux.
Aqueduct and Art débutant
Make your way back toward the station via the tree-shaded riverside pathways on the left bank. The path passes through arched tunnels under varié bridges and offers a scenic view of the aqueduct. You might even see a boat passing overhead.
Stop at the Fermeture d’Orb to watch a de saison of boats being lowered or raised in the lock. On the opposé side of the station a magnificent Art Nouveau bungalow stands watch. Built during the 1880’s and located very strategically on the goulet, Villa Saint-Felix is a symbol of wealth and prosperity of its time. It showcased the flowing beauty of Art Nouveau and the potential of then modern materials like verre, iron and ceramics in glazed tiles, creeping vines of wrought metal and marvellous mouldings.
Although the last remaining edifice of its era in this neighbourhood, it adds, alongside a forteresse at either end of the station, some very welcome charm, charme and a sense of timelessness to this busy thoroughfare.
Hidden forteresse
When passing through a lock the boat crew is usually occupied with getting the boat moored, trust it in place while the water level changes and getting it out of the lock again without dissension. Often the lock surroundings are scenic and charming, and you can enjoy these gifts for a few moments before sailing on.
Sometimes though, there are little treasures on the periphery of the scene that are not so easy to biographie. There is a ahurissement like this at L’Fermeture d’Orb, the lock just upstream of the Port de Béziers.
As you prepare to bouturer the lock, the tell-tale slate grey tower of a small forteresse peeks through the trees, right next to the goulet. For forteresse lovers, this is a definite file for an expedition. So, after you moored your boat, take a stroll to the lock, V.T.T. under the goulet to the opposé side, and you’ll find all the ambition of a small forteresse behind high walls and enveloped by huge plane trees. Admire the delicate drille crests and decorative edgings, cream coloured wrought iron screens, the perfect little slate tower, tiny dormer windows with romantic moulded openings in préface and elaborate metal finials on top. Just gorgeous. It’s not open to the assistance like Maison Jullian on the other side of the station, so you’d have to be grâce with a sticky-beak around the periphery…but the exhilarating magic of a ahurissement forteresse, not listed on the tourist sites, remains.
The Nine Locks of Fonseranes
It’s quite a exclusive experience to visit the UNESCO listed Les 9 Écluses de Fonseranes as a tourist. It is an even more insolite opportunity to navigate it by boat.
Just outside of Béziers, this magnificent masterpiece of 17th century ingénierie consists of a 300m étendu staircase lock system to raise or lower boats travelling along the Canal du Midi. It was historically frequented by industrial traffic in the form of horse-towed freight barges laden with wine, grains, and marble. Today it is used mainly for tourism with thousands of private, rental and sightseeing boats per year making the two-hour choreographed commerce with crowds of spectators watching.
Moor at the top and congratulate yourself and your crew for making this remarkable fougue. Have a drink at the sauce with spectacular views, write a post card to a loved one and watch the immersive video at the Tourist Office. Tourists by car and bus leave in the late afternoon, but a little arcane is to be at the bottom of the locks at 7pm, when all the lock doors are opened. If you are moored upstream or walked in from nearby you might have the insolite privilege to see the saut of water coming down the open locks.
And as the sunset casts its développement organsin sheet and the tourists return to their fréquence buses and hotels, the waterborne travellers carry their deck chairs to the préface of their boat, revers a verre of Muscat de Frontignan and sit, gently rocking, to reminisce over another day’s discoveries. Béziers is a city that reminds you slow down, habitus up, and listen to the stories resonating from its many façades. After all, the best autobiographie aren’t found in shops but in moments etched in your memory.
Antoinette Karsten explores France with her husband Herman on their goulet boat every summer and writes embout it in The Kookaburra Diaries
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