Europe June 2019 – Béziers and Olonzac (Languedoc-Roussillon)

Valerie and I are in Languedoc-Roussillon for six days, with our time divided between Béziers and Olonzac.

It took less than two hours to travel by TGV from Toulouse to Béziers via Carcassonne and Narbonne. We were greeted by gloomy weather, and spent the afternoon of 10 June and the morning of 11 June under our umbrellas. The locals assured us that Béziers is usually bathed in sunshine at this time of year.

The cathedral of St Nazaire, which is 900 years old, has a baroque interior. The extravagant piece of carved stone behind the altar caught our attention, although there is no information as to whose work it is: 

Cathédrale St Nazarre, Béziers – carved piece behind the altar. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

On a more prosaic level, I noticed a gym, three times the price of my gym back home, but with a similar range of classes:

Range of classes offered at a Béziers gym. Ann Barrie 2019

We had lunch, menu du jour, at a café with a bull-fighting theme near les Halles (the covered market). Béziers, one of the oldest cities in France, has a five-day bullfighting festival, La Feria de Béziers, around 15 August every year, in the arena which was built in 1905, originally for lyric opera, and accommodates 13,000 spectators.

Poster promoting Béziers feria. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

Poster promoting Béziers feria. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

There is a photo of the arena, packed with spectators, in the lobby of Zenitude Hotel-Residences where we stayed in Béziers:

Arène de Béziers, photo in hotel lobby. Ann Barrie 2019

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Our accommodation in Olonzac, Eloi Merle, was recommended to me by my sister, Gayle. The only way to get to Olonzac by public transport is to catch the school bus which leaves Béziers just after 4.00 pm on school days. The one hour twenty minute-trip, €1.60, with Hérault Transport, takes you deeper and deeper into wine-growing country, and the bus stops at schools along the way.

Our gite, Thym, is one of five in a long, stone, converted outbuilding facing onto the large garden of this property; each gite is named after a herb, and has a potful growing by the door. The well, shown in the last of the three photos below, used to supply water for the whole village of Olonzac.

Eloi Merle, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie, 2019

Eloi Merle, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie, 2019

Old well at Eloi Merle, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie, 2019

There is also chambre d’hôte accommodation in the main house which faces onto the road. 

Eloi Merle, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie, 2019

Eloi Merle, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie, 2019

The complex was converted to accommodation by an Englishman, who also had the 11.5 m swimming pool built in the grounds; the pool was originally quite deep, but, fearing he might drown, he had concrete poured into the bottom. Then a French couple ran Eloi Merle for eight or so years. The present owners, Chris and Paul, took it over about 18 months ago. They host many cyclists, who follow a route that includes Toulouse, Narbonne, Carcassonne and Béziers.

Valerie and I have divided our time between relaxing beside the pool, and going on long walks. Chris printed off for us, from plotaroute.com, the Lac Jourarres circular route to Olonzac, 6.5 km in length. You follow the Chemin de L’Ecluse Haute, which becomes a small lane with vines growing either side, and after a while you arrive at the Canal du Midi, and the road bridge next to the Ecluse (lock) at Homps.  

Lock at Homps near Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

Lock at Homps near Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

 From here you follow the canal path to Homps, where there are coffee places and restaurants by the canal. We stopped for the menu du jour at En bonne compagnie, which is run by an Englishman; my swordfish was very tender, and we both enjoyed the cherry clafoutis served with a cherry coulis and tangy crème fraîche. 

Cherry coulis, En bonne compagnie restaurant, Homps. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

We walked past houseboats and other craft in port – Homps is a busy boat place – and then along an olive tree-lined path to a small lake lined with reeds, and the larger Lac de Jouarres. We returned to Olonzac along a path through a vineyard. 

We prepared our own breakfast here from ingredients bought at a local supermarket:

Breakfast at Eloi Merle, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

We also enjoyed the €15 menu du jour at Le Bel Minervois restaurant. The young chef prepares creative dishes from fresh local products. Our soup was gazpacho with mozzarella balls; our main course was tender fish with seasonal vegetables and a beetroot coulis; and we concluded with a wonderful dessert of passionfruit, little batons of mango ice cream, tiny meringues, and a light caramel cream:

Plat du jour at Le Bel Minervois restaurant, Olonzac. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

The school bus back to Béziers departed from outside Olonzac’s college at 06:55 in the morning. The driver was the same woman who had delivered us to Olonzac three days before. She lives in a small village 20 minutes beyond Béziers and is able to take the bus home with her at night. As we drove through Beaufort, Aigne, Aigues Vives, Agel, and Montouliers, we picked up only two other passengers, both college students with their headphones, mufti dress, and good manners. After we changed buses from the 202 to the 232 at Cruzy, a lot more students got on board, and also adults heading into Béziers for the day.

After two days’ sunshine at Olonzac we were greeted by rain in Béziers, and so we needed our umbrellas again. We stumbled across a lively Friday morning market on the corner of Place David d’Angers and Place du 14 Juillet. There were loquats for sale – the French call this fruit kumquats, I think. (Eloi Merle had two huge loquat trees; the birds seemed to leave them alone, perhaps because of the three large smooth stones inside the small amount of sweet flesh. I remember loquats from my childhood at Ardmore College in South Auckland, where there was a huge tree. I do not remember the skin being so tough as the French ones we’ve been eating).  

Friday morning market, Béziers. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

There were huge sweet onions, too. Valerie and I both enjoy baking onions in their skins.

Sweet onions at Friday morning market, Béziers. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

And there were live creatures for the table: rabbits and fowl. We watched as a stall holder bound together the legs of a fine big fowl, which he was selling for €15, and placed it into a woman’s shopping bag. The French are not squeamish; the meat on sale at this stall at Les Halles included horse meat in a wide range of cuts:

Horse meat for sale, Les Halles, Béziers. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

This first day back in Béziers, we had a €4 breakfast at a little place beside the market. The woman running it – she also offered printing, photocopying, and assistance with bank accounts – gave us fruit juice, the hot drink of our choice, then dashed across to the market to fetch the pastry or bread of our choice.

We also visited churches and chapels – Madeline, Pénitants Bleus (18^th century), Saint-Jacques – some of which can be viewed only from the outside. Then we wandered the maze of streets in the old town determined to find the Roman arena; the signage was helpful up to a certain point then suddenly stopped. An American woman and her son were on the same mission, and we were triumphant at last. There were columns, vestiges of foundations, wildflowers growing vigorously, and the whole was surrounded by old buildings; we might not have recognised it as an arena, had we not been told.

The weather had cleared and we seized the opportunity to follow one of the recommended walking itineraries in Béziers: the way of St Jacques. This took us across Le Pont Vieux, a stone bridge crossing the River Orb and dating from the Middle Ages; for a long time, this was the only river crossing on the way from Marseilles to Toulouse. From here, we followed another walk which took us to Site des 9 écluses (locks) de Fonseranes and along the canal du Midi. The eight Fonseranes locks and nine basins overcome a 21.5 difference in height between one end and the next; the basins fill up quickly, and there are numerous large tourist barges, as well as smaller craft passing through. In the photo below, a lock is filling up so that the barge behind it can enter; and there are seven more locks extending up the hill behind the barge:

Les 9 écluses de Fonseranes. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

The Canal du Midi has been lined by 42,000 trees since the 19^th century – their roots support the banks; but they are threatened by rapidly spreading and incurable ‘canker strain’ disease; the infected trees are being felled and replaced by resistant varieties but it is an expensive operation. The tow path is now a ‘cycling hotspot’ and you need to regularly leap to one side in order to avoid cyclists, even though there are signs stating that cycling on the path is tolerated but is not a right.

We walked back toward the city centre across the Canal Bridge, which opened in 1859; this bridge avoids the need for boats to face the strong currents of the River Orb as they cross from one canal to another; it is like a viaduct with boats travelling above the river instead of in the river.

Canal Bridge, Béziers. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

The last part of our walk took us through the beautiful Plateau des Poètes, which is laid out in the formal English style by landscape artists, the Bulher brothers.

We visited two museums while in Béziers: the Musée des Arts, which is housed jointly between two old hotels, the Fabrégat and the Fayat, the former currently closed for renovations; and the Musée du Bitterois. This museum is housed in a former 17th century barracks; it has extensive history, archaeology, ethnology and natural science collections, and the displays recount the social, cultural and economic life of Béziers and the surrounding area, from prehistoric times to the present day. We felt we needed an extra day to do it justice.
There is always plenty happening on a Saturday. Valerie and I stumbled across a passing out parade for sailors in the square near the médiatique (public library and media centre); and later we saw a children's Spring fashion parade. 

We asked a passerby to photograph us outside the arena, which was near our hotel. 

Valerie Gardner and Ann Barrie in Beziers, July 2019.

We enjoyed long, set menu lunches on both Friday and Saturday. The first was on the terrace in the 9 Ecluses de Fonseranes area, looking across at Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire in its commanding location. The second was in the Place de la Madeleine under the shade of an awning and enjoying the view of the lovely white stone church. (This 12th and 14th-century church was not so peaceful in 1209 – it was the scene of the bloodiest episodes in Béziers’ history).

On our last morning, Valerie caught a taxi to the Railway Station at 8.00 am so she could begin her journey back to Toulouse airport. I pottered in our room for a couple of hours, and then trundled my small suitcase down Avenue Camille Saint-Saens, through Le Plateau de Poètes to the Railway Station. It was odd to be without Valerie – she is a lovely travelling companion. It was a sparkling hot day, and I sought shade as I walked. I still had three hours to fill in before my Ouibus arrived, and so I struck up a conversation with the woman seated opposite me, who looked to be my own age, but was in fact 78. She asked what region I was from and how/where I’d learned French (five years at high school, along with Latin; three years at university; and then night classes and day classes, with a focus on oral French, in my middle age). She was delighted to chance on someone from overseas who spoke French, and she talked about Molière and other French literary greats who, along with Shakespeare, are still relevant today. She also lamented the fact that although it is natural for languages to evolve, young people are not taught to speak French with precision today. She lives in Paris, but is barely there as she travels a great deal – she is off to Hong Kong in a week’s time. During the government of Charles de Gaulle, she was sent to China in a diplomatic role, and after transferring to a civilian role, lived there for 25 years, fluent in Cantonese.

After she left to catch her Paris train, I went into the station café, Chez Jean, and bought one of their €8.50 formules: a crusty goat’s cheese and salad sandwich, a piece of rhubarb tart, and a drink. I sat on a high stool at the window looking across the road to the Monument aux morts, designed by Béziers sculptor, Jean-Antoine Injalbert. The monument is striking, although I would have preferred the two women on the right to be in World War I dress, like the soldier to the left, rather than classical Roman attire.

Blog by Ann Barrie