Bagnols to Beziers & Beyond to Narbonne

This week’s adventure took us down south a bit and a ways west. We visited the beautiful ancient city of Beziers (pronounced Biz-yay), in the Occitania region. This is about 2 hours / 90 miles, or 145 Kilometers, depending on which GPS system you use.
I know you are likely familiar with the Ballard locks, but this city was the birthplace of the very First series of Locks in the world, which were built in the 1500s, and designed by a man named Paul Riquet.  There are a total of 9 locks that finally drop down to the main canal in less than 1/4 mile or so.

Beziers has a population just under 80,000 and is the 2nd largest city in this part of France. It was originally founded about 2,600 years ago, and is known mostly for Viticulture & Rugby. There is, of course some Stunning architecture, and the outdoor markets are frequent and some are quite large. Below are a couple of pics of some of the great ancient structures which are Everywhere.

We then spent a few days in another amazing ancient city, Narbonne, about another 30 minutes southwest of Beziers. We arrived on Thursday, which is the day they hold a huge outdoor market, and thought a bit chilly, it was Not raining, so we enjoyed seeing all of the vendors. There is also a daily Indoor market for food (mostly) and it has a Lot of shops and places to eat the food of the region. It is open daily from about 8am until 2. This is where a Lot of locals come for lunch especially, and the place gets quite packed. there are cheese shops (fromageries) meat shops (bucheres), bread stalls (boulangeries) & of course wine shops (Cavistes).

Narbonne was founded in around 118 BC by the Romans (of course) and the current population is between 130,000 & 150, 000, depending on where you look, but is is quite large either way, especially for this part of France. It is known as “the eldest daughter of Rome” outside of Italy. Today one of the largest manufacturers of motorhomes and caravans, The Narbonne Accessories Company is located here.

Below is the cathedral which we toured, and went through about 12 rooms of paintings (up 4 20 step flights of stairs. then we decided to climb another 140 steps to the top of the square tower on the left (la gauche), but in order to do so, we had to climb back Down the 80 steps, walk around the building, and then ascend the 140 stone spiral staircase, to the top of the tower. We definitely got our steps in this trip 🙂

We will start working at our new jobs mid-March, so this is a chance for a few days exploring points south of where we will be living. It is about a 2 hour drive, so not too far, but the weather is even nicer down there.
Here, in Bagnols, where we are staying until our house and the AirB&B (Mas de Toulair) is finished, it is Beautiful, and sunny most days, but the wind is quite strong, so it is Not hot, but very pleasant, as it rarely rains.

Here is a picture off to the side, at around 2:45 the day I write this.

Please check out some of Sharon’s Beautiful pictures in the folders we have created so far. Just click on the Pictures tab at the top of the homepage

We look forward to staying in touch!

Ray & Sharon