Saying goodbye to Languedoc

Between our three bases – Durban-des-Corbieres, Paraza and Narbonne, we’ve spent more than 5 weeks in Languedoc-Roussillon.  It’s been a real change from Paris, but a lovely stay.

We made a short foray north to Béziers on a rather cold and windy day.  We made it to the TI (Tourist Information) just before they closed for lunch and picked up a map that was somewhat helpful and a booklet that was in English but told us no useful information at all!  We visited the impressive cathedral and grabbed a sandwich before heading to our next stop.

We did find one other thing worth a photo in Béziers, though – a mural on the side of a building that really made you stop and look.  Are those guys really out on their balconies painting on this blustery day?!

We continued south of Narbonne to Peyriac-de-Mer and then around a body of water (a very large ‘pond’) to the lovely hilltop town of Bages. Along the way we encountered a partially closed road with this sign:
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I pulled up Google Translate on my phone and found that this meant “Road Flooded.” There was not a lot of traffic so we decided to press on…figuring we could always turn around.  We saw evidence of recent flooding (wet grasses washed onto the road), but the only water we had to ford was quite shallow.  And, while I was taking this picture, a car coming from the other direction made it through just fine!

Bages was worth the trip.  It is a small village (aren’t they all?) that crawls up a hillside at the edge of the water. We found a place to park and walked to the top of the town where we had a view all the way to Narbonne (about 5 miles away).

A remarkable sight was this sundial atop the old port into the city.  Still accurate today!

On a rather rainy Monday afternoon, we ventured about 10 miles out of Narbonne to an ancient Cistercian monastery – Abbaye de Fontfroide, built during the Middle Ages and saved from ruin by a wealthy person who bought it and restored the abbey and its wonderful gardens.  It is still in private hands and very well-maintained.  It’s also one of the few places that is open EVERY day (even Monday)!

One remarkable note was this stained glass window, one of several made in the 20th century from fragments of ancient stained glass windows, mostly from churches in northern France that were bombed during the First World War.

On November 29, we celebrated our 14th (!) wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe we’ve been married that long.  We’re both grateful that we share so many common interests, like wine & travel, even while we continue to argue about politics.  We enjoyed home-cooked Duck a l’Orange that night – delicious!

Finally, we had a chance to see our new friends again before departing.  Joanne (from Durban) came for lunch when she was in Narbonne for a massage and, on our last day, Marie-José and Harry invited us to Paraza for lunch – their incomparable moules & frites!  What a nice send-off!!

We’ll now undertake another short road trip – Arles > Lyon > Beaune – on our way to Colmar, where we’ll be for Christmas. Stay tuned…….