Imaging a square with a side length of about 400 m. Inside there are streets and alleyways lined with houses, some places … all in a checkerboard pattern. In Southern France this type of city is called bastide. The square resp. the bastide is bordered by a high wall with impressive defense towers and 10 gates. A village in this area was mentioned for the first time about 100 B. C. It expanded into a…
There’s a long & winding road – at least for the last part of the route – from coast level to L’Abbaye Saint Félix de Montceau resp. the ruins … The abbey was founded in the 11th century and abandoned end of the 18th century when it became state-owned. Only parts have survived until nowadays. The main entrance to the church is in the shade – and well locked. Inside there are some events every…
On a sunny day about midweek we made a trip to Sète. It’s about 30 min by train from Béziers. The sky was blue, the sun was brilliant: it was hot – we stumbled direct into the farmer’s market which sprawled along the streets and alleyways … and the market hall. My better half & I were enthralled by the abundance of fruits & vegetables, the cheeses, the fish & seafood, the meat … and…
Agde is a small town in Southern France near the Mediterranean Sea at the mouth of the river Hérault. The city was founded about 550 BC by travelling Greeks broadening their zone of influence. Later came the Romans … and then all the others dreaming of conquering the area and establishing a new empire. Finally in the 5th century Agde became a diocese and in 872 a cathedral was planned, however, only finished in the…
This is the well, the source of cold water – today at the very same place as about a millennium ago. We are in the labour courtyard of the Abbey of Fontfroide (fontfroide meaning cold well). Once this was the area for producing everything the abbey and its inhabitants needed for independent living – if food processing, livestock depot, butcher work, blacksmith services … In 1093 some monks decided to live in this spot, a…
The sky above Béziers is blue – really blue. Deep blue. With some nice fluffy white clouds … We are now living in Sérignan, a village near Béziers, and one of our first trips we made to Béziers. We found a beautiful city – whatever you imagine when dreaming about Southern France. There are some Grands Boulevards as I like to call them. The photo above shows the impressive buildings that line up along the…
On our way to SouthernFrance we made a stop-over in Dijon. For a day we stayed in Dijon and started in the morning with strolling around the city. Dijon is famous for its extraordinary mustard – although (as I learnt) the mustard is no longer produced in Dijon. It’s the result of an unfortunate court decision – decades ago – that stated that there is only one way to create Dijon mustard, but it’s not…