More Minervois Pics

Dolman

Minerva alley

Ancient bridge to Minerva

Minerva eroded pillar

Sunday drive in the Minervois

Frescoes in the ancient church


More frescoes



Ancient Church outside Siran

Today Patrice and I drove to the Minervois region which is north and west of Abeilhan. My favorite guidebook described this region as having lost much of its population over the last century but now due to its new wine production people are moving back. It has some of the oldest and most preserved villages and early sites of civilization in France. The area is named for the town of Minerve which has been inhabited for 5,000 years. It was largely deserted but now has 100 inhabitants, artist shops, and a few restaurants.

The drive getting to Minerve was lovely. The countryside was rolling hills, vineyards (of course), limestone outcroppings, and pine trees. The town of Minerve is on a high plain at the confluence of two rivers. There are steep cliffs surrounding the town and it was obeviously selected by ancient humans as it could be quite easily defended. However unfortunately, when Cathar survivors of Simon’s (whatever his last name was) slaughter of the Cathars in Beziers arrived in Minerve, Simon followed them and killed them in Minerve. The village is beautifully preserved and the current inhabitants have restored a number of the homes. It is a peaceful place and hauntingly beautiful. The artisan shops are pretty tasteful too. There were some visitors besides us but it was not at all crowded. So far it is my favorite village.

We had lunch at a lovely outside restaurant, something like “The Troubadors.” It had a huge wood burning oven and they were cooking red meat and pizzas in it. We were sure we had a celebrity sighting, Andre Agassi and Stephi Graf, and their two children! They sat quite near us. However close observation of the family revealed that they were speaking only French and using their eating utensils like Europeans so we concluded that they were not the Agassis or were certainly carrying out French impersonations very, very proficiently.

We left Minerve and drove to Siran which wasn’t far. The guidebook said it had three wonderful sights which were not much visited – a 12th to 15th Century church with frescoes , a 7-sided Cathar church, another ancient church with a “beautiful” sculpted aspe, and a “dolman.” First we found the church with the frescoes. Most of the frescoes I’ve seen in France, Italy, and Turkey are pretty faded and much of them are no longer very visible. These frescoes were unbelievable. They covered almost the entire interior of the church with vivid colors and the figures were still very recognizable. We were awestruck and felt very privileged to be able to see such intact ancient artwork. Patrice lit a candle.

Our next stop was the Dolman which had a small sign saying “Dolman” on the roadside directing you to a very rough dirt road. We didn’t know what Dolman meant so we weren’t sure we’d even recognize it if we found it. We climbed the hill and there without a doubt was the Dolman. It was an ancient tomb (5,000 years old). It had a huge stone placed over the sides of the structure. It reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of Stonehenge. There was nothing else there and nothing spoiling it (e.g., graffiti, trash).

Next we drove to what was the church with the sculpted “aspe”. We found it up a dirt road. It was locked but we saw what we assumed was the “aspe” (the area in back of the alter) from the outside and it had some sculpting even on the outside.

The seven-sided Cathar church was literally in the very center of the town of Siran and there was nowhere to park. The streets surrounding it were probably the narrowest I’ve encountered this trip so we just passed by it.

We headed home about 5 pm. It was a great day for seeing some very special places.

Patrice's Visit

River Jumper

Me

Patrice

Pezenas Cowboy Dancing

Marianne Lindgren left on Monday. It was great having here visit me here. Patrice Christensen arrived by train from Paris on Tuesday. It is her first visit to France and I hope she enjoys the South.

On Wednesday we spent the day at my favorite beach by Cap d’Agda. We rented chaise lounges and an umbrella and spent a very relaxing day. Had lunch at a restaurant right on the beach. Believe it or not it was really good. We both had moules and frites. At the next table was a large group of 20s to 30s something guys who obviously were on some sort of team. We decided not bicycle because they didn’t have shaved legs. Could have been soccer, rugby, or ??? Whatever, they were having a long and huge lunch – cocktails, appetizers, main course, and dessert. The chef/owner came out and drank with them for awhile.

The evening we went into Pezenas and visited many shops then had a good dinner at a nice outdoor restaurant Cote Sud. After dinner we as we walked through Pezenas we thought we hear western/country music – weird. We found its source – it was about 30 older French folks line dancing. Some of them had on shirts that gave the name of their dance club – looks like they do this regularly. They had a leader and he was the gayest French cowboy I’ve ever seen. Anyway they were having a great time. I was only sorry I had on my flip flops instead of real shoes or I would have joined them.

Thursday we drove north up the Herault River and checked out a number of nice little towns and beautiful spots along the river. From a tiny bridge high above the river we watched some daredevil guys and gals jump/dive from very high up. See the pic.

We then visited Saint Guillhem de Desert and then back to my favorite swimming hole on the river. Patrice decided she couldn’t decide which water she preferred the river or the Mediterranean. (me either).

Friday we went to Montpellier. We road the funky little touristic train through town and listened to the description of the various sights. Montpellier is fun day or night. There is lots going on. We checked out some of the stores and also went to the Art Museum and learned a lot about an artist, Cabenet, who lived/painted during the 1800s and was very good.

For dinner we went to L'Asparagus which continues to be a big hit with everyone I've taken there.

Saturday in Sete (Reprise)

This was a GREAT day. It was Marianne and me as Tony left for Paris on Friday.

We started the day by going to Market Day in Pezenas – always a great thing to do. It is a very good one - combination Flea and Farmers Market. We didn’t buy a lot – tomatoes, peaches, avocadoes, olive tampenade, and lettuce but the best purchase was a bottle of ginger juice. The British woman selling it described its health benefits (sounded kind of like snake oil). She claimed it treats indigestion, stomach ache, migraine, liver problems, and goodness knows what else. She encouraged adding it to tea, soda, food, or just about anything. I liked the way it tasted so I bought some and you know what? I think it works! At least it tastes great in Perrier.

After shopping we headed to Bouzigues, a little town on the Etang d’ Thau which is a huge inlet near Sete and Agde. This body of water is where huge volumes of mussels and oysters are farmed. Our destination was the Shellfish Museum. When we got there it was 2 pm and we thought we could better appreciate the museum more if we ate some oysters first. There were many restaurants on the water. After we went in to four of them, and we told by all that they were no longer serving and to come back at 7 pm, we gave up and went to the Museum. It was very interesting – covering all the various farming and harvesting techniques, mollusk reproduction (oysters are hermaphrodites, clams are male and female), lives of the fishermen, and history of the area. By the time we were done with the Museum we really wanted some oysters. We mentioned this to the woman staffing the Museum and she directed us to a restaurant that is open all day. There we feasted on a dozen shrimp, 3 dozen oysters, bread, and espresso for 32 Euros! The oysters were the without a doubt the best I have ever tasted – so fresh and sweet. I will be forever spoiled.

After this very late lunch we went for a swim in the Mediterranean – ahhhhh.

At the museum we had learned that this night was the finals, the Gold Cup of the Sete annual water jousting tournament. We were told to be there by 7 pm to get a good seat even though the event didn’t start until 8:30. We got there and it already mobbed but there were plenty of seats. It felt a little like a soccer cup – much excitement, wild costumes, balloons, and of course a lot of drinking at bars that were set up in front of the regular cafes. We had seen the staging area for what looked like all the police cars and ambulances in Sete.

Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera but Marianne got some excellent video of the event with her IPhone. To see what jousting looks like you can check out my previous post “Sete on Saturday” in July. It was very exciting – two teams – red and blue. Lots of cheering from the spectators. Music is played frequently – by musicians on the boats who play a clarinet kind of instrument and drums and by an brass band. All the music is pretty horrible sounding but it definitely adds to the festivities. We left before the end as it looked like it was going to be pretty rowdy.

Nice is Nice

Chagall Angels

Tony by one of the many fountains

Nice at night

Cote d'Azur

Cote d'Azur

Nice is Nice with Marianne & Tony

For our overnight adventure we drove to Nice. On the way there we drove through Cannes and along the Cote d’Azur. This is such an unbelievably beautiful – turquoise and dark blue water, red cliffs, many boats, and huge yachts. Although it was a long drive it was definitely worth it. We stopped at a little store and purchased our picnic lunch. The food wasn’t great but the view and company were wonderful.

In Nice we stayed at the Holiday Inn and I had the best hotel room I think I’ve ever had in France. Everything at the hotel was great and its location was perfect very close to the main part of town and the beach. After we arrived Tony and I went down to the beach for a swim. We were prepared with our water shoes and I remembered that the beach was all rocks. What I wasn’t prepared for was that there was some surf which makes the water get very, very deep fast. That is great for getting in but not for getting out. I was knocked down about 5 times trying to climb out. Tony didn’t even try to come in. The color of the water at Nice is really beautiful. It is almost a cloudy turquoise color.

We walked though the busy pedestrian streets to a large place with beautiful fountains. Then we had dinner in an Italian seafood restaurant which was very good. Nice is equally French and Italian.

In the morning Tony and I went to the Chagall Museum which was GREAT. I don’t usually take pictures in museums but I had to for this one. The final highlight was a documentary film with old footage of the Jews leaving Russia, Chagall and his fellow artists who escaped to New York during the second world war, etc. It was one of the best museums I’ve ever visited. It was also an invigorating walk which we definitely needed.

Then we drove a short distance to Menton and had a wonderful swim and lunch. Drove home and arrived at 9:30 pm. A long drive but great two days on the Cote d’Azur. Yes Nice is nice.

Collouire Mob Scene

Monday Aug 16
We drove to Collouire thinking Monday would be less crowded. Wrong!!! It was their annual festival and we couldn’t even drive into the town to drop off our stuff. We had to park at the top of the hill and walk about 1 mile downhill to the harbor. I thought it had been crowded when MaryAnn Wolcott and I went. This time it was jammed. We did walk around, swam and sat on the most crowded beach I’ve ever been on. Even in the water it was shoulder to shoulder. When it was time to leave we found that the promised shuttle to the top wasn’t working but I found a taxi and for 8 Euros we were delivered to our car at the top. This is probably the best spent 10 Euros of the trip. Then drove home and vowed not to drive a distance again for a few days.

Not my favorite day. I won't come back in the summer.

Sunday in Sete

Me and Tony over Sete

Marianne over Sete


Frescoes in Church in Sete Hill Church

My neighbors - John, Roger, Suzette

Sunday, Aug 15
At noon we had appertifs with Suzette, Roger, and John – our neighbors here in the village. We sat in their garden. Between my terrible French, John’s semi-terrible French, Marianne’s good Spanish, Roger’s very expressive sign language, and Suzette’s good everything we shared great conversation and many laughs. I am going to miss them and will look forward to returning here next summer.

Afterwards we drove to Sete hoping to see water jousting but nothing was happening. We drove to the top of the town and enjoyed the beautiful view of the town, the Marseillane plage, the Etang du Thong. There was also a beautiful little church there at the summit with quite modern and very beautiful art work inside.

Then to the beach to swim, swim, swim. Ah the Mediterranean…… I am so going to miss it back in foggy and cold San Francisco.

Hanging out locally

Monica giving us a wine lesson.

Angel and Kevin in love



Location of winery

We decided to have a quiet day and enjoy the area around Abeilhan – very easy to do. We visited Les Trinites – the winery where I attended a dinner a couple weeks back. The winery is located in a tiny village, Roquessels, which is one of the few “hilltowns” here. It is owned by a delightful couple, Simon and Monica. He is British, she is Catalan. Monica met us at the tasting room and gave us samples of each of their wines. They are all excellent in my opinion. Even though she was obviously very busy with her daily activities (kids, lunch, etc) she even gave us a tour of the winery itself complete with a very good description of the terroir, techniques they use, the processes, etc. She is a delightful person. Also their “intact” smallish and handsome dog, Kevin, had a 1 hour love affair with Angel. I believe that the winery visit will be the high point in Angel’s trip to France.

After the winery visit we went to Pezenas, had lunch, and went to the shops. Pezenas is always a hit (Marianne loved it).

For dinner we returned to Asparagus for Tony’s final dinner there. I am now recognized by the maitre d’ by just my voice when I call to make a reservation. Maybe we are going there too often but it just so very good and a great value.

Fontfroide Abbey and Carcassone

Montpellier at night.

Garden at Fontfroide Abbey


Ferret walking!

Carcasonne

Tony and I visited Frontfroide Abbey and Carcasson. Both are quite close to Narbonne which is a pretty reasonable drive on the freeway. The only problem was that we had some problems finding Fontfroide as it can’t be located by the TomTom GPS and signage for it wasn’t very noticeable. Eventually we did find it and took the guided tour (in French) which was the only option. Again, as I’ve experienced a number of times now, the guide went “on and on” which even seemed to bore the French speakers. It is like so many others, an old abbey, but this one is very restored so it is worth seeing. The gardens are also very lovely.

We had lunch in the restaurant at the Abbey which is very nice. I remember many years ago, on our first trip to the western part of the South of France, that John and I had lunch in this same restaurant. That seems so very long ago now.

Since Tony really wanted to go to Carcasonne I agreed to go. It is not my favorite thing to do here as it is so over crowded with tourists and souvenir shops. I must admit that it is very impressive to see such a large medieval city restored to its full size and scope but yikes……. So many people and general crap. One interesting thing we saw was a young couple walking their ferrets. Such bizarre pets. One thing that was noticeable was that the male owner looked like a ferret himself. Unfortunately my picture trying to capture this likeness didn’t turn out.

Marianne Lindgren arrived by train in Montpellier so we drove there and picked her up. We had dinner in the large plaza there and enjoyed people watching and all the activity.

aigues mortes

Ugly Grand Motte
Getting Gas at the Boat Dock

Aigues Mortis - outside wall

Salt flats

Tony standing by the potty hole in the Wall (sorry it is sideways - will fix it later)

Tony and I drove to Aigues-Mortes which is at the west end of the Camargue. The Camargue is a swampy area into which the Rhone River empties into the sea. The “city” was built by King Louis around 1400. At that time the location was part of France but Marseilles which is on the east end of the Carmargue was not. King Louis needed a port on the south end of France for many important commercial reasons. He had the city built where there would be a nice port. Unfortunately for Louie the river silted in the city just as it was finished and it never served any useful purpose as far as being a port. The water is quiet some distance away and between the “city” and the sea is a big salt flat where most of the French salt is harvested. You will be familiar with this salt in the cylindrical blue and red boxes we use.

Because the city never served the commercial purpose for which it was intended it has remained relatively unchanged over the centuries. It is now a beautifully (naturally unlike others such as Carcassone) preserved medieval city. Its ramparts are fully intact and (for a small fee) you can walk the ramparts all the way around. There was quite a large crowd of tourists there the day we visited, unlike my other visits to the place which have all been “off season”. Still we really enjoyed it. In walking the ramparts we observed the openings from which soldiers could shoot attackers with arrows or boiling oil. Something we also noted were “potty” holes where we suppose the soldiers relieved themselves and possibly deposited another nasty substance on their attackers below.

Leaving Aigues-Mortis was not easy. We foolishly chose a route through Grand Motte which looked very convenient on the map but unfortunately was hindered by draw bridges and it took us over an hour to go about 5 kilometers. This slow stop and go driving really depleted our fuel and we were desperate for a gas station by the time we got to Grand Motte. Grand Motte is without a doubt the ugliest resort I have ever seen (at least in recent memory). The hotels/apartment buildings are built to look like cruise ships (I’m not kidding).

With the car beyond empty we used the TomTom GPS to guide us to the closest gas station. We were bewildered when it directed us onto a large boating pier. However, we trusted the TomTom and sure enough it had sent us to gas for boats primarily but it did work for cars too.

Leaving Grand Motte and driving through a little bit of the Camargue we saw the white horses and bulls for which it is famous and even saw one flamingo flying and about twenty in the water with their butts in the air.

Tony's visit

Angel before being thrown out of the Abbey

Me - Canal du midi bike ride

Bike ride on canal before his chain broke

Tony at St. Guilhem de-desert

Wednesday, August 11

Tony Wernert arrived by train from Paris the evening of Wednesday, August 11th. For anyone who doesn’t know, he is married to my husband John’s cousin, Kay. They have been our very close friends since they moved to San Francisco from Colorado maybe 15 years ago. Tony just retired from his job with the California state court and decided to do a traveling summer. Kay is still working very, very hard as the director of Marin County Head Start and she also is very involved on the national level with the program. Tony has been visiting family and friends in the Ohio, Michigan, Missouri areas before the “highlight” of his summer – France with me. I’m glad to have him. He’s lots of fun and is a very adventurous traveler. He’s also very handy with the walking of the three dogs here.

On Thursday we did three of my favorite things that I had already done - Clamouse cave, the village/Abbey of St. Guilhem le desert and then swimming in the Herault River. I won’t be posting pics of these since they would probably look the same as last ones – but we had a wonderful time and it was great sharing something I’d enjoyed so much with someone else. This time we took Angel along and carried her on my back in her carrier during the cave tour – noticed that it was a lot more exercise than doing it without her. She was very well behaved until we got to the part of the tour where they play choral music and do a light show. On my first visit lots of little children cried during this event, this time it was one dog whining (luckily not too loudly).

Tony enjoyed St. Guilhem Abbey but Angel and I got thrown out by a foreign nun. Angel was guilty of being a dog. Swimming in the river was just as wonderful as before – oops it was better because this time I had water shoes on and the rocks didn’t hurt so much.

Thursday Tony and I went for a bike ride on the Canal du Midi. Tony loves to bike ride and that was one activity he was really looking forward to. I am ok as long as it is pretty flat and the weather isn’t too hot. The canal ride meets these criteria as it is a little bit rough due to the tree roots a rain making mud (now hard) but it is definitely flat and cool because it is lined with lovely old trees. We rented bikes and took off. We rode along enjoying ourselves and watching the boats going through the canal locks etc. As we approached the first village along the river, frankly I was just hitting my “stride”, Tony’s bike suffered a major mechanical problem – the chain dislodged and couldn’t be reconnected because one of the links was badly bent. There wasn’t any bike repair in the town so Tony took my bike and rode back to the rental shop and I stayed in a café and guarded the broken bike. After about 1 ½ hours a mechanic from the rental shop arrived on a motorcycle and fixed the bike enough to get it back to the shop. Then Tony got there in the car and we ate lunch – having wasted most of our bike riding time. Oh well, the part we did was fun and I hope to do it again before I leave.

That night we went to a restaurant that had been recommended by my friends Bill & Marie Cerino. They told me they had enjoyed it during the recent visit to France. When they told me this I thought it was probably located somewhere here but nowhere close to me. Surprise, surprise I discovered it in a village about three minutes from here one day when the freeway I was on ended abruptly, traffic was dumped into the town of Valros, and there it was “L’Asparagus”. It doesn’t look particularly inviting it’s in a new very plain building on the side of a new part of the roadway. However, it was wonderful. Definitely the best meal I’ve had so far on this trip and possibly the best I’ve ever had in France. Not only that it was extremely reasonably priced – 28 Euros for 3 course prix fix. The service was great and you sit outside under a canopy. Tonight we are going back for the third time.

Update August 9

Monpellier pastiserie

Arc du Triumphe

Gypsy Swing



Place Comedie

Roman mosiacs at Lupian

No posts for a while as it’s been quiet here. That is changing tomorrow when Tony Wernert arrives and then Marianne Lindgren joins us on Thursday.

It’s been nice having home “down time” but I’m ready to play tour guide. I’ve been planning activities for my guests – hope they like the plans.

I’ve been enjoying myself. I go swimming at least every other day and have tried a couple different beaches. The beaches near here are all long and sandy with beautiful calm water. The weather is warm and the water is cold. I’ve learned that the very best thing to do is just get right in up to your neck. Taking it gradually prolongs discomfort. Once you’re in it is absolutely delightful. The drive to the beach for Abeilhan is an easy one and it only takes about 20 minutes.

There is a small lake fairly close – just outside the nearby town Roujan. The lake is called Barrage les Olivettes (or something like that). I did drive over there last week and checked it out. It is very pretty and there were quite a few people swimming but the water was very murky. I decided that if I was hot enough I’d go in but it wasn’t all that hot and I’ve gotten spoiled by the beautiful clear water of the Mediterranean and the Herault River.

I attended two dinners at local wineries catered by Ken and Allison who are friends of Sharon and Mel’s. Both were very nice. The first was a pretty informal BBQ at the home of the winery owner just outside Pouzolle which is the town closest to Abeilhan. The second one was more formal in an absolutely beautiful setting on the winery’s terrace looking out over vineyards and rolling hills toward the Mediterranean. As the evening progressed we watched the light change with the setting sun and after it was dark we could see fireworks ishn Séte. The food and wines were excellent. Most of the people at these dinners were expat Brits (with a couple Americans and Kiwis). I didn’t meet anyone who was French.

I’ve also been entertained several times by my wonderful French neighbors Suzette and Roger. They invite people for “appertifs” which is appetizers and wine. They are very warm and friendly and always make me feel welcome (even though we can’t communicate real well). Last Saturday evening they were able to relieve my curiosity as to a very bizarre event from that morning.

Saturday morning when I got up at 7:30 am I opened the wooden shutters that face the alley in back of my house and noticed two police cars with three French cops standing by looking down another alley. I frankly didn’t think much about it, figured that an elderly person had perhaps died during the night. However when I went out the front door to walk the dogs there were 4 more police cars (and more gendarmes a little ways from my front door). They remained in place for an hour so I asked some other neighbors who were standing outside their houses, “Que pasa?” since I didn’t know how to say “what is happening?” in French. The explanation I got was that someone had been shot with “pistole” during the night. I wasn’t able to understand anything more. That evening Suzette explained that there were two brothers, one was drunk, and the drunk one shot his brother. The victim survived and is in the hospital, the perpetrator is in jail. Excitement in the village.

On the way back from the beach the beach the other day, I stopped in Loupian at an archeological site of a Gallo-Romain Villa. It is quite extensive and contains beautiful mosaic floors. Unfortunately the tour guide was obviously very knowledgeable but spoke no English and he lectured nonstop for 1.5 hours. It was very hot inside the enclosed site and you can only look at a mosaic floor for so long – so I escaped and went out a side door.

I went to Montpellier yesterday. This is a good sized city. After being so long in the rural countryside I felt like I was in metropolis. It was nice to see fancy stores like Cartier. Fortunately as it was Sunday they were all closed. The large Place Comedie is a lively place. Many sidewalk cafés, street entertainers, very good people watching. I had a salad niçoise (what else?) for lunch and watched the world go by. There was a gypsy trio playing Gypsy Swing (one of my favorite music types) nearby. Afterwards I walked around and just absorbed the city feeling. Montpellier even has its own Arc du Triumph. Everything was great till I tried to leave town. Due to much new construction my TomTom had its biggest failure yet. I finally just ignored and headed in what seemed to be the best direction with lots of zigzagging because of many one way streets.

After that I headed to the beach for a late afternoon swim. Paradise…..

Drive to St. Guilhem-le-Desert August 3

The rocky river beach. The water was wonderul. I'll be coming back here with waterproof shoes.
Stalagmites in Clamouse Cave


Lightshow in the cave

Organ in the Abbey

One alley without tourists in St. Guilhem-le-Desert.

- Public Access Defibrillation in St. Guilhem-le-Desert

It’s been a pretty quiet week. This is the gap I have between visitors. It has actually been very relaxing and enjoyable. I’ve been catching up on reading, taking plenty of walks, going to the beach, shopping in Pezenas, etc. Just generally hanging out.

Yesterday I decided to do some exploring. I drove to St. Guilhem-le-Desert which isn’t really very far from here – just to the northwest of Montpellier. It isn’t really a desert – lots of green canyons, outcroppings of rocks, and a lot of vegetation. Apparently it got the name desert because Guilhem Court-Nez, who was a very powerful count and friend of Charlemagne, came here to be alone after fighting in many wars and having his wife die. The place was very deserted and peaceful and he founded an abbey there.

First I stopped at Clamouse Cave. It is a gigantic and incredibly beautiful cave (no sign of cave paintings here). You enter the vast system of caves at the lowest level and ascend the wet paths and many stairs though a series of “rooms”. The higher up you go the more beautiful and intricate the formations become. Since they had a film with English (and German) subtitles at the beginning, and the guide occasionally added something in English during the tour I learned quite a bit about limestone caves. The water seeps in from the top through the very porous limestone. During heavy rains some of the chambers are completely flooded. During this seeping, the water dissolves the various materials within the limestone, and as they drip these materials form a stalactite from the top and where they drip to they form a stalagmite. Sometimes the two come together forming an intact column.

In one large “room” there was a pretty incredible lightshow and chorale music. It was very beautiful but managed to frighten many of the little children who cried hysterically. One interesting thing – they allowed dogs on the tours. Ours had a very well behaved golden retriever and I saw a cocker spaniel on the next one.

After the cave I continued on to St. Guilhem-le-Désert. The town was very crowded with tourists but still very, very charming. In fact, I think it is probably the best I’ve seen so far. The Abbey is very interesting. It is obviously very old (like from the 800s). At one time it was apparently full of much statuary of which there are only a few remnants still there in its museum. Apparently when the Catholic Church was in disfavor during the rise of Protestantism and the Cathars most of the sculptures were disfigured (now understand that those people had a right to be angry as the Catholics had slaughtered thousands of Cathars in southwest France). After this period a lot of the statuary was removed from the Abbey and used to decorate local houses. A lot of it ended in the hands of an antiquities dealer who sold a lot of it to the American who founded The Cloisters Museum in New York City (and it is still there today).

In more modern times a huge organ was installed in the Abbey and they hold concerts here fairly often. I’m going to check the schedule and see if we can attend one.

After I left the Abbey I drove just a short way down the hill where there is a spot where the Herault River is dammed and there is a lovely place to swim. The water was heavenly but I am definitely going to buy some footwear that you can wear into the water. It hasn’t been such a problem at the Cap D’Agde beaches where the beach is fine sand. This river beach was made up of rocks which continued into the water. Many of the Mediterranean beaches are also very rocky. I’m sure I looked pretty ridiculous coming out of the water on all fours but those rocks are really painful!!