Into the heart of Languedoc-Roussillon; Pézenas
Trip miles 3,032
Heading south and west into strong winds we rounded the
Bassin deThau passing acres of moules and oyster farms. As Bertha clocked up
3000 trip miles we sourced a suitably celebratory seafood dinner for that
night. Whilst the French lunched we arrived at mesmeric Pézenas, another
beautiful medieval stone-built town gentrified in the 17th and 18th century
with private mansions.
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| Place Gambetta, Pézenas |
The elegant town square still boasts the intact home of
medieval barber Gely a friend to Moliere who lived and worked in Pézenas as the
official royal playwright. The stone masonry of the Gothic arches and stairways
of the Hotel de Lacoste allowed a glimpse into a private mansion at the time
of Moliere, set around a central open courtyard, in which heavy wooden doors set into stone arches guarded the
privacy of the living areas.
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Hotel des Barons de Lacoste
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Inside the impressive Gothic cathedral the town’s choir was rehearsing for a performance that evening. The sound of their soaring voices singing a beautiful Latin mass was thrilling and although all ages, shapes and sizes their harmonies to our untrained ears were pitch perfect, which was just as well as their conductor seemed very exacting.
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Boules: it’s a French man’s world
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Back at the central car park a boules tournament had been set up and more than thirty games were underway on the dusty ground with players young and old. Some nimble manoeuvring of Bertha was needed.
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Preparing moules in the sunshine
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We gambled on an overnight stop at a German owned vineyard and once through the maze of narrow and rutted lanes were rewarded with a spectacular view across to the foothills of the Pyranees.
Having spent
just two euros on a kilo of fresh Moules from the roadside sellers lining the
Bassin deThau near Sete, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening!
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| Sunset over the vineyards towards the Pyrenees |
