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| Saint-Nazaire Cathedral overlooking Pont-canal de l'Orb |
Béziers is a spectacular find about 10 km off the Mediterranean in the south of France. I had previously never heard of this mid sized town of 70,000, and am now quite grateful to have stumbled upon it. The local economy is heavily based on viticulture and winemaking. We started our day off with a hearty serving of locally grown grapes and wine!
The biggest deal every year in Béziers is Feria. Based on Spain’s corrida, the festival takes place in the middle of August (usually around the 15th) and lasts for four days. Thousands gather to watch young men stand off against beasts in the bullfighting ring. At night the streets are filled with holiday revelers partying to the wee hours of the morning. Although Béziers is quite beautiful in spring, we were a little disappointed to not be visiting during Feria.
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| Above: Feria Bullfighters Below: Feria Partiers |
We decided to maintain the serenity of the morning and visited first Plateau des Poètes around 10h00. It is a huge English style park featuring numerous statues of poets, a fountain of the Titan by Injalbert, and many other works centered around mythology. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. So beautiful I'd rather show you the pictures than even try to describe it.
We stopped off at 12, rue Boieldieu in the heart of the city to dine at Restaurant Octopus (at this point I'm choosing eateries based solely on the name). The menu offered a choice between a la carte items and the “surprise” where the chef serves a several course meal of his choice (In my French travels, these seem to be the typical options). I played it safe this time and matched Boeuf Wagyu/pommes cheminée, with macaronis céleri /foie gras /truffe ;lait mousseux aux noix grilles. We heartily enjoyed Babas mandarine et crème mascarpone vanillée for dessert. Quite good!
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| Octopus Dessert |
We capped the day at Le Cimetière Vieux (Old Cemetery), created in the 18th century. Much more that just a cemetery, it is essentially an open-air museum with numerous tombs and works of art by local sculptors, including Jean Magrou and Injalbert (a hometown hero whose works we also saw in the park). It was like visiting Lenin's Tomb in Russia, only way more artsy and way less gross. By this time we should have hit the road, especially because visiting hours end at six, but there really was only one thing to do in the midst of all these haunting forms: we decided to spend the night in the cemetery!
http://www.restaurant-octopus.com/
