The Beziers Blog

 This week has been devoted to the garden so no drives out and about. This did not stop me meeting up with a friend on Tuesday and we went to one of the local markets. A strong North African influence in the goods on sale but bargains to be found if one looks hard enough. I did not take any pictures in the market as it could be easy to offend people by taking pics without permission and there were far too many people to ask.

  After we left the market we decided to walk back into the centre of town,quite a long walk but interesting. I wonder how long we will have to live here before we discover all of the little nooks and crannys that are not mentioned in the guide books.  As we walked along the road we saw a little garden that niether of us had visited before. It is called the Jardin de Antonine and is dedicated to people who lost their lives during the bombardment of July 5th 1944. At this time of the year there were not many flowers to be seen but the statues were very good. Like so many gardens in this region there are lots of little corners and resting places that considering where the garden is situated are really tranquil.

  After leaving the garden we carried on towards the centre and Lamya (my friend ) pointed out the roof of a church which is quite spectacular. I am sure there is a proper way to describe it but I think “Mosaic” just about descibes it. It is a pity that I could not remove the aerials or the wires but I think my pics will give you some idea of how it looks. Inside the church of ”the Immaculate Conception” the sunshine made some beautiful reflections on the walls. This caused a little problem because the reflections managed to hide the murals that were painted around the altar. Somewhat faded but still lovely to look at.

   When we arrived on the Allees Paul Riquet we felt we had earned a treat so we went for a chocolat anciennes in the salon de the’. This I can recommend for any chocoholics who may need a quick fix. It is a bit like drinking melted chocolate bars.

  Because Geoff had worked in the garden while I was meandering around Beziers on Tuesday we decided to go into town on Friday. Not really for shopping (I do not do that) but to have a look at the usual Friday flower market. I will let the photo’s say it all. We did do a little shopping on the market. We bought strawberry plants,chives,tarragon and some camomile. I am hoping the camomile will make some ground cover as well as smelling nice.

     It is now Saturday the plants are in the garden and Geoff continues with planting and tidying. Maybe I have sat here long enough and had better go and help. Where will I have been next time? Heaven only knows and I do not have a direct line. Until then.

  Another beautiful day weatherwise yesterday and we had decided to visit Perpignan. We had been to the airport several times but had never been into the town itself.

  As with many places in this part of France Perpignan has a long history having once been the capital city of the counts of Roussillon and the kings of Majorca. That last fact struck me as being strange but apparently the town was the  mainland capital of the kingdom of Majorca. It lacked a palace fit for a king so in 1276  Palais des Rois de Majorque was built. It looks more like a fortress than a residence and is quite impressive.  The views from the Tour de l’Hommage (entrance tower) are splendid, looking over the town and across towards the Massif du Canigou. It is only a short walk from the main part of the town to reach this historical building.

  While walking towards the palace we passed Le Castillet a 15th century building which used to be used as a prison but is now used as a museum devoted to local crafts and festival. We did not go inside for two reasons, 1  We had the dog with us and 2 It was Sunday in February and not open. It is a lovely building consisting of two towers built in red brick, it is the only surviving part of the towns fortified walls.  Carrying on with our walk we arrived at the Cathedral St-Jean which I believe has a magnificent altar but as it was under cover one presumes it is under going some restoration. The rest of the cathedral has some lovely stained glass windows  and I quite liked the wrought iron bell tower (each to his own).

  For anybody that likes shopping (I am not one ) the shops in the narrow streets offer a wide variety of goods. Many of the shops are individual and sell traditional catalan things such as fabrics and jewellery. My favourite sort of shopping is markets so we will have to return on a market day. we arrived too late for the sunday morning flea market but they also have a bric-a-brac one, on the second saturday of each month as well as the daily fruit and vegetable one that nearly all the fair sized towns have.

 We did enjoy our wander around Perpignan but we also enjoyed the drive back to Beziers. Instead of returning along the N9 we headed to the coast and came back via Leucate. Leucate consists of a port,a plage and a small town. It is possible to sit nearly on the beach and eat mussels and  oyster (cultivated locally). We have done this in the past and very nice they were too.  We also saw some flamingoes en-route but they were too far out in the etang (lake) to merit a photo.  One other little deviation was to drive past the Wild Life Park at Sigean. Obviously not a great deal to see from the road side but it was amusing to see Peetes reaction to an ostrich. That is definitely a visit for another day i believe they have bears there so it is a must. NOT the dog though.

 As I said at the end of my last post we were going to go to a Mimosa festival on Sunday which is just what we did.

   We left home at about 10.30 to drive to Roquebrun, a little town situated on the side of a hill which runs down to the river Orb. Apparently it is known as the “little Nice” of the herault because of its micro climate which encourages plants and makes he place quite luxuriant.

    On arriving at Roquebrun it was evident that this was a very popular event. I did not think we were going to be able to park within a couple of kilometres of the town but luck was smiling on us and as I waited in a queue of traffic a car park attendant directed four cars including ours to a town car park where some people had just left.

         To get into the town it is necessary to walk across a long multi arched bridge that crosses the Orb. We have done this several times but yesterday was the first time that the wind nearly cut us in half. It was so cold and blowy that I thought we will not be here very long. Once we had crossed the bridge and got into the lee of the hill it was not so bad. There were hundreds of people looking at all of the stalls. Typically french obviously, cheese,sausages,honey,olive oil,and bread specialities to mention a few of the foods that were on sale. Clothes, ornaments,gadgets and novelties were also on display but the most noticable thing was of course the Mimosa. There were sprigs,and branches of it everywhere and it was also possible to buy a tree for planting. Maybe Another day when I have decided where to put it.

  In Roquebrun there is also a mediterranean garden which is normally closed for the winter but was opened up especially for the festival. We decided it was about time to go and have a look as we had promised ourselves in the past. What a good decission that was. Built right up against the hillside it is well protected from the wind and therefore a very pleasnt place to walk around. It is stated that there are more than 200 varieties of cactus planted in the garden. walkways along the side of the flower beds are a little steep in places but all are maintained to a high degree. Well worth a visit at anytime of the year.

 After leaving the gardens we wandered around the stalls trying to resist the temptations to buy. We did not do a very good jod of resisting, some things just have to be bought. Geoff, who does not “do” hats was looking at a cap that was 90% wool, when he tried it on I was surprised because it looked good. At 5 euros it would have been silly to leave it there especially as he was feeling the cold on his head (not a lot of hair there). Another thing I could not resist was a cardigan made from pure alpaca wool. People reading this who knit will know that wool of any sort is not cheap acrilycs yes, wool no. 45 euros was the price marked it also had the authenticity labels on it. No! it did not have the name of the alpaca, that would have been asking too much.  By this time it was getting on for 3 o/clock so we decided to leave and head back for mome,stopping for a hot chocolate on the way.

  I do not know where our next outing will lead us but rest assured I wll try to tell you all about it.

  What an interesting few days we have had !!!!  It has been a bit like a comedy of errors. It has also meant I could not maintain the blog as much as I wanted to.

  “ Wot ‘appened woz” to coin a phrase. 2 weeks ago today we had horrendous winds (you may have seen this on the news). the wind was gusting up to 140 kilometres an hour, the result was it blew the pilot light out on our boiler/heater. Could we re-light it? Could we heck as like. Of course it was Le week-end so nobody available to help. So no heating and no hot water. Not to worry,we have a calor heater for emergencies and we can boil water,panic not. We will sort it on Monday (perhaps)

    On Sunday the wind had dropped and we had wall to wall sunshine. So off we go for a drive, hopefully to get some pictures to show you all. We drove first to Marseillan a pretty town with a quay along which are several bars and restaurants of course it is obligatory for us to stop for a coffee after walking to the end of the quay. As you can see from the picture of Geoff and Peete it was a beautiful day. The line across the photo is a sandbar that separates the Bassin de Thau from the body of the Mediterranean sea.  We have taken visitors to Marseillan many times as this is where they produce “Noilly Prat”  (yes you do pronounce all of the letters)  It is possible to have free guided tours ending with a tasting. It is not essential to take the tour.  Wherever Noilly Prat is sold one can only buy the red or white variety but in Marseillan it is also possible to buy their Ambre/Amber. Personally my favourite,it is not sold anywhere else so we have to visit regularly (shame).

  After leaving there we drove along the north side of the etang until we arrived at Bouzigues stopping along the way to take photos of the oyster beds.  This is what Bouzigues is famous for, I think they are a bit like marmite, you either love them or loath them. We come into the first category. There is very little to see in the town itself but there are a myriad of small restaurants all competing with each other to sell sea food platters. I thought it would be a good idea to take a photo of one of these dishes. They consisted of , 18. oysters 24 mussels, some had crab (whole) and some had lobsters(whole) and varying other sea foods. It was possible to buy a plate for 2 for between 36/38 euros depending on the restaurant. Right select the restaurant , check the camera before going in ,oops camera has gone on strike. We never went in to eat because as I have said the main reason was to get a photo. Somebody was not the happiest person in the world? We did take some photos of the area but then came home. Looking on the positive side we have an excuse to visit again. We came home and decided to go to our local restaurant the Cardinal. Wrong they are on their annual holidays. Back home for something out of the freezer.

 We spent the next 5 days trying to find somebody to repair the boiler. Standard reply to our request,”sorry we do not know that make” Not very helpful. So we went back to the shop where we had bought it. A lovely lady assistant gave us the number of a man who did know the make. He arrived on Thursday and sorted the problem in about 10 minutes. Apparently a safety device turned everything off when the pilot light went out.  The camera? it has to be sent away to an Olympus specialist. Difficult to do a blog without pictures so we have had to buy a new camera.  Our strange 2 weeks does not end there. I walked into the kitchen on Wednesday and one of the knobs off the cooker is on the floor. Not one of the 5 that just pulls off, oh no it had to be the one that controls the timer/clock etc. Go out to buy a new one,sorry madam it is still under guarantee so we have to send a specialist. He will be here on Tuesday.

  Tomorrow we are going to a Mimosa festival so hopefully my next blog will be a bit more normal.