The Hidden Beauty of Beziers

This past weekend, we took a brief overnight trip to the nearby town of Beziers.  The hubs stumbled upon this town when he went to return our rental car at the beginning of our trip and thought it would be a nice town to come back to.  So we did.  It was only a 10 minute train ride from Agde, perfect for a night away.

True to fashion, we turned the wrong way coming out of the train station.  We found out later that the way we thought we should go was, in fact, the right way.  However, the step incline of the very narrow street led us to following a larger road to an even larger shopping center called the Polygone.  Not where we were supposed to be, but interesting none the less.  We started walking toward signs for other hotels, and I ended up having the brilliant idea to stop into a flower shop to ask directions.  They must know the city, right?  They deliver flowers.  Thankfully, the woman working at the shop knew just enough English and I, just enough French, for her to make me a map to our hotel.  I was grateful and soon enough, we came upon the Hotel de France.

The woman at the counter was nice enough to let us into our room early so that we didn’t have to carry our backpacks while exploring the city.  We found a quick lunch at a nearby restaurant and began to plan our day.  On the way to the hotel, we saw that there was some sort of chocolate exhibition in town, so we decided to see what it was all about.

It was called the Feria du Chocolat, and it was wonderful!  Imagine about 50 different chocolate shops all in one place displaying things for sale along with show pieces they had made.  Having just come off chocolate week in pastry class, I was pretty excited.  We shared different flavored macaroons, the little one enjoyed a chocolate lollipop and I indulged in the free tastings each booth was giving out.  Check out some of these cool exhibits!  I was in chocolate heaven!

 

 

Soon afterwards, it was time to hunt down a place for dinner.  We went back to the hotel and put our faith in trip advisor to give us some pointers.  We had found some interesting options for dinner, but since it was still too early to eat, we decided to have a drink at La Charniere which directly translated stands for “the hinge”.  This ended up being the best choice we’ve made since we arrived in France.

The man who owns this place is an ex-rugby player named Johnny from Oxford, England.  He had a magnificent English accent and the type of blue eyes any girls can fall in love with.  The hubs even fell for him a little…haha.  But sorry to the single ladies out there, he’s married with a young son and one of the way.  But I digress.  His place was wonderful.  Johnny was extremely friendly with everyone, even sitting down to watch a bit of rugby with those having a few drinks.  The hubs went gaga when he found out they served Guiness and had his first proper pint since we left the states.  The little one made a friend with another three year old girl whose parents were enjoying the game.  It was fun to see them running around, playing and talking to each other even though the other little girl only spoke French.  The hubs and I communicated with the locals as best we could, calling Johnny for help whenever we got really stuck.  Some of the best people I’ve met so far!

Interesting art work on the walls...Bread Pitt

  ...Paris Stilton...

  ...and Cake Winslett, among others

It was so good, in fact, we stayed for dinner.  Leaving our menu in the hand of our gracious host, we were served duck and monkfish that literally melted in your mouth.  He was even so kind as to have the chef prepare the little one some freshly friend chicken tenders, something that wasn’t on the menu.  As the night went on, the restaurant got crowded.  We said goodnight to our new friends and headed back to the hotel.

 

The next morning, we headed back to our new favorite place to enjoy a full English breakfast.  Since eggs are not something you see often on a breakfast menu in France, we were happy to not stray from our new find in order to get a wholesome breakfast.  Everything was fantastic, down to the milk.  This guy really knows his stuff.

 

After breakfast, we walked up to Cathedral Saint Nazarie, a suggestions from Johnny.  Beziers is one of the oldest cities in France, and this cathedral dates back almost as far as the city itself.  It is still a functioning Roman Catholic church and we arrived just as Sunday service was dismissing.  The Cathedral was originally built in the thirteenth century.  Some of the original parts remain, though most had to be rebuilt after most of the structure was destroyed during the massacre at Beziers as part of the Albigensian Crusade.  The outside of the cathedral was pretty, however, I was disappointed that we didn’t get to go inside.  However, the most special part of this was the view we got from outside the cathedral.  It’s the highest point in the city, and the sky was so clear you could see all the way to Spain.  Absolutely beautiful.

 

Next we walked through the Le Plateau des Poetes, a park across from the train station.  The sites were quite lovely.  The little one enjoyed playing on the playground with some other children and talking to the duck in the pond.  An unfriendly goose hissed at me just for trying to scoot a piece of bread closer to her, but I didn't take it personally.  In fact, she was the first unfriendly sole we encountered in the whole town.  It is definitely a place we will have to come back to, if time allows.  With time to spare, we headed back to the train station where our little social butterfly made friends with an elderly couple before we boarded the train back to Agde. 

What’s on the plate for next week?