Narbonne for a Night

[htmb]

When Bixa and I were researching places to go after Toulouse I seem to remember many different options, but I think our choice to spend one night in Narbonne was the perfect solution. The city was small enough so that we could get around quickly. Our nice hotel (except for the horrendous check-in process) was basically a short walk each way between the train station and the old town area. We were entertained while watching locals dance to live music. And we were able to enjoy a nice lunch and find a store where we could purchase provisions for dinner and breakfast. All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend a little less than 24 hours.

Narbonne was once the capital of the first Roman colony in Gaul. Up until the middle ages it was a prosperous city port but plague, war and a harbour prone to silting up led to a decline. However it remains an attractive city on the Mediterranean coast between Perpignan and Montpellier.

Nice shops, an attractive area around the cathedral (the Place de l’Hotel de Ville) full of cafés where you can stop for a coffee and a sandwich, the Canal du Midi (Canal de la Robine at this point) running through the centre of the town and a whole selection of beautiful buildings with interesting architectural features make Narbonne well worth a visit.
More information may be found here: www.francethisway.com/places/narbonne.php

After dropping off our bags at our hotel, we started down this main thoroughfare, basically following our noses.







We soon came to the canal that traverses through the center of town.







It looked like the covered market was still open.













Looking back across the canal, I could see places I wanted to go.

[htmb]

Like most covered markets in France, this one was colorful and filled with fresh, delicious looking foods.

[htmb]

Since we had not been able to check into our hotel rooms we gave up on purchasing food at the market and went in search of a decent restaurant.










Our choice turned out to be good and was located across the way where we sat under one of the umbrellas you can see in the distance. The wonderful trees and cool air coming off the canal made it an even better experience.




Bixa can correct me, but I seem to remember ordering the same dishes; a wonderful salad and a main course with a small, light type of fish.







After a fairly perfect meal, we set off to do more exploring.




These small towns all seem to have tourist trains.







Boy did we luck out by picking the restaurant by the canal. This area just looked too sunny and warm for a nice lunch.




A group of students had found a shady spot to enjoy a picnic lunch.

[htmb]

The narrow streets in this part of town seemed to house a mixture of cutsie tourist shops and places important to locals.







After wandering a bit it seemed we had arrived at the area that had first piqued our interest from afar.










Finally, a name.

[htmb]

Not quite remembering what to look for and what to expect, the exploration of these ruins, unfinished structures, and the cathedral revealed interesting sights at every twist and turn.

More from the website quoted earlier:

Le Palais Vieux: (the old Palace). Le Cour de la Madeleine, the old palace courtyard, is entered through a gateway, and the area is dominated by the Saint Theodard bell tower and the cathedral. Excavations at the site have revealed three older religious structures predating the current cathedral.

La Cathedrale Saint Just et Saint Pasteur and the Palais des Archevequestogether form a large and very attractive structure. Despite its size the cathedral is in fact unfinished with only the choir completed. Finishing would have involved demolishing part of the city walls and so work stopped in 1340.

[questa]

Your photos are very interesting, htmb, I love the arched cloisters ones and the pic taken with the building as seen through an opening, with the dark sides framing the blue sky is an absolute gem.

[htmb]

Thank you, Questa.
As you can see, there were no clouds in the sky to protect us from the sun in southern France.

[bjd]

You can't complain about sun coming as you do from Florida and Mexico!

You certainly had a great instinct to go to Narbonne rather than to Carcassonne. Obviously there are tourists, but nothing like the crowds in some places. Narbonne was indeed a really important place and if I'm not wrong, an early Roman province was called Narbonensis. It was also an important location for the Cathars.

I am now ashamed to say I have only driven past Narbonne or to the train station. I'll have to make up for that soon given how nice your pictures are.

[htmb]

Oh, certainly no complaints about the sun from either of us, Bjd! Just stating information for anyone who might be traveling to southern France in the future. The sun can be quite intense for someone with very fair skin. Even though I'm from Florida, I usually get much more sun during the summers I'm in France. I expect that will change now that I've retired from my job and won't have to be cooped up in an office all day.

I think we were very lucky overall with the weather other than the Mistral in Marseille, but that's a story for another thread.

My plan is to go back home and read more about the places we visited. It's great to plan ahead of time, but the history and geography of an area doesn't ever seem to sink into my brain until I've actually visited.

[htmb]

I do have to say, the light in the south of France was quite magical. I can see why it enchanted and beckoned so many artists of note.


It was a great surprise to find we could access the cathedral from the cloisters. Attempts at other doors had failed, but perhaps they were just closed for lunch.




Now, looking back, I realize we visited a lot of churches on this trip!




This one was interesting, as churches go.




I was fascinated by what looked like a carousel cover to the right of the altar. Perhaps this was to protect the bishop?
















Blue is always the color for the Blessed Virgin Mary, in case you didn't know.










According to the website I cited above, some of the stained glass windows are from the 14th century.

[htmb]

The atmosphere in Narbonne on a mid-summer, Saturday night was low-key, but delightful.

It seemed the edge of the canal was the spot to be if you were quite young, and perhaps a bit lethargic.







But across the way, underneath the plane trees, the more energetic, older folk where dancing to live music, and tapping their feet to tunes that would stay in my head for the next week.



















I was amazed at how they all held their arms up high during dance after dance.



The musicians seemed to be quite local.

[bjd]

I don't know what that dance is but it looks like the Sardane that is danced in Barcelona in front of the cathedral. But Narbonne is not in Catalonia...

[bixaorellana]

Bjd, that dancing and an adjacent small fair area were celebrating the common Catalan ancestry of people from Catalonia in northern Spain and those from "Pays Catalan" in southern France. You are right -- it's the same dance, although I don't know what it's called in France.

Htmb, I am enjoying this report so much. It's a pleasure and a fun surprise to see what you caught that I didn't or your completely different take on what we both saw. In fact, I'd forgotten how impressive the church there is. Lovely and interesting pictures throughout -- thank you!

[bjd]

Hmmm --Pays Catalan is further west, over towards Perpignan.I guess the Catalonians are trying to make themselves feel more important by extending their influence eastwards.

The regions of France have been decreased from 22 to 13, so Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon (towards Catalonia for the Roussillon part of it) have been amalgamated. They are changing the regions' names too, and we can vote for a choice of 5 options. Apparently, one of the options we have contains the word Catalan and it's the least popular.

[htmb]

Interesting background on the dancing. It was fun to watch anyway.

After a good nights sleep we met up early and set off for the train station, headed for the next set of adventures. Little did we know what excitement lay ahead.

[gabriele]

In France, it's Occitan...and Narbonne has a strong Occitan presence, I've seen articles about some of their gatherings. Here's inform from the Mairie of Narbonne about the official organisation:
www.mairie-narbonne.fr/fr_asso_cercle-occitan-narbona
bjd, there's a school of Occitan Studies at Toulouse
www.ieo-oc.org/About-us-our-aims-our-missions-our

When they were renaming the combined regions (Midi-Pyrenees & Languedoc Roussillon) it was proposed to call it Septimanie after
the original name when the area was Roman but that failed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimania

If you look up Claude Marti on youtube you can hear his original Occitan songs; he's probably the best-known.
And if you see a red cross with a gold border and three knobs on each arm, it can be called the Cross of Toulouse, perhaps Occitan Cross but
it is not and should not be called a Cathar Cross. The Cathars didn't believe in crosses.
But of course history often gets left by the wayside when it comes to selling things to tourists.
There's no recent edition but the Rough Guide to Languedoc-Roussillon is solid as far as history, the main author teaches in the US and visits the area every couple years. When I first went to the area in 2000 I read about 8 books. This is the one I valued most. eBay has one copy from 2010 (last pub)...if you would like some (older) maps, let me know...
Your photos bring back wonderful memories and take me away from the humdrum (ordinary life) and hysteria (elections) to a far, far better place. So glad you're enjoying yourselves

[htmb]

Gabriele, thank you very much for the clear explanation and the helpful links. There's lots of great information packed into your post, and I plan to follow up on when I get time to do a little more reading.

Even here in France I am following the election news. Much of it seems like bizarre stuff you just can't make up!

[Deleted]

Htmb, you probably noticed that even in Avignon, the street signs are in Occitan, so the region of the culture of that area stretches far and wide.

I have only ever briefly passed through Narbonne, so it is great to see this report, even if it just confirms something that I already knew -- Narbonne and Béziers look just like each other, which is one of the reasons that they are rivals, particularly on the rugby pitch. If somebody were planning a short trip to both Narbonne and Béziers, I would recommend that they choose one OR the other but not both. After all, they are only 25 kilometres apart. Of course, for a longer stay, they should both be seen.

Just as you showed the central streets of Narbonne, tod2 showed the central streets of Béziers in one of her reports and frankly I would not be able to tell them apart.

One of the things that strikes me the most about all of these cities is the presence of all of those majestic plane trees, which give very welcome shade during the hot days of summer. However, the rustling of the leaves can begin to seem infernal when the local wind -- the Tramontane -- is blowing hard. Just as a bit of trivia, the Tramontane blows from the north or northwest in the corridor between the Pyrénées and the Massif Central while the even more famous Mistral blows from the north down the valley of the Rhône. Both of those winds drive both locals and visitors crazy by the third day.

[htmb]

Interesting comparison between the two towns, Kerouac. I was very happy with our choice, though I wasn't sure until we actually got to Narbonne. However, one or two nights would be enough for me.

Fortunately, the wind did not blow in Narbonne, and we enjoyed super weather. I've been in a fierce lightening storm to the south of Carcassonne, and it was quite scary.

[questa]

Not only do the Plane trees give shade in summer, but they have the capacity to absorb and clean soot and other side effects of the wood-burning fuels once used for heating and cooking. My own city has many of the streets lined with plane trees which the late 19th century forefathers had planted to keep the air 'sweet'. There is a grand avenue that sweeps up the hill beside the University (Frome Road) which looks spectacular in all seasons.

[lugg]

I have just re-read this thread HTMB after reading Bixa's. I had thought I had commented on how much I had enjoyed it but apparently not. Many apologies Htmb . I particularly love the photos of the cloisters and stonework in the cathedral and your shot of the young men resting by the canal is fab. I had no idea about blue = Virgin Mary - now I want to know more .

[tod2]

And I have just discovered this lovely report on Narbonne! Great photos Htmb!
And speaking of restaurants: This is for the 'next timers'.
Narbonne: La table St. Crescent, 68 avenue du General Leclerc, is where the local French go for a fabulous meal or La Table du Chateau,16, rue de Paris, Bizanet, offers a lovely experience as well.

[htmb]

Very belated thanks!!!