Beziers Cathedral

Or to give Beziers' gothic cathedral its full name - Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Béziers - was built from the 13th to 15th centuries on the remains of an older romanesque church that was destroyed during the massacre of Beziers by the Albigensian Crusaders on 22nd July 1209.

The cathedral and old part of the town are situated on a high point overlooking the Orb river and the cathedral can be seen from far away.

Raimond Roger Trencavel (below) was viscount of Beziers and Carcassonne and lived at the same time as the crusade against the Cathars. When the Albigensian crusade was on its way towards Beziers, Albi and Carcassonne with 10,000 men, Raimond Roger tried to do a deal with the crusaders, but they refused to meet with him. He fled to the fortified city of Carcassonne which was subsequently surrounded and its drinking water cut off. When Carcassonne surrendered, the people were forced to leave but after receiving safe passage in order to negotiate the surrender, Raimond Roger was then captured and thrown into a dungeon, where he eventually died.

Beziers, however, didn't get off so lightly. The cathedral was destroyed and the thousands of townsfolk were massacred.

The beautiful organ pipes and stained glass circular window, above and below.

The cloister, above and below, has apparently never been finished due to a lack of funding. It looks OK to me!

I really wanted to go up the 149 steps to the roof and my brother came with me. It was all via circular staircase with a break at mid level where there is a balcony inside the cathedral. It got a bit dodgy when meeting people coming down! Keith didn’t want to come but given his size he would have found it pretty tight in there. It was fairly tough and most people were puffing and panting and taking breathers, like me!

We didn’t go all the way to the very top (it was barred off) but came out where there was a small walkway on all four sides of the tower. On this sunny day the views were amazing.

I was using my phone and am surprised my photos came out so well as it was literally point and shoot as I couldn’t see anything on the screen!

Looking down to the Orb river and the old bridge dating from the 12th century on the right, which is not used for vehicles.

Looking inland towards the Montagne Noir. I could actually see the sea from up here.

My brother showing how narrow it was in most places up there!

Once down we walked around to this garden which had a lovely view and where we could even feel some warmth from the sun, despite the temp being about 11C. The trees are all citrus trees but without any fruit on. It was a lovely place to just sit and chill for a bit.

Next Xmas we plan to visit Perpignan in neighbouring Pyrenees-Orientales department, then we will have finally been to all the main towns around here. 😄