Since I am very sore today we are planning on taking it somewhat easy and spend the day looking around Beziers. These are pictures from our day.
Mary at the wide esplanade named after Pierre-Paul Richet of Canal du Midi fameAt one end of the Pierre-Paul Allées is the mid-19th century theater built in the bijou-Italian styleCamel city logo from patron saint and cephalophore, St. Aphrodisius who was the first bishop of Beziers. He was Egyptian and rode into town on a camel. After Aphrodisius was martyred the townspeople took turns taking care of his camelNothing we enjoy more than going to European marketplaces. (Well, maybe churches)You can buy the whole of everything here and parts as well. Whole lamb.Whole goatDark red beefWe had pintade for lunch yesterday. Using a translator on their phones the stall owners showed us that a pintade is a guinea hen and comes from the savannahs of Kenya.All kinds of cheeseMonkfishCuttlefishWe are thinking of having lunch here until we see the special ris d’agneau. It brings back the horror of eating ris de veau on our honeymoon. John told me mid-bite that it was brains of veal (actually thymus)Next we head over to the Church of the Magdalene. It is located on the site where the 13th century massacre of Cathar heretics happened. Everyone in the town was killed by order of the Pope and those who sought refuge in the church were burned as they set fire to the church. Famous quote, “Kill them all, God will know his own.”InteriorNext we visit St. Nazaire cathedral which is another combination of styles from various centuries. This has the look of a church/castle fortress and occupies the highest point in townExterior viewInteriorThis church has a similar pew-kneeler set up as the one I tripped over in Perpignan.View of the valley from the promenade outside the churchWe have been tromping around since early this morning. Time for lunch! We stop for lunch at Le chameau ivre, a hip sort of place near our hotelBeef carpaccioLing cod with too many peasThis was called tiramisu but it was just cream and crumbled up cookiesWe go out again around 3 to look for a statue and some Roman ruins. The statue is of St. Aphrodisius up in a corner niche. The story goes that he was beheaded and his head was tossed in a well. A spurt of water flung the head out where it was picked up by the headless saint and carried around. Def. according to Wiki – A cephalophore (from the Greek for “head-carrier”) is a saint who is generally depicted carrying their own head. In Christian art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by beheading.
Going out again in the afternoon is a mistake as I am really tired and very sore. Oh, and also very grumpy so we head back to the room so I can take a nap and adjust my attitude. For dinner we decide we just want a hamburger which turns out to be harder to find than expected. After attempts at closed restaurants, fully-booked place, awful kebab place, we settle on a sports bar with sub-optimal burgers and greasy, horrible fries. We are done for today.
In edible microwaved patties in a pita pocket. The dish is called “the American.” We take one bite and leave.Our sports bar dinner. We take out the bacon and try to scrape off the orange goo and add a bunch of ketchup. Horrible fries.
