November 9, 2011
Pezenas to Beziers: poets honoured
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WEATHER: cloudy but no rain
Today would be a short easy ride to Beziers, and we left Villa Juliette after a leisurely breakfast and more conversation with our host. It was too bad that we couldn't take a bottle or two of the Villa Tempora wine with us--one of the few disadvantages of travelling by bicycle.
We passed many vineyards and went through the scenic villages of Tourbes and Alignan-du-Vent (vent is French for wind, and we were glad there was none as we cycled past). In fact, in spite of the grey overcast, the cycling was very pleasant, although there were no outstanding features to the landscape. We reached Beziers well in time for lunch. We approached from the north on the old highway, which took us into the city outskirts. The last few kilometres were on city roads with busy traffic, but we soon found our way to the central Allée Paul Riquet, a wide boulevard with plenty of off-street paved cycling space.
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The many restaurants along the Allée were filling up, and we found a table at Bistro Le Victor near the large statue of Paul Riquet (the designer of the Canal du Midi). Despite the large crowd and the running waiters, we had a nice lunch of salad with marinated vegetables followed by rabbit in mustard sauce and apple tarte. We hardly felt we deserved it after such a short ride.
After lunch we rode a few more blocks down the Allée to our hotel, Hotel des Poetes, adjacent to the Jardin du Plateau des Poetes. Only in France--a park dedicated to a flock of poets! With our bikes safely stowed in the garage, we set out on foot to explore the old part of Beziers. Ever since our 2009 cycling trip when we passed below Beziers on the train, we had been intrigued by the image of the looming cathedral in the old town perched high on a rocky promontory. This was our chance to see what was behind that view, but after all our walking in Montpellier, we wanted to be careful not to overtax our hiking muscles. For this afternoon, we decided to restrict ourselves to the uphill part of town.
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The hotel receptionist suggested several good options for dinner, and as we wandered the winding streets, we checked out posted menus. We decided on a small place right around the corner from the cathedral, Le Cap d'Or, run by a young woman with several quiet children glued to their laptops in one corner, near an old gentleman who kept falling asleep between courses. We had an excellent first course: cauliflower mousseline with smoked fish and blinis, followed by cod with mustard sauce, and caramelized pineapple for dessert. As we left, the old gentleman, having finished his meal, was sound asleep, but nobody seemed to mind.
Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 867 km (538 miles)
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