In the heart of Languedoc-Roussillon, there is a land that is familiar to the aficionados of sunbathing and sunbathing: The Narbonnaise. For its beautiful beaches, as well as for its famous spots of slippers, in Gruissan, Leucate, Narbonne, Saint-Pierre-la-Mer or even Port-Nouvelle. We would almost forget, behind the song of the ciclets and the intense radiation of the sun, that this land has a wilderness and still preserved - which gives it all its strength - and a history with multiple influences. It is this Mediterranean that gives rise to, and is gradually becoming the traveler to, the best kept secrets. In recent years, however, archeologists, historians, passionate people, decision makers, inhabitants and artists are working to unveil its prestigious past and reveal its unsung splendor. From this regional experiment, the "Artistic Trips in Narbonnaise" were born: an unpublished digital fresco that highlights five routes, real travel notebooks. For another look on Narbonnaise, fertile land and contrasts.
Treasures of Narbonnaise
If you're looking out and listening, it's a Narbonnaise route that leads to hidden treasures. They are found here and there on the territory between Minervois and Corbières, or in the heart of the Clape, this massif bordering the Mediterranean Sea. To those who want to hear them, old stones tell their stories. These remnants of another time, unsuspected in the middle of a vineyard, hidden in the heart of the garrigue, or beyond a cliff, are one of the keys to enlightened understanding of this territory to the thousand faces, the Narbonnaise. This is found on the heights of Leucate, a seaside resort, as evidenced by the stones of its castle, an ancient gateway to the Kingdom of France for four centuries. It is also an invitation to travel through time: on the detour of a path, nestled in the vineyards, erects the chapel Saint-Laurent in Moussan, in Portel-des-Corbières; to the south, it is our Lady of the Oubiels, the vestige in the form of alcove planted in the middle of nowhere… and then to Sigean, nearby, an ancient Roman port of commerce, Port-Mahon, facing the island of Laute which still feeds the legends. To complement these travel books, the Abbey of Fontfroid and the Narbonne monumental ensemble, its archbishops' palace and its unfinished cathedral give the visitor an unsurpassed impression.
Experience the heritage course.
Splendor of Antiquity
It is in Narbonne's soil that one suddenly becomes aware that the territory is home to a major secret: there was a time when Narbonne was the second port of the Roman Empire after Rome, playing a major role in the era of Romanism. All you have to do is join the different views on the ancient Gulf to see it. And imagine that, centuries ago, the landscapes of Narbonnaise were other: instead of the mass, the islands now missing; completely engulfed, a complex port system made of pre-ports; Under the pinewood, a Roman path… So far archeological research, intense, continues, aimed at gradually penetrating the mysteries of the ancient ports of Narbonne. Because the stones speak and have things to say: We can listen to them at the Lapidary Museum, in Narbonne, old church and Benedictine convent: 1,300 blocks for most of the Roman funeral monuments are preserved in this place marked by sacrality. Soon, this collection, one of Europe's largest, will be moved and staged at the future Romanesque Regional Museum. But before you open up, and if you want to dive into this remote era, you just go to Sallles-d 'Aude and visit Amphoralis, a true village of reconstituted potters, to get to know the know-how of those who used to manipulate gigantic ovens for food. the port of Narbonne in amphores.
Experience the archeological journey.
An Unequaled Art of Living
To grasp the essence of this territory is to feel its deep identity. The men and women who live there, truly passionate, have cultivated nature with respect and know-how passed from generation to generation. Some bring the millennial vineyard, which has developed from the Romans, thus shaping the landscape of a sea of green vines. Others of the products of outstanding quality. Fishing products on coastal ports, fresh oysters to be tasted on the ostresiastic bases or goat cheeses found on the markets. Early morning we have to go to the Halles, the temple of the good living, lung of the city. This central Narbonne artery houses more than 70 shops of mouth, where in a good little child, you can shop, chat, catch the city temperature. No wonder artists feel inspired by this authentic territory, singing like the accent that rhythms of its inhabitants.
Experience the experience of the Art of Vivre.
Narbonnaise, a journey, a thousand trips alone
Narbonnaise, a country on her own. Striking by its contrasting landscapes, its constantly changing lights, its colors where the light-dark offers a sometimes surrealistic density to the masses, ponds, cliffs on the shores of the Mediterranean, degraded from blue, and the sea, between turquoise and emerald green. Nature here is a meeting. Where water, the inexhaustible source of life, is omnipresent. Sea edges, lagoons, rice fields, but also inland rivers of the land, Minervois or Corbières, and the river Aude which ends its race to the Cabanes de Fleury. Here, whoever loves silence and walking found his holy grail: More than 40 hiking loops to discover the richness of wildlife, flora, culture of a territory… to go!
Slowly walk
And then we find the canal du Midi: a hymn to slow. We forget the cards and follow the channels drawn by the hand of man, softly, at the pace of the locks we cross, contemplating the banks and what they leave to see: monumental works of art, garrigues and pinewood at sight. And we cross a territory with radically different landscapes. The Somail for a small stop, the time to taste a tapenade and wines of a chai, admire the template, a traditional boat docked at the small harbor for walks on the canal. A little further, to the sea, Mandirac, where one saw a last boat in restoration that imagined the size of the cargo boats, when Narbonne was still the second port of the Roman Empire after Rome.
