Beziers

Beziers may not be the prettiest city in the South of France but there is still plenty of charm tucked away down its ancient medieval streets. Beziers is the capital of Languedoc Wine industry, the scene of a famous massacre and home to the biggest and best festival in the South of France.

Beziers tourism information 

Set above the river Orb, Beziers was first founded in Roman times. The main places of interest are situated in the compact centre of Beziers old town. Here you can walk down the plane tree-lined Allees Paul Riquet, named after Beziers favourite son and builder of the Canal du Midi. The 19th Century Park (Plateau des Poetes) at the bottom end of Allees Paul Riquet is nice to stop in and have a sandwich. Les Halles, the recently refurbished indoor market (near to the town hall) is also worth a stop at. Here, amongst all the cheese stalls, butchers and fishmongers, you can get a drink and even have your recently bought food cooked for you at La Gargotte bistro bar. I will say that again in case you missed it. You can get a drink and even have your food cooked for you at La Gargotte. Unbelievable, but true!

There are a couple of interesting museums in Beziers. Musee Beaux Arts offers a collection of painting from the 17th to 19th centuries. An annexe to the Museum is housed on Rue Capus and is dedicated to a permanent exhibition in memory of Beziers' other famous son, the French Resistance hero Jean Moulin. Jean Moulin was born in Beziers and after the outbreak of the Second World War joined up with General de Gaulle. On de Gaulle's orders, Moulin travelled to France in 1943 to help establish a national resistance committee to direct the efforts of the underground against the occupying Nazis. However, he was arrested in Lyon in 1943 and later died at the hands of the Nazis. Despite intensive torture and interrogation by Klaus Barbie, Moulin never divulged any secret information and he remains reveered throughout France to this day. You are unlikely to find a Town or Village in the South of France without a street named after him