Day 2 began well with the breakfast that was included at the hostel. Yum!
After this, I spent about an hour walking along the Canal de la Robine, looking at all the houseboats. I was extremely amused to find that some of them are so permanent that they have letterboxes near where they're docked!
Also amazing to be in cities that are so old. For example, I first assumed that this was a sculpture of some sort, and didn't think much of it. Then I read the plaque, which casually informs readers that these balls were part of a frieze on the 16th century town walls.
Historical fact of this post: By the early 1900s, life was really hard for viticulturists in the region. From what I can gather, this was due to a combination of a bug which destroyed many of the vines in the 1860s, an overabundant grape harvest, which resulted in a massive decrease in the price, and greater competition from wines coming from Spain and Italy (and something to do with a law that allowed importers to add sugar to their wines, therefore increasing the percentage of alcohol). The viticulturists got sick of living in poverty, and began demonstrating.
Here's how strongly people felt about his. Montpellier, the main town of the Languedoc region had 80,000 inhabitants, yet 600,000 people came to demonstrate there in June 1907.
A few days later, in Narbonne, soldiers opened fire on a crowd on two separate occasions, killing a total of seven people. However, in the end, the people got what they wanted: the Government established a tax on sugar and imposed stricter regulations on the wine trade.
There are signs like the one below in all parts of the city that played a significant part in this story.
Decided to have a little canal-side rest after all that walking around, then checked out the market and went on a hunt for a few of the buildings and places marked on my tourist map.
The above photo is of the covered market but, if you look carefully, you'll see the reflection of Eglise Notre-Dame-de-Lamourguier in the glass. Didn't get inside this place as it wasn't open the whole time I was there!
Found the Basilisque Saint-Paul, but it was shut so just looked at some of the remains of the III-IV century Paleochristian cemetery!!! Looking on the net after, I think there was actually more of this to see, but I didn't realise at the time. A bit gutting, but oh well.
Then it was back to the market to get myself a wee pizza for my lunch, and eat it by the canal. Being in France, though, couldn't just have that for lunch, so went back to the hostel to have another course, get out of the cold... and go on the net for a bit.
The Saint Just and Saint Pasteur Cathedral was first on the list after lunch, especially since it was on the doorstep of my hostel. Extremely impressive place. Its 'transcept' was never completed, so it can look a bit odd from the outside, but the cloister and inside were magnificent! It's absolutely gigantic: such a high ceiling.
By the afternoon, I'd seen almost all of the places on my map, and had a good look around the streets while moving between them. I swear I will come home from France with a million pictures looking down streets, because there are so many charming, narrow streets here.
Feeling cold, I was reduced to looking through the shops to warm up.
Despite my desire to be a 'good' French person and not eat until eight, it was getting dark, and I was getting less and less tolerant of the wind. When I came across a cheap place to eat, my resolve was weakend. And, with the cost of all the below (admittedly, not very French) being only 5E, I succeeded in my half-formed challenge of getting lunch and dinner for less than the price of my cassoulet.
Back to the hostel, where I was pleasantly surprised to find I had the 6-bed room to myself for the night.
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