Languedoc Towns. Pezenas & Agde

Pézenas gets it name from the older name Piscenae, probably from the Latin word piscenis, meaning fishpond. According to legend, there was a lake full of fish behind the Chateau. Inhabitants of Pézenas are Piscenois. The origins of Pézenas are unclear, but were influenced by three factors: water from the River Peyne, an ancient pre-Roman route from Rodez to Saint Thibéry and a defensive hill.

The town has a history stretching from the Middle Ages and is full of artists and craft shops as well as being famous in France for its antique shops. There are a large number of restaurants and bars in the town and every Saturday one of the largest street markets in the Hérault department.

It is a pretty town that was very prosperous in the 15th and 17th Centuries and contains some magnificent stately homes. There is a sign-posted tour of the town that takes about two hours on foot. The local speciality is ‘Le petit pâté de Pézenas’, which is the size and shape of a large cotton reel. It is a sweet/savoury pie supposedly made to a recipe from Clive of India. There are also boiled sugar sweets called ‘Le berlingot de Pézenas’.

Unlike some parts of the Hérault and Gard, Pézenas is shielded from the worst of the Mistral and the Tramontane, as it sits in-between the air flows of the two currents, catching the tail of the winds from the Rhône valley, and the tail of the Tramontane coming up the valley from Narbonne and Perpignan. The climate and weather in Pézenas due to its situation in the Mediterranean, offers one of the best and sunniest climates of the whole of France – there are more than 300 days of sunshine per year! Pézenas and its region are attractive all year round.

From Beziers there is a direct bus service to Pézenas.

The city of Agde in the Languedoc department of Hérault was built on the lava flow and rocks of an extinct volcano, called “le mount Saint-Loup“, by the Greeks in 600 BC. Agathê means ‘the beautiful’ in Greek and its inhabitants are called ‘Agathois’.

Agde is known for the distinctive black basalt used in the local architecture, hence its nickname ‘the Black Pearl’. It was a busy port in the 17th Century but is now devoted mainly to tourism. There is plenty for visitors to see and do, with bustling streets and shops and many fish restaurants along the quayside. It has an imposing cathedral dating from the 12th Century plus the remains of the city walls originally built by the Greeks. Agde is a town with 2,600 years worth of history and is a place where fresh and salt water mingle, where the River Hérault and the Canal du Midi meet the Mediterranean. Come and wander through its shopping streets and shady walks.

The town is located on the river Hérault estuary about 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea. Access to the sea by boat is via Cap d’Agde. The Canal du Midi connects to the Hérault at the lock (l’Écluse Ronde d’Agde) just above Agde and empties into the Mediterranean at Le Grau d’Agde.

From Beziers there is a direct bus service to Agde and also local trains serving the station from Gare De Beziers.