PÉZENAS lies 18km east of Béziers
on the old N9. Market centre of the coastal plain, it looks across to
rice fields and shallow lagoons, hazy with heat and dotted with pink
flamingos. The town was catapulted to glory when it became the seat of
the parliament of Languedoc and the residence of its governors in 1465,
and it reached its zenith in the late seventeenth century when the
prince Armand de Bourbon made it a "second Versailles". The legacy of
this illustrious past can be seen in the town's exquisite array of
fourteenth- to seventeenth-century mansions.
The town also plays up its association with Molière, who visited several times with his troupe in the mid-seventeenth century, when he enjoyed the patronage of Prince Armand. He put on his own plays at the Hôtel d'Alfonce on rue Conti, including the first performance of Le Médecin Volant , according to local tradition. The building is now privately owned, but in summer you can visit the courtyard which served as Molière's theatre (June-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 3-7pm; €1.53). When in town, he lodged at the Maison du Barbier-Gély, in the unspoiled place Gambetta , today occupied by the tourist office (July & Aug daily 9am-7pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 9.30am-noon & 2-6pm, Sun 2-5pm; tel 04.67.98.36.40, www.ville-Pézenas.fr ). Although Molière features in the eclectic Musée Vulliod St-Germain (Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 3-7pm, Sun 3-7pm; €2.29), housed in a sixteenth-century palace just off the square, it's the grand salon, with its Aubusson tapestries and collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century furniture, that steals the show.
Seven kilometres southwest of Béziers on the N9 Narbonne road, a sign points the way up a hill to L'Oppidum d'Ensérune , the site of a 2600-year-old Gallo-Roman settlement, relics of which are displayed in a small museum (April, May & Sept daily 9.30am-6.30pm; June-Aug daily 9.30am-7.30pm; Oct-March daily except Tues 9.30am-5pm; €4.58). From the hill you can see the extraordinary, radial pattern of fields emanating from the now dry é tang de Montady , drained for cultivation in the thirteenth century.
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