Beziers: Our Last Days in France

Our ride into Béziers is a black electric Mercedes. It's a smooth ride. As we enter the town, the Paspaley pearls woman and her family cross the road in front of us. We're staying on Boulevard Jean Jaurès, which is pretty much the center of Béziers. Our Airbnb is an amazing apartment on the 3rd floor of a small building, situated between a bar on one side and a restaurant on the other. Just next door is Pica Pica, a Michelin-star restaurant recommended to us by Karine when we were in Colombiers. We make a reservation for Tuesday night.

Our apartment is very chic; it's a bit like staying in La Cage aux Folles. It's a well-thought-out space, and after a week sleeping in a small cabin on the boat, we enjoy the comparative luxury of the comfortable queen-size bed and get some good nights' sleep. We have an amazing view of Béziers from the apartment window. At night, the view is magical, with the Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire bathed in light.

Béziers reminds us of Paris, only much smaller. It's a historic village with very narrow cobblestone streets, clearly designed before the advent of the motorcar. Our apartment leads onto the main boulevard. On Tuesday, it turns into an odd market of people selling all sorts of things, from flintlock rifles to grapefruit. Robyn bought a small statue of Tintin for a friend who is an obsessed, compulsive collector of Tintin paraphernalia. The sellers are Moroccan and invite Robyn to sit with them to share some couscous. On one of our wanderings around the village, we bump into the Swiss family who had moored next to us at Port Cassafières. Their Le Boat journey was just beginning.

We spend our time in Béziers wandering the village streets, enjoying food, wine, coffee, and experiences. We find a great second-hand clothing store called Vintage Chic. Given that we didn't bring many clothes due to our 13kg luggage limit on the Camino, we bought some much-needed additional clothing and got a great deal on trading in "the beast" (that jacket I picked up from the charity shop in Lauzerte). With a new wardrobe, we step out on our final night in France to the Michelin-star restaurant Pica Pica. Robyn ticks off her final must-have French dish: beef tartare. We're seated in an intimate room of the restaurant, among local French couples and families. Suddenly, Robyn asks, "I've been hearing that word a lot while I've been in France—what does that mean?"
"What word?" I ask.
"Whey," Robyn responds.
"That’s the pronunciation of oui, it means yes!"

On our last morning, just before checking out, we take one last look out the window, and what at first appears to be birds turns out to be brown autumn leaves being tossed by the strong breeze. Our time in France has been memorable, but Portugal beckons.

My 130 streak on Duolingo paid off, while I couldn't hold much of a conversation, I could effectively order in restaurants and understood a lot of what was being said.

Next stop Porto....