First Visit to Pézenas

In our previous five visits to this part of southern France, we'd never been to Pézenas. This time, as it was not far from Roujan, we decided to see it at last.

Since we prefer small towns over large, we were drawn to this town of some 8,500 inhabitants, which in 1456 became the seat of the Languedoc parliament and the residence of its governors. In the late 17th century, it was the summer home of the Prince de Conti, who had amongst his retinue the playwright Moliere and his theatre troupe. A century later, Lord Clive stayed there and supposedly provided the recipe for Le petit pâté de Pézenas (small mince tarts), now a specialty of the town.

And did you know that the inventor of seltzer water, Gabriel Francois Venel (1723-1775), author of an encyclopedia about chemistry and a chemist himself, lived and worked in Pézenas, and has a street named after him?

As for us, we had a good wander around the town and the all-day Saturday market, took quite a few photos (see seven here -- I was particularly moved by the war memorial), met some friends for the usual French three-course lunch, and feeling mid-afternoon lethargy coming on, returned to Roujan and the blessed tranquillity of Le Couvent.