The Surrounding Area

At the heart of the village of Lunas, the Nize and the Saint George flow into the river Gravezon which then flows on to join the Orb. Hence the eight road bridges and five foot bridges in a community of fewer than 750 people.

The village church dates back to the 12th century and there is the ruined chapel of Saint-Georges from the 5th and 6th centuries. In the centre of the village is the château, built after the religious wars in 1629 to replace the original fortified castle that had previously dominated the village.

Three kilometres east of Lunas, on the road to L’Alabrena, are the remains of a tiny country church, Notre Dame de Nize. Thought to date back to the first century, the church was mentioned by Pope Innocence II in a proclamation in 1136.

Today, there are no traces of the original church, the narrow part of the nave and the tower are all that remain, but services are occasionally held; the two most important are pilgrimages held on 15 August and 9 September.

The Miraculous Fountain is built around a spring some 200 metres from the church, just below the roadside, it is believed to have a curative effect on eye disease. Pilgrims use a cloth to wash their eyes with the water, then pray for recovery and tie the cloth on to the branches of nearby trees.

There are opportunities for walking and riding. A folder of maps and descriptions of the different walking trails can be purchased at local tourist offices, including the office in Lunas next to the church.

The coast running south from Montpellier to Béziers is well known for its long sandy beaches and lagoons. The ancient little town of Agne spreads along the river Hérault just before it reaches the sea. Marseillan is an unassuming fishing port, made famous by Noilly Prat, an aromatic vermouth aperitif made from the local wine.

Pézenas is a little further inland and, during the 16th and 17th centuries, its royal court rivalled that of Versailles. Leading artists and musicians of the day came to entertain the court and Molière made his name as a playwright here. It is well known for its petits pâtés, small ‘pies’ stuffed with sweet spice, glacé lemon and minced meat.

Named after the ancient Langue D’Oc, the Languedoc has a reputation for independence and determination which is perhaps why the area became a centre for Catharism in the 12th and 13th centuries. Cathars sought absolute purity, believing the world had been corrupted and that worldly authority was a fraud. There was no need for priests, crosses, and the sacrament – for the Cathars the means to salvation was baptism, passed on by the laying on of hands from individual to individual.

Men and women were treated as equals, so both men and women were able to be spiritual leaders. It was up to the individual to decide whether they were willing to renounce the material for a life of self-denial. If not, they would keep returning to this world – that is, be reincarnated – until ready to embrace a life sufficiently spotless to allow accession, at death, to the same blissful state they had experienced as an angel, prior to being tempted out of heaven. The cities of Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Béziers and Montpellier were all centres of Catharism and suffered dreadfully as a result.

 Such freethinking was seen as a threat by the state and the church. In 1209 a ruthless campaign began, designed to get rid of the ‘heretics’. Known as the Albigensian Crusade, it led to the ravaging of towns and villages, with hundreds of Cathars being martyred – mostly by burning. However, the purge was severely handicapped by the fact that the Cathars had no fear of death, as they believed hell was already on earth, they were the ‘Parfaits’.

The people of the Languedoc are proud of their history and you will see many Cathar references as you travel through the Pays Cathare. The prime source of information is the Centre d’Etudes Cathares in Carcassonne.