A historic place of passage
Located in the Languedoc plain, the Grand Site "Canal du Midi, Béziers" is a magnificent territory dotted with small hills, often inhabited, called "puechs". The Grand Site is located halfway between the Montagne Noire, the foothills of the Massif Central, and the Mediterranean coast, less than 15 km away.
This Languedoc plain is in fact the only "practical" route between the Massif Central and the sea. And the "puechs", which temporarily surround the ponds, have enabled people to settle here.
It is this particular topography that has led this plain to be, for thousands of years, a privileged place of passage. It has always been favored by the movement of people and goods which traveled by the Orb river near Béziers, by the Domitian Way - the oldest Roman road and one of the best preserved in Gaul - or more recently by the Canal du Noon, fabulous and brilliant work from the XNUMXth century.


Water at the heart of all issues
Here, water management has always been a real headache: there's not enough in the "puechs" and oppidum (high fortified habitats), too much in the ponds, too unpredictable in the river flowing through...
Finding and mastering it is still a real challenge today! And the Canal du Midi is no exception: in order to supply it with enough water, we had to come up with some ingenious and make extra special efforts. These last ones paid off and some of the exceptional works found along the Canal du Midi and in the surrounding area, were created, and there are plenty of them in our region!
Starting from Toulouse and flowing into Thau pond in Sète, the Canal has had to adapt to unpredictable water levels, cross the Orb river and get through Malpas hill: bridge, aqueducts, canal bridge and exceptional tunnels were therefore created.
Today listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, the Canal du Midi links the nearby heritage sites together and invites boaters to explore them.
Landscapes shaped by mankind
"To experience" these charming landscapes is also to understand that they are the fruit of many generations of workers and farmers. They constitute the past but also the future of this territory.
The local men have overcome land that was sometimes dry, often discouraging, by raising dry stone walls and building terraces where you can still see olive groves and vineyards today.
The visitor will easily see that the history of these lands rests on a perpetual confrontation between mankind and nature.
Undoubtedly, to explore this land is to travel back in time, to encounter a terribly hostile landscape with which man has managed to ally, to create the very best...
Here, authenticity is not an insignificant word. It is the spirit of the place and the remarkable heritage that make the Grand Site "Canal du Midi, Béziers" a sincere and benevolent country.
