BIZE-MINERVOIS

Driving through gently rolling hills and vineyards, at the hamlet of Cabezac, just off the D5 between Beziers and Carcassonne, visitors will notice the Oulibo, a co-operative that produces some of the best olives and olive oils in France. About 2 kms. down this road lies the small and picturesque village of Bize.
The village has a butcher, baker, two grocers, post office, hairdressers, newsagents, sweet shop and a wine cellar. There is also a bar and several restaurants. Every Wednesday morning there is a market by the river.

SWIMMING

Running through the village is the Cesse, a river dammed here to provide a clean (tested by the local authorities), natural swimming pool with grassy banks bordered by weeping willows, which is constantly being refreshed as the river flows downstream. It is attended by lifeguards in the summer and there is a small café/crêperie with outdoor seating. There is another dammed pool about 1 km upstream.

GETTING THERE

Bize is close to Autoroute exits at Narbonne, Lésignan and Béziers ouest.

International airports are at Bezier (30 mins) Carcassonne (45 mins) Perpignan (60 mins) Montpellier (80 mins.) Toulouse (90 mins.) and Girona is 120 mins. away.

Eurostar from St.Pancras, London, connects at Lille or Paris with the TGV direct to Narbonne where there is also a motorail terminal.

HISTORY

At the centre of the walled village is the church that dates back to the 13th century, as does the Porte Saint-Michel.

The walls of village you see now date back to Mediaeval times as the whole region was on a historical crossroads, and was occupied successively by Etruscans, Greeks, Phoenicians and of course Romans who ruled Gaul from their Capital of Narbonne from 60 BC to 476 AD. There were further invasions under the Romans and following their fall the area was occupied by Saracens in 900 AD. After the massacres of the Cathers the region changed hands many times until the Edict of Nantes in 1598 ended the Protestant Catholic Wars of Religion by guaranteeing freedom of worship.

Today the moats have been filled up and transformed into gardens and houses although tunnels from the castle (Le Logis Colbert), originally used to escape the marauders , survive.