2025 Tour - Day 5 - Exploring Narbonne

118 BC 

Narbo Martius was founded. Here. That's how old Narbonne is!  At its origin it was the capital city of the Narbonne province, which stretched from the Pyrenees to the Alps.  And Roman. 

So, there's a lot of history to capture, we needed to take it slow and start with what we know best, the market. Les Halles de Narbonne 

Amazing lettuce selection and size.

And so many fresh local vegetables, I had to make collages or I would fill a whole photo album.

And meat and seafood and rotisserie chicken...

And of course cheese and quiche and olives and wine and spices. 

How to make Marc happy! 

We were there and back before 10 am and were surprised at how quiet it was. But when we returned closer to noon it was very busy. Apparently there is not an early morning rush here. But there is a calm and class to the market shoppers. The market does not really cater to tourists in any way, and seems more to be locals doing their shopping, with their fancy market baskets, and their fancy market shoes ❤️

We found our local bakery for our mid morning second breakfast. The baguette was not warm it was actually hot when we got it! 

Of note, we are in the land of choclatine, not pain au chocolat, that is very important to remember when placing your order so as not to confuse or worse, anger anyone. Know your regional dialect 😉

The rest of the day was dedicated to exploring the ancient city. 

The Saint-Just and Saint-Pasteur Cathedral has a fascinating story of never being completed. It is massive just the same, I guess if it had been finished I would need a word bigger than massive. 

Some of my photos are below, but they don't do the magnitude and beauty justice. 

The stained glass windows were incredible, and the acoustics of the multi story stone church was encircling. Quiet and cool, the church dates back to 1272 which is apparently when construction first started. 

We also spent time in the cloisters. 

A stunning rose garden in the centre, with cool arched walkways all around, displaying some local art. 

At 12:30 all the museums, galleries, churches etc close. They reopen at 2:00. It is very civilized for everyone to enjoy lunch and draws people to the cafes for a rest and refreshment.

After lunch we explored the Roman Horreum. These are walls and artifacts found 5 meters below today's street level. They are believed to have been the first level of a market or similar structure and date back to the second half of the first century. Not kidding. Old. Really old. 

The town square includes the watch tower, side by side with the Hotel de Ville (town hall) which was formerly the palace of the Arch Bishop, which is connected to the Cathedral.  

And across the square this building "Aux Dames de France". Not sure of the story behind it, but it is a beautiful building. 

In the town square they have found remnants of a remarkably old Roman road, and you can climb down the steps and have a stroll. 

So much history here, so much to learn and see.  The buildings, the streets, the art, the canal, the flowers and the trees. It is a quiet town with a long deep history. 

As it happens, May 17 (today!) is free museum night so we strolled back to the Palace and wandered the art exhibits. Sadly the promised Viking Encampment exhibit did not come to fruition as apparently the Vikings had some trouble getting here - times have changed I guess, it seems they were able to get everywhere in earlier years 🤣

Congratulations to the Toronto Maple Leafs for winning game 6 last night.

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Cheers