Palavas - St Gilles 5 May

Leaving the old gentleman to his own devices. Good luck to him if he gets insurance money or the lady friend. 

Carl had his swim in the Mediterrean, bought a baguette and in true French fashion walks home with baguette under his arm. The water was cold.

Travelling along the Canal du Rhone a Sete, still in the canal in the sea, or etang. Montpellier and flamingos in the background.

Part of the canal wall is crumbling. Still amazed that there is a canal in a sea?

After about 5 hours of beautiful weather and a greener countryside, we arrived in St Gilles. Reversed Lellebelle into a berth and all ready for a light lunch.

Went out to discover the town. It is Ascension Day so everything is closed.

This is Saint-Gilles Abbey Church. St Giles was born  in Athens in 640 AD. He was famed for his miracles. But because he enjoyed solitude, he set off on a journey across the Mediterranean  in order to live as a hermit. This story comes from the broschure  "Hertitage Discovery Tour". He settled in a forest near the present day town of St Gilles, where he tamed a hind (have checked in the dictionary, a hind is the female of a red deer. Did not know that?) One day, the Visgoth King, Flavius, came hunting with his men, and an arrow aimed at the hind hit Giles. To ask for forgiveness, the King had an abbey  built on the site. Giles became a priest and lived there for the rest of his life.

Opposite the Abbey we found this pilgrim hostel, with some pilgrims sitting outside. I got talking to a man, obviously a pilgrim, who told me that he was walking to Toulouse. We have seen many pilgrims along the canal on the way to Toulouse, and were wondering if they were going all the way to Santiago.

 But we have since learnt that many pilgrims walk from Arles or other places around here, just to Toulouse. It is also the point of arrival of the Regordane Way leading from Puy-en-Velay to St Gilles. It seems that a book, Miracles of St Giles, was written in the 12th century, which resulted in the widespread worship of the saint and the developement of an important pilgrimage. The abbey church of St Giles was the fourth most important  pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages, after Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago. 

This is very interesting for us since we have just done a part of the Compostela.

The beautiful facade of the Abbey. 

In the first half of the 16th century, a majority of the population was Protestant. Co-existence with the Catholics quickly became a problem, in the context of the European Wars of Religion. During the conflict the control of the town passed alternatively from Catholics to the Protestants. This caused major damage to the town particularly during the last siege of 1622.  This is when the Ptotestants destroyed the choir and the bell tower of the church.

The old town, a bit rundown, but quaint. The town has a large Middle East/North African population.

Walked passed a gallery which was having a vernissage. Got roped into the gallery by these two artists, Renate and Ghislaine. Here with Renates paintings. Renate with the hat.

Here with Ghislaines paintings on the right and Renates on the left. Lovely friendly artists, happy to be photographed.