St Guilhem:
The Gellone Valley is a like a stone box with breathtakingly steep
sides covered in thyme, oaks and pines: a landscape of nothing but
stone and sky. The legendary village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
lies nestled in the heart of the valley. Its ancient streets have
been stretching out in the warm Languedoc sunshine for twelve centuries.
Although not all its houses are perhaps special in themselves, overlapping
each other with roof tiles that have developed a patina from the
sun and the passing years, they all bear the traces of their past,
with arcatures, lintels, gemelled windows and various other features.
The village, which grew up around the Abbey of Gellone,
retains a strong medieval feel, and a harmony as a whole that is
rarely found.
This Grand Site National is classified as one of
the Most Beautiful Villages in France and its abbey has been listed
as a World Heritage monument by UNESCO as part of the Pilgrimage
Route of Santiago de Compostela.
Le Cirque de Navacelles : Some three
million years ago, the Vis cut through the limestone plateau of
Larzac to create this fantastic natural canyon, now classified as
a "Grand site naturel". Right at the bottom, in the midst
of a green oasis, lies the village of Navacelles in an abandoned
meander of the river, dominated by the dizzying height of the limestone
cliffs.
The dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs on the plateau bear witness to
the rites and beliefs of the men who lived here in Neolithic times.
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