St Guilhem-le-Desert and Clamouse Caves, South of France
Posted by Jill Bowen on Fri 16th November 2007 at 03:33 AM, Filed in Europe
The journey from Cap D’Agde to the medieval town of St Guilhem-le Desert is about 58 kilometres and passes through some stunning unspoilt countryside, small villages and towns.
St Guilhem-le Desert is one of the most tranquil and beautiful villages in France – not just my opinion, it is accredited with the accolade Plus Beaux Villages and has been classified since 1999 as a National Site. The population of just 250 must feel overwhelmed by the number of tourists who visit each year, but that’s the penalty one pays living in such an idyllic place. Not surprising that parking isn’t easy here, but persevere and you will find a spot, maybe a little outside the town. If you do park outside the town the walk to the village is fairly steep’ish’ but a pleasant one, meandering through twisting streets and you’ll find yourself stopping to admire the fantastic views.
At the top of the village is a shady square with a fountain and the Abbey. It’s a great place to stop a while for a drink under the shade of the huge old tree before exploring the Abbey’s tranquil interior. St Guilhem, a comrade in arms to Charlemagne, founded the Abbey in the ninth century, a Benedictine foundation dedicated to Saint-Saviour. The atmosphere is beautiful, but unfortunately the interior is a little impoverished by the sale and dismantling of some of the cloister’s columns – which have been in New York since the nineteenth century! By the middle of the 11th century the monks were rich enough (having benefited financially from pilgrim visitors) to rebuild their Abbey on a larger scale. The cool interior is Romanesque in style, wander round at leisure, through to the cloisters, soak up the peace and quiet of this centuries old place of worship.
On leaving the Abbey meander down the twisting cobble streets with their amber coloured stone houses, many of them now small shops selling artisan’s work such as wooden toys, pottery, soap and scents. The small buildings have not been spoilt by commercialism, they have been sympathetically turned into shops without ruining their character or the fabric of the buildings.
As you make your way to the bottom end of the village a great restaurant comes into sight. It is perched on the side of a gorge, with views down to the bottom, look down and you will see people paddling canoes in the river. To the side of the restaurant there are large tanks filled with trout - guess what you will be having for lunch! Try and secure a table by the window over looking the gorge, the food is basic, but excellent. Chunks of fresh bread, salad, the inevitable pommes frits (cooked only as the French know how), and the choice of either freshly caught, and cooked trout, or chicken, simple fare but delicious, all washed down with carafe’s of local wine. If you want a dessert then there is ice cream or fruit. Enjoy!
Satiated, walk back to you car and a three-kilometre drive will take you to the Clamouse caves. I have visited many caves in different countries and these are exceptional. A wonderful underground world of aragonite and calcite concretions, named ‘the cathedral of time’.
Clamouse owes its protection to a natural a water surge which prevents access for much of the year which has submerged the natural access to the caves since 1945. Since then an artificial tunnel of 30 metres enables visitors to get round the siphon in order to visit the caves.
There are several very large ‘rooms’ which resemble auditoriums and organ music may add to the atmosphere during your visit.
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