The Devil’s Bridge

Situated at the outlet of the Herault Gorges, the Pont du Diable is registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in conjunction with the St James’ Way to Santiago de Compostela in western Spain.

Work on the bridge was started between 1028 and 1031 by the Abbeys of Aniane and Gellone, so for 1000 years it has resisted the torrential floods of the Hérault river and marked the passage between the hills and the plain. Among the oldest existing French medieval bridges, it incorporates the early techniques of  Romanesque art in the region, including two main arches and two secondary arches (gills, which cope with the torrent in times of flood), demonstrating the strength and solidity of its construction.

Saint Guilhem Le Désert and the Abbey of Gellone

In the heart of the Hérault Gorges, in the Val de Gellone, the medieval village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is in a green setting along the meandering Verdus stream.

Its houses are snuggled tightly together in ancient alleyways, with roof tiles baked by the Languedoc sun for twelve centuries. See traces of the past in their arcatures, their lintels, their gemelled windows…Built around the Abbey of Gellone, the village has kept its impressive medieval imprint and constitutes a rare, harmonious site in Languedoc.

This Classified Site, is one of the most beautiful villages in France and today its abbey is registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in conjuncton with the french section of St James’ Way to Santiago de Compostela in western Spain.

The Clamouse cave

The galleries of the Grotte de Clamouse open just a few hundred meters from the Pont du Diable at the edge of the Hérault Gorge. It is a subterranean wonder that the the water has been ceaselessly embellishing for millions of years. It owes its fame to the beauty, variety, abundance and uniqueness of its concretions.

‘Cathedral of time’. A one hour guided tour.

Temperature 16 °C.

A LITTLE FURTHER

SALAGOU – CIRQUE DE MOUREZE

In a hilly landscape of red rocks composed of clay charged with iron oxide, called “Ruffes”, the Lac du Salagou classified site offers a wide range of leisure activities: water games, hiking and horseback riding, mountain biking, fishing or… idleness…

Cirque de Navacelles

Nestled in the heart of the gorges of the Vis, which seperate the Causse of Blandas (Gard) and that of the Larzac (Hérault), the Cirque de Navacelles is a unique geological feature. Three hundred metres deep, the Cirque is an oxbow lake : a dried-up river meander, left as the Vis forged a more direct route through the landscape, creating an eight metre high waterfall in the process. The emotion linked to this site lies not only in the beauty of the Cirque itself, but also in the path that leads to it, through the vast stretches of the Causse.