Photo : Wikimedia Commons
Minerve
At the exit of the gorges of La Cesse and the Briant, where the waters of the two rivers meet, Minerve appears at the end of a limestone plateau bordered by steep cliffs in a fantastic mineral and tormented landscape. The site has been frequented since the Palaeolithic; as for the village, its origin seems earlier than the fortress of the viscounts of Minervois built in the eleventh century.
Linked to the causse by a drawbridge, it was one of the Cathar bastions besieged by Simon de Montfort in 1210. Besides the remains of the twelfth-century castle, you must see the Saint-Rustique well, as its destruction caused Minerve's surrender. You should also visit the Romanesque church, some remains of which date from the fifth century, and the archaeological museum, walk the village lanes lined with ancient houses soberly built of causse stone and taste the local wine produced for centuries by the Minervois winegrowers.
