The best MTB trails around Bessan

What was a military tower doing in the middle of the dunes? Built in the 18th century, the Redoute du Castellas was part of a surveillance network responsible for protecting the coastline and the port of Sète. Long before modern signal stations, alerts were transmitted from tower to tower using signals visible from several kilometers away.

It is difficult to imagine that between Agde and Marseillan lies one of the largest protected wetland areas on the coast. The Bagnas nature reserve, the former delta of the Hérault, long exploited for salt and then for viticulture, is today a space entirely dedicated to fauna and flora. Between lagoons, salt marshes and reed beds, this changing landscape hosts hundreds of migratory bird species each year.

Difficult to pass by without noticing this monumental fountain dedicated to the “Belle Agathoise”, a symbolic incarnation of the city of Agde. Erected in 1858, it features Agathé, the city's protective figure, surrounded by marble lions that enhance its almost mythological character. More than just urban decoration, it is a tribute to the ancient history of Agde, founded in the Greek era under the name of Agathé.

A remarkable geological site, worthy of the fairy legend! It is actually a sandstone (clastic rock) with a carbonate cement and not a limestone. Differential erosion has shaped this landscape into natural basins.

It is nicknamed the "Bridge of Three Eyes". Three openings designed within the logic of the Canal du Midi: navigation, water drainage, and continuity of local circulation. A work from Pierre-Paul Riquet's project, to be discovered in the landscape between Vias and Agde.

The dinosaur egg-laying sites, the red lands, the white rocks, and the Étendoir des fées are among the most remarkable geological sites in the municipality. The Étendoir des fées is worth the detour as it is an original formation of limestone rocks, deposited at the beginning of the Tertiary era, during the folding of the Pyrenean-Provençal chain, on a continental plain episodically crossed by rivers.

The Pointe des Onglous is the eastern end of the Canal du Midi. It is the mandatory passage point for anyone wishing to reach the Mediterranean Sea coming from the Canal du Midi. The crossing of the Thau lagoon allows you to reach the port of Sète, the construction of which was also entrusted, in 1669, to Pierre-Paul Riquet, just like the canal. In the 1660s, the development of the canal between the lagoons from Sète to the Rhône (current Canal du Rhône à Sète) was also topical to facilitate the transport of goods and passengers. At the Pointe des Onglous, a jetty extending into the Thau lagoon was created to break the waves. To secure the crossing of the 15 kilometers of the lagoon, the channel is marked to guide boats towards the port of Sète.

The Bagnas lock is the last single-chamber lock on the Canal du Midi before Sète, at the end of the canal. Built around 1676, it is located 235.2 km from Toulouse at an altitude of 2 m, between the Étang de Thau to the east and the Hérault river then the Prades lock to the west. It is located in the commune of Agde in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region.