Weekend of Protestant Discovery & Encounters

DAY 1: AIGUES-MORTES

Tour de Constance

The Tour de Constance was built in 1242 to protect the port and the city. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Aigues-Mortes transformed the tower into a prison for Huguenots. As early as 1686, the first Protestants captured in the region were locked up in the Tour de Constance, as well as in other towers and gates in the town. On the coping of the upper room is a world-famous graffiti, REGISTER (to resist in Occitan), a kind of injunction engraved in stone by Marie Durand, who stood up against royal intolerance to preach resistance to her fellow sufferers. 

Salins du Midi

We take the little train to visit the Salins du Midi. At the end of the 18th century, 17 small salt pans were in operation. They belonged to various owners who, after the severe floods of 1840, joined forces with a Montpellier merchant to found the Compagnie des Salins du Midi in 1856. The saltworks cover 8,000 hectares, an area the size of Paris Intramuros. Today, ten salt-makers perpetuate a tradition handed down from generation to generation, managing the movement of the water according to gales, storms and salinity, continuing the harvest of salt and Fleur de Sel de Camargue. 

DAY 2: MIALET

Grotte de Trabuc

Immerse yourself in an authentic, unspoilt mineral paradise. Trabuc, with its crystal jellyfish and butterflies, waterfalls and 100,000 soldiers unique in the world, is a living cave sculpted by the work of water over time. Enjoy an hour's visit on a luminous, interactive and safe trail, close to spectacular nature.

Musée du Désert

The museum brings to life the Huguenot past and the history of the Camisards: from the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the Edict of Toleration, repression and resistance, daily life in hiding, the long march towards freedom of conscience and the revolution...