Attractions and Places To See around Paraza - Top 20

L'Epanchoir de l'Argent Double, classified as a historic monument: started in 1677 and completed in 1694 according to Vauban's plans, it allows the canal to evacuate its excess water.

Le Somail features remarkable buildings, including the inn, which has retained the same appearance as in 1773, the chapel, built between 1684 and 1693, and even an ice house. This supplied the inn and the shops of Le Somail with ice during the hot summer days of Languedoc. Everything is still in place! In the heart of the village is the Pont Saint-Marcel with its remarkable semi-circular shape, typical of the early bridges of the Canal du Midi. Nearby, one can still admire the guard's house, which also housed the postmen. On the banks of the canal, you can still see the old watering trough for the draft horses.

The Junction Canal was commissioned in 1787 to connect the Canal du Midi to the Canal de la Robine in Narbonne. 5 km long, it is partly lined with magnificent umbrella pines that shelter you from the sun. This canal is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Canal du Midi", just like the Canal de la Robine.

The section posted for this Highlight is in the town of Sallèles-d'Aude so you have a lot of people walking in this section. Dog walkers with dogs not on leads, families taking the whole path etc., so whilst it is pretty in can be annoying when biking, This was in the last days of Oct. '25 so I think in summer it would be almost impassable at times. The other way towards the Gailhousty Lock and eventually Narbonne is much quieter if you want to ride unhindered by walkers & dogs, especially if you take the wide gravel track on the other side of the canal from the Vioe Verte.

easy but hot this season

a good way to stock up

The German-language television series "Treasures of the World - Heritage of Humanity" uses short film clips to honor special sites from all eras and continents that have one thing in common: they have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. One of the episodes introduces the CANAL DU MIDI: "...the Romans already dreamed of a waterway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Powerful people and doers from Charlemagne to Francis the First failed to realize this idea, even Leonardo da Vinci tinkered with it in vain. It was not built until the end of the 17th century. The Canal du Midi is a technical masterpiece by one person, one obsessed with the idea, by Pierre Paul Riquet. ..." Can be seen at => https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/schaetze-der-welt/gcanal-du-midi-frankreich-folge-224/swr/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS82OTg2NDg2

Pretty canal, shaded, bucolic. Don't miss the Gailhousty site, at the downstream outlet of the Jonction canal on the Aude river. This canal, put into operation in 1787, connects the Canal du Midi and the Robine de Narbonne canal. The Gailhousty site consists of a lock, a spillway, a bridge and a dry dock. Upstream of the lock, the canal is protected from the floods of the Aude thanks to a system of dikes that surround it up to Sallèles-d'Aude. Downstream of the lock is a space designed to be able to be submerged during heavy floods: the spillway. The bridge is designed to provide rapid access to all points of the site, is of neat architecture, with a low arched vault and four quarter-circle staircases placed at each corner. During floods, it is necessary to be able to react quickly and to manoeuvre the defence systems in time. Placed on the downstream head of the lock, it participates in the system of containing the strongest floods. The monumental spillway, 30 metres long, is located on the left bank of the canal between the Gailhousty lock and the Aude. Its front façade on the canal side is pierced with vertical crenellations that plunge into the water. At the back, it has 5 arched openings at the foot of which launches an 8km long landing channel called "La saignée" directed towards the Capestang pond. This building houses no fewer than 15 oversized valves. It is not intended to evacuate excess water from the Jonction canal but must allow the passage of flood water from the Aude river. Originally, it was planned that these waters loaded with fertile silt would be directed into the Capestang pond to fill it and promote crops there.