La Mota Doça in Oupia

Start at the car park at the cemetery in Oupia.

The route is marked in blue

(S/E) Exit the car park on the right and take the road to the intersection.

(1) Take the track on the left, following the sign for "éolienne" (wind turbine). Leave the track and take a small path that climbs up to the left under the pine trees. Continue along the path until you reach a crossroads.

(2) At the crossroads, continue straight ahead towards Mata Doça. Stay on the path and, after climbing some steps, you will soon rejoin the track.

(3) When you reach the track, turn left for a few metres and take the path opposite that climbs up to the right. Pass two drystone shelters, ignoring the paths on the right and left. You will come to a sign indicating a return trip to a viewpoint (the post is in place and the sign has been ordered).

(4) Keep right to reach a second crossroads.

(5) Turn right, then left. Once on the track, turn left until you reach a path.

(6) Take this path on the right, then immediately left. Follow the path to reach a track.

(7) Take this track on the left. Continue straight ahead until you reach the crossroads at the wind turbines.

(8) Turn left twice, follow the wind turbines to reach another fork.

(9) Go straight ahead and go around the wind turbine on the right to take the path on the right and arrive at a fork.

(10) Turn right and descend to a track.

(11) Follow it to the left under the high-voltage power line. After 50 m, leave it and descend to the right to the village, passing an old lime kiln. Follow the blue markings in the alleys. Continue along Chemin des Vignals to the end.

(12) Take Rue de la Croix de Mission on the left, then Route de Beaufort on the same side. Take the third intersection on the left and go straight ahead twice to take Rue de la Mairie. Keep going until you reach the cemetery and pass it on the left (S/E).

Picnic table near the wind turbines

Things to see in Oupia
The village nestles at the foot of a long wooded hill called "la Serre", at an altitude of 95 metres. Its name comes from the Domaine d'Oppianus, from the Latin "oppida", meaning "height". 230 inhabitants live in this village near Olonzac. The lords of Oupia were vassals of the viscounts of Minerve. The old village overlooks the plain and numerous remains of the fortified walls remind us of the defensive role of the town and its castle.

The frescoes in the old railway station
The trompe-l'oeil frescoes, created by muralist Raphaël Poron and commissioned by the town hall, evoke the history of the village. One of them depicts the school, which closed in 1996, painted on a wall behind the municipal park.
This fresco on the old station, a disused building, resembles a sepia-coloured postcard, recalling the Aude trams that transported parcels and passengers from 1901 to 1933.