Montpellier

I like Montpellier. It's a mixture of a city, the historic centre is very interesting and laid out in a way that you just want to wander it.

 

We are staying to the east of the centre, in a place called Antigone a newer area built around 1979. It was designed by Ricardo Bofill, who frankly, I don't think should have passed his architecture finals. It's loud, boring and over the top. I'm sure a lot of people would like, judge for yourself.....

The outlying suburbs are packed full of high rise apartments, some attractive, some fundamental and others downright slummy, so it's a real mixture.

 
Throughout the city runs a tram system to be envied. There are 3 different lines and the trams arrive every 3-5 minutes. They are extremely long, clean and run between 4am and 1am. Melbournians could only dream of such a tram service. They are user friendly with room for bikes and large red suitcases and if you are confined to a wheelchair or push a pram there are no steps to negotiate when the tram pulls up. I'm sure it would have been a nightmare in the city when it was being built, but now it's complete, it's a dream.

With Bordeaux being the city of dogs, Montpellier is the city of graffiti. It is plastered all over the place, even on some of the lovely old buildings. Also the city of street markets, different ones each day. The shops are very nice but the food markets were a disappointment after Bordeaux and Toulouse, not worth a photo.

 

However on the upside, we found not one Irish pub, but four of the buggers and we weren't even looking. Its the weirdest thing to ask for drinks in French and be given change and thanked in Irish or British accents. Somehow they always guess John is not French.

 

 

Cheers to one and all....