Exploring Montpellier; The Joy Of Slow-living While Travelling
Montpellier is a beautiful city with a combination of ancient architecture and modern French chic. It’s the perfect place for ambling around, people watching and soaking up the atmosphere.
Where we’re staying
Our Airbnb is a charming apartment on the third floor in the old part of town. The bedroom is circular in shape with various old records from the likes of Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Kraftwerk adorning the walls. The bath tub is also knights-of-the-round-table like and you could even fit all of the knights in it, however, in this weather we are unlikely to get the use out of it. Pool party, anyone?
The apartment has tested us on how well we are able to carry our backpacks up three steep flights of stairs in 30 degree heat. The answer is, not very. After a few last minute items chucked in there in a frenzy, mine totalled 20.4kg and took a whole lot of puffing, panting and excessive sweating to lug up. In the words of Ron Weasley, ’she needs to sort out her priorities’. I will definitely be taking stock.
What we did in the AM
Honestly, very little. And that has been wonderful. After weeks of prepping for our wedding and rushing here, there and everywhere to do a lot of things, Montpellier has felt like a tonic. And not one we’ve needed gin with to enjoy!
Rising at 8am, there was hardly a soul about. With delight, we discovered a boulangerie a mere hop, skip and jump away from our apartment. With our pre-prepped coffee in keep-cups in tow, we found a spot nearby to sit and devour our pain au chocolats as the brightly coloured trams shuffled by cheerfully.
There are a few smells and sounds that always make me feel a sense of arrival in France. The buzzing of the scooters darting around in otherwise pedestrianised areas seems to me to be quintessentially French. Hearing French hip hop or pop blasting out of a car, or a portable stereo, also lets me know je suis arrivé. Greeting our nostrils this first French morning were freshly baked bread, the scent of chlorine from the numerous water fountains around and the inevitable occasional waft of dog poo. The latter can’t, unfortunately, be avoided.
We joined the morning joggers and dog walkers in ambling through the Place Royale du Peyrou and the impressive Chateau d’eau, an 18th century aqueduct which provided us with some great views of the city.
Then we went to see the lesser known than its Parisian sister, Peyrou, an Arc de Triomphe, built in the 17th century to jazz up the town. The Cathédral Saint-Pierre was our next stop and we were grateful for the still calm of the monastery’s interiors.
What we did in the PM
Wandering back through the Place de la Comédie, which houses the Comédie opera house and an oval-shaped plaza, we took a diversion through some back streets on the hunt for a quiet spot to eat lunch. As we did so, we came across a jazz band playing and happily tucked into some juicy apricots we’d picked up at a grocer’s.
We got to make use of our Opinel pocket knife to prep our lunch for the very first time. It’s a handy travel size and slices a baguette like a dream. It’s the simple joys like a €3 lunch and a 2 hour siesta that we’ve enjoyed the most today.
In the evening we sat in a Cuban-style bar drinking Happy Hour beers before heading down to Les Estivales de Montepllier for a Gipsy Kings tribute act, swing-dancing and some delicious local grub.
All up
Montpellier doesn’t seem to be the most action-packed of places but this is what we like about it. There are a few museums and galleries, but none free, and actually we didn’t feel the burning desire to do a top-ten-things-to-do box-ticking exercise here.
It’s a city with a love of music. It’s a city that comes alive at night. It’s a city to experience rather than do.
Day 2 of our backpack gallivants. Written in Montpellier, South of France.
