Montpellier is the sunny capital of the Languedoc region of France, with over 300 days of sun per year. The region's name originates from Langue d'Oc, a language closely related to today's Catalan and quite distinct from the forerunner of today's French, Langue d'Oïl (the words oc and oïl meant 'yes'). It's a student city with students of the university (or 3 of them actually, including Europe's first école de médecine founded in the early 1100s) making up about 25% of the population. The look of the city is quite typically European, especially in the old town in the centre: thin winding paved pedestrian streets set on an overall undulating landscape, hanging lanterns suspended between buildings, medieval-style buildings, very rustic and very beautiful..
The train ride here from Barcelona was smooth and rather scenic. The tracks followed the coast much of the way, passing through marshlands, villages, rolling hills and, of course, vineyards... I arrived at Montpellier St-Roch station just after 9pm and Bene, a friend I first met in NZ, along with a couple of her friends were there to greet me. They took me out for a couple of drinks that first night which was nice. I attempted to use any French that I knew, but realised that I knew basically nothing and that most of what I did know was pretty pointless in conversation, e.g. j'habite en France (I live in France) or je suis architecte (I am an architect) haha. I was able to stay with a couple of Bene's friends, Nicolas and Julie, the first few nights here, and my last two were spent with a very accommodating couchsurfer named Vanya.
In the city itself, there isn't much in particular in the way of sights, it's more about just soaking up the atmosphere of being in a French city. This is done in one of two ways: either order a croissant, pain au chocolat (a croissant variation filled with chocolate - quickly becoming my favourite breakfast food here, gulp..) or brioche (kind of like a toasted sandwich covered in melted cheese) from a boulangerie/patisserie and proceed to eat it whilst checking out the full range of French books on offer in one of the many stalls that line the city's main strip, Place de la Comédie, for the annual book festival, La Comédie du Livre; or you could choose to sit in one of the many cafés that can be found on basically every street corner and in-between, sipping on a café, or vin rouge if you prefer, and watching people partake in the rather peculiar greeting ritual of cheek kissing 1-2-3... The right side first, then the left, then the right again.. The greeter must do this with each and every person in the group, not necessarily just friends, to not appear rude.. 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3... A tiring exercise if meeting up with, say, a group of 15 people.. This particular pattern appears to be specific to Montpellier at the moment as other places seem to only have a 2-kiss greeting. I'll keep you posted..
I've seen and experienced a few neat things in Montpellier, some of which a reflective of the French culture in general.
1. The first being the 'mandatory' cheek kissing which I think is quite cool - it immediately creates a sense of intimacy between 2 people.
2. The second: a quaint little jazz bar offering beers from all around the world (including a few Aussies beers - Coopers Sparkling even, Asahi from Japan, Tsingtao from China, etc.) and many, many from each region of France - you walk into a huge store room, pick your beer and the bartender will grab a cold one for you, awesome..
3. The third was a Saturday night gathering in a small square in the city centre (le centre-ville) after a birthday dinner for Julie. There was a circle of people playing guitar, a group of people with didgeridoos, a fire breather and even a guy with an extremely loud trumpet. All there for no particular reason but to enjoy their Saturday night. That was great fun!
4. A street performer that would stop cars at traffic lights and perform a quick routine rolling a glass ball around before the lights went green. I watched him do this maybe 10 times, at every red light. It was funny to witness and at the same time I appreciated his determination and his originality.
I stayed in a hostel for one night in Montpellier (every other night was booked out and Bene had left Montpellier for work up north, hence the CSer). Here I met an American girl, Bonnie, who had just finished a semester in Paris, learning French. This particular morning had great weather (whereas the previous couple were overcast and even raining, unusual for this city) and so we made the most of it and caught a bus out to the beach, 12km away. As the bus approached the beach, the clouds started closing in the sky. We missed the stop, somehow, and ended up having to walk about 2km in the rain (yes, it had started raining by this point.. pouring, in fact, with thunder thrown in for good measure - so much for the 300 days of sun). We were absolutely soaked by the time we reached the beach, exactly the same time as the sky cleared up and the sun came back out.. What a weird day. After all of that drama though, the beach and surrounding town turned out to be really nice and we spent a good few hours there.
My last night in town was spent at Vanya's place, along with another CSer from Turkey who was staying the night, chatting into the wee hours of the morning and sharing organic vegetables for dinner and her lovely homemade dessert.. Mmmm.
Photos:
a French apartment buzzer
typical setting for a cafe
Arc de Triomphe, one of many throughout France
spot the paintings..
Me with Bene and a couple of her mates
l'école de médecine
he's even got the clouds right :)
at the beach at Palavas-les-Flots (doesn't sound very French does it?) - oh, and before you say anything, I'm aware it's not raining.. umbrellas make for good sunscreen too :)
love these streets!
the Chateau d'Eau (Water Tower) in the large parklike area known as Place Royale du Peyrou
number 4
3 comments:
Have you also noticed everyone carries around baguettes!! Sounds like you are having a good time. We should catch up soon
I wish we did cheek kissing in Australia .. so I just make do with hugging :)
... and Adam and Eva, I love how everyone carried around baguettes in Barcelona too - in bags on their backs while riding on their bikes :) soooo very European ..
oh and how cool are the painted 'buildings'!! What are they exactly?
Post a Comment