Touring Montpellier - Mom's Visit

We live in Montpellier.  So, naturally, in the year that we have been here, we have done almost none of the "touristy" stuff.  That's just how it goes right?  You assume because a city is now your home base, that all of it's offerings will always be available - "we'll go another weekend when we are bored".  And then, three years later, you find yourself surprised that you never even been inside the city's most prominent museum or gone for a walk around it's most beautiful park.  So when mom came over for a two week visit, we took the opportunity to don our tourist hats and explore the Languedoc!

Here are a few of the highlights...

An afternoon trip to Aigues-Mortes - a well preserved medieval city with a lively interior for both locals and tourists alike.  We stopped in on a Thursday, and the main city square had a live band set up and a fairly large crowd busy indulging in the party atmosphere - do these people not have jobs?  We toured the old city walls and hiked up the Constance Tower for a view of the pink water salt marshes.  The water really does look pink!  This is where they harvest all that delicious sea salt and fleur de sel you pay $11 for at Williams-Sonoma.  It's quite cheap here of course - one of the perks of living in the region.

Constance Tower, City Walls, and Canal at Aigues-Mortes

Pink waters of the salt marshes

Vineyard visits for some authentic French wine tastings - you can't come to France and not try some French wine.  And don't worry, I spit most of mine out.  Fortunately, this is not considered rude around here.  While vineyards around here generally don't tend to be as tourist friendly as the ones in the US, there are a handful of them catching on to the growing trend in wine tourism and who will accommodate drop in visitors for a tasting session.  The first one we tried had an actual website (this is a BIG deal here - businesses don't have websites!) posting their opening hours - seemed like a pretty safe bet.  Too bad they don't bother adhering to their advertised hours: closed with no explanation at all.  Irritating, but sadly typical around here.  With our itinerary foiled from the start, we had little choice but to the roll the dice and see what we could find.  On a whim we turned off at Chateau Lancyre.  It turned out to be a great choice - they were extremely welcoming and the girl running it even spoke English - what a treat!  Le Chemin des Reves was our other vineyard of choice for the afternoon.  The tasting room here looks new, and reminded me a lot of the wineries out in the Texas Hill Country.  It made me very eager for porch-sitting weather and the days when we can enjoy a bottle of rose on the patio again.

Chateau Lancyre

Vineyards at Chemin des Reves

La Plage - the beach!  During summer holidays, the beaches around here become jam-packed with tourists.  People will rent RVs and park it beach front for three or four weeks of pure beach vacation.  As an American, a four week vacation is unimaginable.  I would think after a week or two the clean clothes would run out and I'd be forced to do laundry, and then it wouldn't really seem like vacation anymore!  But it's standard around here.  During the summer, everyone is expected to take at minimum two weeks for vacation, and the beach is the place to be.  We even get "bonus days" for taking enough time off at once.  As in, take 10 consecutive days, get 2 free.  When I was working back in the U.S., I had 9 days total, which now seems inhumane compared to what they are doing over here in Europe.  Anyhow, since all of France vacations in the months of July and August, for the rest of the year, the beach is fairly empty on weekdays.  And on the day we went, it was completely empty - good for us!  Really, it seems like a waste of beautiful beach space, since no one is around to appreciate for nine months out of the year, but I suppose it's really too cold to swim outside of the peak heat of the summer anyway.  We passed a few hours with a nice mid-morning stroll in the sand under the bright Mediterranean sun, followed by a yummy pizza lunch.  I find few things to be as relaxing and calming as an empty, serene, sparkling beach.

The Med!

Picnicking at the Pont du Gard.  One of the most notable attractions of the Languedoc, the Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge dating all the way back to 19 B.C.  Obviously, the historical significance is huge, making it one of the most visited sites near Montpellier.  There is an onsite museum, a couple restaurants, and plenty of walking trails and green space to immerse yourself in the natural surroundings.  It is also a very popular swimming spot in the summer, although the Texan in me found the water a bit cold.  For the more adventurous folk, canoe rentals are available from a few kilometers up the river, so you can take in the aqueduct views from the water if desired.  Since it was a nice, sunny day, we opted to pack up the dogs and a picnic basket and found ourselves a shady spot with a magnificent view.  Lunch was followed by a stroll across the bridge itself and we topped the afternoon off with gelato before making the hour drive back home.              

Le Pont du Gard

Give me your sandwich....

We finished mom's two week visit with stopover in the city of lights - Paris herself!  I've been a few times now, and the city never disappoints.  In three short days, we took in our fill of the Eiffel Tower, trekked across the monstrosity of a museum that is the Louvre, took an evening ride on the River Seine, enjoyed classic breakfasts of croissants, yogurts, espressos, and orange juice, dinners with wine and cheese plates, hunted down the city's best chocolates, caramels, and macaroons, toured the Notre Dame Cathedral (did you know they have the original crown of thorns on display?) and partook in a little shopping along the Champs-Elysee.  While Montpellier proved a worthy and entertaining destination, in my eyes, nothing sparkles quite like beautiful Paris!

           

Cafe Gourmand - three deserts in one, plus coffee!  Easily one of the top ten french inventions

Swarming with visitors on a rainy Sunday