Having had a food poisoning back then, in the first year when i arrived in Paris, was quite a tormenting stomach experience. I just loved seafood, and turns out that you can’t have all year long fresh seafood in the capital, and have to be selective in choosing the place. I was told that, to be sure, we could have the fresh seafood in the … Continue reading Oyster in the southern france
Touched down to Sète, in last year’s summer in Montpellier, and suddenly I was in the crowd of people by the port. out of curiosity, I joined them yelling, without knowing what or who to yell at. And I saw this. Water jousting festival! Water jousting is a Languedoc tradition dating from the eighteenth century: the first jousting competitions took place in several Languedoc villages: … Continue reading Water jousting in Sète
I know Sète from one of my team at the office, who used to study in Montpellier. He said that I should go there if I love the port, fishing village and stuff. OMG. I adore them! The port and fishing village always excite me. I was once told that I was a bohemian and used to live by the mediterranean sea and my house was not far from the port, where I transport coffee (hence explains my deep interest of sea, port, style and coffee…).
There are two ways to go to Sète from Montpellier, by train (intercity train, costs only around 8 euros one way, around 30 min trip), or by bus. But the bus is rather far, I had to reach the bus station from the other way of the tram line. And my rental apartment was only 5 min walking from the main train station, so I think that was the easiest way.
I got the early train ticket (and surprisingly I was early for the train, that never occurred to me:p), but the thing is there was fire accident at Lunèl, one city that is in my train line (direction Bordeaux), so everything was postponed…..and after 3 hour of waiting frustration, the train was canceled.
This was quite the first time I got early and bought the ticket just to be efficient. Had I been late or last minute as usual, I’d know that the train got held up and I wouldn’t have bought the ticket and bought the bus ticket right away….
Bref. Under the 36 degree heat, I rushed to the tram line 2 from Place de la Comédie to Sabines, and there I waited for another hour for the bus to come…And finally, the bus number 102 that costed only 1,6 euros came and hopppppp, I was on the way and one hour later I arrived by the port of Sète! Yayyyyyy
My reflex was always go to the tourism office to get information on how to get around, and how to get to the beach. The information was not too sufficient, Continue reading “Sète (fake) baywatcher..”
I just love Montpellier. I think it has everything you need : the old city, the good seafood, the sun, the heat…and the beaches! There are quite a list of beaches to go to, but for first timer in the city without car, I could depend on the shuttle bus from the terminal tram station – Pérols étang de l’or. There you can have several … Continue reading To the beach!!!
Je te cherche. I’m looking for you. There are some possibilities of what this means. This is a meeting point. Like lost and found kinda place It’s a matchmaker. Job. or Life. The building is on sale, and looks for the new buyer It’s a morse code. Only the One knows what it wants. It’s a shop All of the above Neither of the above Continue reading Je te cherche
When I was not a french speaker by then, and my mom kept repeating a name of a place that I could hardly pronounce, let alone remember, I’d thought never hear the name again. It was Montpellier. Reason why my mom liked it was the spelling was intriguing; mont- pe-ye or mont- pe-li-ye. I didn’t care that much, then.
Until sometime in France, and there’s a sudden urge to go there. I love the beach, and I’ve been to the almost southern side of the country : côte atlantic (south west – Biarritz, San Sebastian), côté d’azur (mediterranean sea – Nice, Cannes, Antibes, and around ), but I’ve never been to the other primary south – Montpellier. The place just pops out of my head, out of nowhere, that I wanted to go there. Had a row at the office and to calm me down, I needed to see the sea. So summer direction : Montpellier for a week!
Cheap tickets and me, are inseparable, and this time my train departs not from the city centre, but from the suburbs – Marne la Vallée, from Disneyland, to be precise. It’s a low cost train of SNCF – OUIGO, where the tickets varies from 10 euros to around 50 euros…I remember that I booked the tickets less than 90 euros return trip – first class. So it was quite a bargain! Had I booked early, I could’ve had the ticket for 10 euros, for sure….
I wanted to couch surf, but it was in plain summer, so the locals were not there to host either. I booked through airbnb instead, and I got a very nice host and great experience together!
I was briefed by one of my team who used to study there, so at least this time I had some plans already. Plus, I downloaded an app called “Montpellier tours”, a self guided walking tours, which allows you to make your own walking itinerary, or simply follow their guide.
My airbnb apartment is just 5 min walking from the main train station, and it’s already in the city centre – and plus, it’s just walking distance to Old City.
Montpellier vielle ville is a living medieval city where you can stroll along narrow street, surrounded by old aged houses, buildings (of the 17th and 18th century), but now is mixed with some modern colors. It’s one of the student cities (thus prices are nicely friendly), and you can see bars, restaurants scatter along and in the corner of the city, side by side with the ancient church and other historic buildings.
