Blogs from Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Europe - page 8

We didn’t plan to go to Béziers twice but, as with all good holidays, not everything goes according to plan. The City tour As I probably have said before, Montpellier is a great town in itself but is also well located for visiting other places. Béziers is one of those. A sort train ride dropped us off right at the edge of the old city. One of the things Google maps don’t give you is an idea of what the hills are like. I should have been suspicious after looking at a picture of the cathedral on the internet. We knew where the tourist information office was located and made a beeline for it. Uphill almost all the way. But they were very helpful and our visit to the old city was very successful. It started ... read more

Had a few extra photos (well, many) that seemed to be too many for the last blog. So here they are: a few random shots from Montpellier a bunch from the Montpellier Zoo a few from our day trip to Sète We are off to Brussels to visit the new friends we met in Italy last year so this is ToBeContinued.... read more

Today I drove from Carcassonne to Collioure via back roads. I followed Rick Steves's advice about enjoying the rugged countryside and stopping at a ruined castle. It's true that there were some dramatic views (see photo). But I'm not sure the castle was worth the effort expended to see it. The castle I looked at is called Peyrepertuse and it was important six or seven hundred years ago. Abandoned, it fell into ruin and then was partially restored in the last century (see photo). Unfortunately the restoration did not include a user-friendly path to climb (see photo). I guess I have to say I was glad to see Peyrepertuse but I think its chief feature is that it makes one appreciate how well-done Carcassonne is. I drove on from there to Collioure, France and just had ... read more

Today I was on the road for over four hours, driving from San Sebastián in Spain to Carcassonne in the region of southern France known as the Languedoc. Carcassonne is famous for its well-preserved medieval walls (see photo). The fortifications are especially impressive up close (see photo), but tourists and school groups breach them regularly these days (see photo). I followed Rick Steves's walking tour and paid extra to walk along the top of the walls. It was fun to do, with good views, but last year's visit to the city walls of Dubrovnik is still my favorite. One of the Carcassonne sights is a gothic church where St. Dominic once preached. It is a lovely space and, when I was there, a quartet of men was singing Schubert's Ave Maria (see photo). After dinner I ... read more

I wrote the blog today on the train between Montpellier and Marseilles, on the way to Nice. Sadly, it has been lost to cyberspace, so here I go again. Yesterday morning, I took a very fast train from Barcelona to Montpellier. Montpellier is the 8th largest city in France, and the third largest French city on the Mediterranean. It is also the quickest growing city in France over the past 25 years. This may be because it is home to three universities as well as three higher education institutions, which would explain the amount of young folk in the city. Anyone who reads my facebook statuses would already know how taken I was with the beauty of this city. It certainly isn't as well known as the other places I have visited during this trip, but ... read more