#languedoc-rousillon

Languedoc-Rousillon, France.

View from the train – near Sete

Narbonne is a city about 40 minutes from Perpignan by train.  It is located in the department of Aude, Languedoc-Rousillon and is 15km from the sea.  In fact, before the river silted up, Narbonne was a prosperous seaside port and vital to the trade routes of the Roman Empire in France.  Indeed, it was the first Roman settlement in Gual and lay at the crossroads between the major Roman roads – Via Domitia (the first Roman road in Gaul) and Via Aquitania.  You can still see part of the Roman road in the town’s central square.  Unfortunately, over time Narbonne lost its importance and fell into a steady decline during the 14th C until the building of the canal which linked it back to the sea in the 16th C.  Today, Narbonne has a population of around 50,000 and is a nice-sized little city for a day trip.

Remains of the Roman Via Domitia

I managed to get a 1 euro ticket to Narbonne which got me into the city around 1pm.  The train station is around a 15/20 minute walk from the historical centre but luckily everything is very well signposted so it’d be more difficult to get lost than not.  I headed straight to the tourist office which, as it turned out, was closed until 2pm…and it turns out all of the museums were also closed because it was a Tuesday.  That was a blow as I had wanted to go and see some of the Roman artifacts which are housed there.

Canal de la Robine

As luck would have it, however, it was a very sunny and warm day, and I found a small park behind the cathedral to sit and soak up the winter sunshine.  The cathedral set out to have the highest Gothic nave in France, but owing to the aforementioned decline of Narbonne only the great choir was ever completed and the cathedral quickly fell into disrepair and ruin.  The great choir  does remain, and the ceiling is indeed very high (4th higest in France, 16th in the world)!

  The Canal de la Robine, which forms part of the extensive Canal du Midi, connects Narbonne and cities inland to the Mediterranean sea and provided a route for commerce in the town.  It is now classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site for these reasons.  You can take a stroll along the banks and through some tree-covered boulevards. Crossing the river on one of the many bridges will rewarded you with a great view of the medieval city.

  Even though I was disappointed by the museums being closed, my short trip to Narbonne gave me a feel for the city.  With the sunshine and the lively atmosphere of everyone enjoying a drink on the main square, it made for a nice break from the routine.  And it’s one more city I can tick off of my French bucket-list!

Locked in a lecture theatre – not the best way to be a tourist

Trains between Perpignan and Montpellier run frequently and take around 2 hours.  Sometimes you can find great bargains on the 1-euro train page, but this hasn’t been offering many results recently, so my Carte Jeune offered the best prices – 29 euro return.  I took the train at 10:20am and arrived into sunny Montpellier just after midday, ready to explore the capital of my region of France!

The Place de la Comedie is the traditional centre of the city.  It is only 5 minutes’ walk from the main train station and is where a few of the main boulevards converge.  There is always something happening in this square, be it musicians busking, trams to-ing and fro-ing, and even waiters crossing the tracks to serve tables in the square (you’ve never seen a more French sight than a waiter cursing a tram for stopping.)

Place de la Comedie – named after this opera house

I had found a self-guided walking tour which would take me around the major monuments and give me the basic information about each one.  Montpellier is a lot younger than most of the surrounding cities – it was first mentioned in the 10th century, but only started to grow in the 12th century.  A lot of the architecture came from the period after King Louis XIV who quelled the Huguenot rebellion brewing.

The first stop on the tour is the 17thC aqueduct at the back end of the city.  It in itself is a feat of engineering, as it carries water from a site over 14km away.  However, the main attraction at this location is the splendid jardin du Peyrou which contains the Peyrou water tower, a statue of the Sun King Louis XIV and has a tree-lined esplanade running through it.

17th Century Aqueduct

Jardin de Peyrou

Peyrou water tower

Solo day-tripper

After spending some time contemplating on reflections in the park – I tend to get stuck in my own head when I travel solo – I went back to the city centre and walked around the shops.  There are so many more in Montpellier than in Perpi, and the sales were still on – score!  There is one really good street with loads of shops all along it, from big names like Etam and H&M, to smaller boutiques.  I even managed to find a new top for all my hard work.

I wasn’t hungry enough, or tired enough to stop in one of the many cafés/bars of the city, and I’d covered most of the aforementioned tour.  I did stop at an open-air book market, but nothing caught my eye (at least nothing that was small enough to be transported home – there were really cool cardboard posters for sale).  So then I just walked, and walked and walked some more.  In fact, I ended up walking almost 7 miles around and through the town of Montpellier.  I walked out of the centre and through the suburbs for a while before turning back.  This would prove to be a good alternate route as I stumbled upon the botanic gardens (the oldest in France) and the University of Montpellier.

Botanic Gardens in Montpellier

Oldest in France

The University of Montpellier is one of the oldest in Europe and was founded in the 11th century.  The medical faculty is the oldest continually used school in the world.  It is located inside the former bishop’s palace and could give Hogwarts (or Glasgow Uni) a run for its money in terms of a smashing uni building!

The sun was starting to set, and that meant that it was time for me to go and catch the train back to Perpignan.  Montpellier is a lovely city, full of student-y shops and bars.  It has an air of Barcelona about it, whilst still very much feeling French.  It’s most definitely a city which deserves a visit, and now that the weather is improving there is no excuse not to grab a drink in one of the many outdoor squares.

Grand Devois 2011 French red wine

Although this is a beautiful representation of a Languedoc wine, I found some of the tasting notes rather different and pleasantly enjoyable!

This is a rich red colour in the glass, on the nose there are plums with ripe red cherries, then an herbaceous border earth note followed by wild floral rose hip tones.

On the palate the are black berries, blueberries and red currants followed by a subtle…