Montpellier, Day 1

After the disappointment of Marseille (only partially softened by the discovery of the impressive part of the city around the St-Charles railway station), we moved on to Montpellier hoping for the best, but not with our hopes set too high.

As it happened, we fell instantly in love with Montpellier. The train journey had only taken an hour and a half, and was fine, even though the food & drink trolly didn't come round until too late to be taken advantage of. First impression of Montpelier was okay, as we sat in the sun enjoying a bite of lunch outside the railway station. We were immediately struck by an easier-going pace than Marseille and a more civilised and friendlier impressive from the people.

We'd booked a hire car in advance and were due to pick it p at 5.00 pm. We were early for that, but decided after checking in to our hotel (much more basic than the posh place we'd stayed in in Marseille) that we'd set out to find the Hertz office so we'd know where it was when the tim came That proved to be much easier said than done, as we traipsed the streets all around the station looking for any sign of the place. It was Carl who had the brainwave and wondered if we should actually look inside the railway station. Sure enough, that's where we found a sign for car rental and settled down nearby to wait for our allotted time.

Our night-time experience of Montpellier reinforced our first impressions, especially when we found Comédie Square, the main hub of town life. What a place! The buzz was electric, the comings and goings were non-stop, the place was packed, trams were criss-crossing the square, the centre was filled with colourful market stalls (the blip is just one of many, and is thanks to Carl, who borrowed my camera when the batteries in his own ran out). Sheer heaven!

Off we went through the narrow streets of the old town for what turned into the best night of the entire holiday so far. Loads of bars and restaurants everywhere, all abuzz with activity, a terrific atmosphere everywhere: what more could anyone ask for! To top evereyhting off, the meal we had in a little place we just happened to come across and fancied the look of turned out to be terrific, the best food so far in France. A night so good that we decided to change the tentative plan we'd made at home for our 3-day drive along the south of France. We're going to clip our wings, stay close to Montpellier tomorrow and come back to spend another night here before moving on.