Montpellier Day 3 and onward

This was almost today's blip, but didn't quite make it. It's a shame, really, because Montpellier or its surroundings has already got its share of the spotlight, and today was the day we left there, continuing our drive along the south coast of France. The blip that never made it was taken in Agde, which we'd thought might be a likely stopping place on the way to Perpignan but quickly turned out not to be right for a stop-over. Its old town is definitely fascinating, and the string of riverboat restaurants moored along the river are probably terrific places to enjoy a meal in at evening time, but none of the restaurants were open when we were there around 5.00 pm, and it was all we could do to find somewhere to grab a cup of coffee, never mind something more substantial that we would have liked.

So we decided to move on ...

Getting back to today's actual blip, this is the Legion of Honour memorial which is in the park on the way to the Corum in Montpellier. We began the day with a bit of a shopping expedition, then had lunch in a nice restaurant in the Triangle Centre which last night's hotel is part of. It was while we were there that we spotted this daredevil window-cleaner. Rather than go straight back to pick up the car, we went for one final wander in wonderful Montpellier. The restaurant is at the bottom of a flight of steps, and I played with the came as we came back up these, aiming to get a foot-level view of some passers-by.

We'd spotted and been intrigued by the grand esplanade which runs off one end of the Comédie Square, but hadn't yet actually ventured along it. So we made up for it in the glorious sunshine. Even this short distance provided a wealth of blip opportunities, including these "beach huts" (which I presume are sales kiosks), this fine fountain which caught the sunlight rather nicely, and the splendid views over a totally new part of the city which opened up from the roof of the Corum.

It was difficult dragging ourselves away from Montpellier, but we really had to move on. There were one or two moments of going wrong along the way, mainly caused by over-shooting turns we should have taken, but we eventually ended up going in the right direction along the A9 motorway. After a short stop at a service area along the way and our diversion to Agde, we continued along the A9 to Narbonne, which we chose as our overnight stop-over point rather than the alternative which would have been Béziers. Our Rough Guide was quite positive about Narbonne, and its name struck a chord with me, perhaps because of its medieval history. The Guide recommended what sounded like a likely hotel, and we used the GPS app on Carl's new mobile phone to make our way there (remarkably successfully).

Hotel de Midi is where we're spending the night. The Rough Guide's description as 'favourably priced and providing all necessary mod cons' turned out to be quite accurate, and we headed out around 8.30 after a short siesta. Oh dear! We quickly began to feel that Narbonne was a bad choice. It took all our best efforts to find a restaurant which was open for business, and there was no sign at all of a bar or a café where we might have got ourselves a nightcap. We finally did stumble on a tiny bar close to the hotel where we had a pastis, but that was the best we managed.

Somehow I don't think we'll be spending much time in Narbonne tomorrow. We need to be in Perpignan in time to return our hire car by 5.00 pm, but it doesn't look as if we'll have any difficulty at all keeping to that timetable, even if we get away from the main route all the way, which we'd prefer to do. We'll see what tomorrow holds in store, and will hope for the best that Perpignan doesn't turn out to be as closed for business as Narbonne was tonight.