One of the joys of being in the old parts of an old city in France is contending with the narrow streets heading off at all sorts of angles, the roundabouts with many exits, and the traffic while trying to get somewhere. Montpellier is a particular challenge as the official who provided the information to the GPS companies must have been drunk the day he or she did it. The GPS regularly wants you to go the wrong way on tiny one way streets or other impossibilities. We had been warned about this from our hotel and our friend Abra but somehow we managed to get both in and out. We had visions of being "stuck forever in the streets of Montpellier, we're the people who never returned". An adaption of a 60's song.
In any event we headed first off to Arles, a lovely town with a number of old Roman structures. First up is the Théâtre antique. It was built in the 1st century BC and could hold 10,000 spectators.
From there went over to L'Amphithéâtre (les arènes) which was built around 90 AD and could hold 21000 spectators.
There is some more up to date seating inside as it is used these days for bullfights.
We'll miss the next bullfight spectacle.
A terrific view of the Abbaye de Montmajor in the distance from the Remparts.
We left Arles and headed for the seaside town of Saints-Maries-de-la-Mer. I got ready for my swim in the Gulf de Lion.
And a view of the town and the church. The buildings were all white and lots of tourists.
We then drove along the coast to Sète, a fishing town south west of Montpellier. A lot busier than I expected but it does get visited by some cruise lines. Here is a shot of the harbour.
There was also a parade with marching bands that we got the tail end of it. Apparently a beer festival with Germany. Sadly no beer for this boy as I was driving.
Eventually we returned to the hotel and as promised enjoyed a glassor two of wine on our patio.
Tomorrow we go to a town called Uzès . Our friend Abra has arranged for her friends to show us around. Should be fun.
A warning to all my faithful readers. I'm having difficulty finding a wifi that works and so may not be able to post again until we are in Barcelona on Monday. I'll still do my daily updates but there may be 3 of them at once.
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