On New Years Eve, we drove to Montpellier. Montpellier turned out to be the surprise of the trip, because it is a beautiful city with much to offer and we were not able to find out much about the city in our initial research. We walked through the Christmas market, which was located in La Place de la Comédie, a large square and apparantly one of the biggest in Europe. It is known as egg square because of its shape. We found the tourist information office nearby La Place de la Comédie, got a map of the area, as well as information about city tours. The only thing running was a 40 min minitrain tour, with the next tour leaving in 1 hour. So we took a quick lunch break and jumped on the tour which passed the following sites: Les Jardin des Plantes (Botanical Garden) La Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, L'Ecole de Médecine, and Le Musée d'Anatomie (the first medical school in the world) L'Hôtel des Trésoriers de la Bourse Musee Fabre - a fine art museum. Rue de la Loge - main shopping street Post office built in 1883 The Prefecture building La Place Royale du Peyrou - a large square in the highest point of Montpellier containing a statue of Louise XIV. It was built in the spot because Loiuse did not want any building to stand taller than his statue. Also contained in this square is the Arch de Triumph - copy of the one in Paris. Built in 1691 in honor of Louise XIV. Standing behind the statue of Louise the XIV is an aqueduct 'Les Arceaux' (236 arches still intact), which brought water to the elegant Château d'Eau, a water tower, designed by Giral, with arches, pillars and carved pediments. An interesting thing we noted was that some buildings at large interrestions were designed such that it looked like someone had taken a large bite out of the bottom corner. This design was apparantly to facilitate passage of coaches. Another interesting street was the Rue d la ancient Courrier. This is one of the oldest streets in Montpellier. Its long, narrow, and windy and is filled with shops and restaurants. After the tour, we visited a covered market (Pl et Halles Castellane) and stocked up on provisions for New Years Eve. We then explored a few more places in detail before heading back home for a nice New Years Eve meal. We tried to stay up to bring in the new year, but were once again unsuccessful.
While driving in these little towns, this type of openings in the corners come handy
Place de la Comédie
Oldest medical school
Replica of the Arch de Triumph
While driving in these little towns, this type of openings in the corners come handy
Place de la Comédie
Oldest medical school
Replica of the Arch de Triumph
Another view of the Place de la comedie
JP sucesfully listened to a guided tour for 42 mins, no interruption!