Montpellier

Montpellier is France's 5th largest city and a 3 star town per our Michelin Green Guide. And it was where we would return the car and take the train to Paris at an ungodly hour in 2 days, so it was time to check this place out! 

The drive from Pezenas to the rental return was 45 minutes (but we still had to figure out filling up the gas tank). We then made our way to the parking garage at the Place de la Comedie which is right in the city center, close to the Tourist Information. It was your typical weirdly lit, tight, convoluted garage. I am truly always amazed that husband is able to expertly navigate these crazy spaces!

The garage elevator (cuz who can find stairs in the dark!) let us out at the main square. Our first stop was the Tourist Information where the kind (but hygiene challenged) staffer gave us a map and extensive information about things to see and do in Montpellier. We would barely scratch the surface in our few hours. 

Our first stop, and 2* star reason to visit Montpellier, was Musee Fabre. I was founded in 1825 by the generosity of Montpellier neo-classicist painter, Francois-Xavier Fabre, and is housed at the beautiful Hotel de Massillan. It has Old Masters (1400-1800) and Modernity and Contemporary art (1800-present).

Reminds me of Vermeer

One of the stairwells had this painting called “Visitors at Le Louvre” which depicts patrons ignoring the masterpiece, “The Wedding at Cana,” housed near the forever popular “Mona Lisa.” 

Important Monsieur Joubert, Musee Fabre, Montpellier

After touring the Fabre museum, and finding out that the Decorative Arts collection, housed at the Hotel de Cabrieres-Sabatier d'Espeyran around the corner, was not open on Fridays (?!?), we were hungry. 

Decorative Arts Collection
Open only on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays :(

We wandered down Esplanade Charles de Gaulle and finally chose Le Kiosque a Malices for lunch. The food was actually quite good !

Omelette for me, fish and chips for husband

The greenery along Charles de Gaulle was just gorgeous. We'd love to recreate it at home.

Esplanade Charles de Gaulle ends at the pedestrianized Place de la Comedie, so there we started our wander about the town, following our guidebook and the free map.

We saw the Three Graces fountain which is an emblem of Montpellier.

The Place de la Comedie is one of the largest pedestrian zones in Europe. It was a beautiful day.

The walk was heavily focused on 17C and 18C private mansions. We could duck into a few to see their inner courtyards. 

She has blue hair, too! :) And this is an idea for all those doubloons...

The door fetishist was quite happy on this walk!

Place de la Canourgue has beautiful mansions, one of which is a cute looking boutique hotel, pretty gardens, and this cool Unicorn Fountain.

We could see the Cathedrale St.-Pierre in the distance. It's the only church in Montpellier that was not destroyed in the Wars of Religion.

We made our way through cute streets filled with pricey boutiques to Rue Foch

We took a right onto Rue Foch and saw the neoclassical courthouse (1853) on our way through the Arc de Triomphe (late 17C) to the Place Royale de Peyrou and the Saint-Clement Aqueduct.

Courthouse

Arc de Triomphe

The Place Royale de Peyrou is a vast square with plane trees for shade. Lots of people hanging out, relaxing, and enjoying the gorgeous day.

We made it up to the St.-Clement Aqueduct, built in 1754 by engineer Henri Pitot de Launay. He was inspired by the Pont du Gard (which we saw in 2018, http://herewegoagain-france2018.blogspot.com/2018/09/avignon-and-big-old-bridge.html). The aqueduct is 880m long and 22m high. It brought water from the springs in Saint-Clement to Montpellier.

It's all about Louis IV: Triumphant on his horse and triumphant on his Arc! 

We wandered to Ste-Anne church and saw the ruins of an early 17C building decorated in the "Antique Style." 

More doors, more shops, more cute streets in old Montpellier.

Finally back at Place de la Comedie, where we sat with drinks to watch the people parade.

After awhile, we decided it was time to head back to Pezenas. So said au revoir to Montpellier.

Easy drive, good free spot, and we were back in Pezenas. 

We didn't have reservations anywhere so decided to try Le Pied Dans le Plat. But they were fully booked and could only serve us "tapas." The cheese, bread, and sausage were delicious, as was the wine.

This door was my view as we ate :)

As we left, we noted a burger joint that husband wanted to try the next night. 

We took a little walk about town before heading in for the night. 

Pezenas Tourist Information had these cool displays of Moliere, celebrating 400 years in 2022; and Bobby LaPointe, celebrating 100 years in 2022.