After the workshop in September, I took a little time off and spent a couple of days walking around on the winding streets of Montpellier. It is a city situated 10 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast in a hilly, dry landscape. It was first mentioned in a document from 985 and came into prominence in the 12th century as a trading center, but now nearly a third of the population are students, thanks to the three universities and three higher education institutions situated in or around the city. And this is really obvious. As soon as I got off the bus from the airport, I was stunned by the number of young beautiful people on bikes. They were everywhere! And despite the old town with cathedrals and monuments and tiny squares and stone stone stone, the general atmosphere is really youthful. Lovely. A perfect place to wander around, admire the beautiful architecture, get lost, have a crêpe and some cider, and then find your way again.
The beautiful, overgrown fountain on Place de la Comédie.
The winding, narrow streets of the old town. The 14th century Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, in which someone was practicing on the enormous organ when I entered, making it seem even more magnificent. Saint Clément Aqueduct.
Place Royal de Peyrou, with the Château d’Eau at its end.
But Montpellier is not only old, it also manages to blend in a big portion of new. Mainly, the Antigone district, built in the 1980s with curved lines and large expanses down by the river Lez. Not as welcoming as the old town, maybe, but still impressive.
And the street art! Somehow, someone has managed to get the city to embrace its bicycling student identity and been allowed to put up bikes all over town, making it look like they are flying right through the walls.
My last day, my colleague Sarah invited me over to her house in an old, medieval village about 45 minutes outside of central Montpellier. It was a beautiful little village, old, quaint like you just wouldn’t believe. I can definitely understand the people who choose to leave their stressful city lives behind and buy a village house in southern France. The Sunday markets! The cheese!
We took a hike up on the closest mountain top, Sarah and I, with a view of the village and the other mountains and the sea at the horizon. The wind was strong, bringing with it that dry, fragrant smell of Mediterranean wild herbs. Such as beautiful way to end an intense, interesting, and utterly exhausting work&vacation week in Montpellier.
Katja Malmborg 