Southern of France part 3: Montpellier, my home

Never was, always is beautiful: Montpellier. I have never imagined in my life to live in this city. Fate always works in a mysterious way and changed my unappealing point of view towards this city into a beautiful and sunny memory of a home. I was so nervous when I checked in to my dorm which was at Boutonnet, one of many dorms arranged by CROUS organization. The weather was striking hot in August 2018 yet highlight the beauty of Boutonnet immense garden where you could just lay down on the grass watching its fountain. My room was located in the 2ndfloor (0,1,2,3, etc.) and was kind of the furnished and gave a sensation of a new building. The amazing part is the CROUS restaurant where you can have complete meal (appetizer, main course, dessert) for 3.25 euros. I really love their brownies and pain au chocolat. Definitely a perfect shelter when you have no time to cook. Here is the dense park behind my dorm:

Here in this post I would like to highlight the things I cherished the most about Montpellier. 

6. Place de La Comedie 

In the center of this place is the Three Graces fountain squared by the opera, Gaumont cinema and a busy tram line. Almost all the cities in Europe has a city square which is a big squared area surrounded by important landmarks and a statue/fountain at the center of it. Turns out it was being called as Comedie after the burning of a theatre. Just around 5-8 minutes walk of it to the south is already the train station Gare de Montpellier Saint Roch.

This is an unusual photo of rainy day in Place de La Comedie, normally you will see the super sunny photo.

Every little street connected to Place de La Comedie is a nice avenue that you can stroll along to go shopping in its little boutiques or mostly cycle (I love this with the condition of having a flat way). This place is really the beating heart of Montpellier. 

Usually they have live performances near the Three Graces fountain either it is a dance or music performances. Not far from this place is also a shopping center Polygone where you could have normal shops or also Galeries Lafayette.The beautiful cherry on top of this place is the caroussel. I really love this part! 

Near the tourist information center at its north, you could walk until the park where they usually have live orchestra performances. Just opposite to it is Musée Fabre with a lot of seasonal painting exhibitions. 

The Christmas market are so great and they put a lot of creative installment in this square. It is definitely well decorated in every season of the year. If you decide to watch a movie at Gaumont, it is also lovely to walk along at night. However, unlike Prague, the shops closed earlier at weekdays (18-20 pm) and on Sunday most of the restaurants just opened until 2 pm or dinner only. Make sure you have your fruit smoothies or sorbet and stroll around Place de La Comedie!  

Here is the photo during the Light exhibition in the whole city in Musee Fabre:

and during the christmas installation:

5. Place du Peyrou 

Just 10 minutes walking from Three Graces fountain, we will be surprised by Arc de Triomphe (Porte du Peyrou) leading to Promenade du Peyrou. Porte du Peyrou itself depicts four important elements of Louis XIV reign: the capture of Namur from Dutch, Victory of Louis XIV in the form of Hercules, Canal du Midi digging and Ediction of Nantes.  At its gate we have the Louis XIV on horseback statue and finally the Château d’eau with the panoramic view of the city. I am in love by the park surrounding this place where a lot of people just laid down and read or having a team building activities or even just casual picnic. The Château d’eau is for sure the main gravity of this place with just a blue sky as its background. Take a moment to explore the park at the downside of the Chateau and you could have beautiful perspective of the bridge (now it is closed) and the park. Just next to it is also the Jardin des Plants de Montpellier and the old part of Universite de Montpellier Medical School. They have open tour to the old library but unfortunately during my stay it was closed. So, make sure you book the guided tour of Montpellier Medical School. If you are a great fans of parks, Place du Peyrou would definitely be one of the best on your list. 

4. Opera national de Montpellier and Maison de Chœurs

I was lucky that there was a day called “Journee de Patrimoine” where all the important landmarks of Montpellier are opened for public for free. There was this choir concert inside the opera so I went there to see. Lucky us, thanks to this concert we didn’t need to queue for hours like people who came after the concert. I remember it was a lovely one and I was overwhelmed by having my 1sttime seeing a concert inside the real opera. In Garnier Paris, I only explored it without having a chance to watch a real performance. The interior was just the like the mini version of Opera Garnier Paris but this one is with Italian influence at its exterior. They have interesting maket of the opera that they exhibited that day. 

So make sure you booked a ticket at least once a month here!

Maison de Chœurs, in contrary is at the end of Promenade de Peyrou serves as also concert venues in Montpellier. It is the former chapelle St. Charles. I watched a concert here in the middle of the final project deadline and found the building very interesting with a modern stage and acoustic shield inside a very very old chapel. The choir and the song lists were also lovely at that time. 

3. Louis Blanc 

If you like to spend your time in a homy cafés and tried desserts, this place is always a go to. I always love to cycle here and just stroll along the area behind the Montpellier Dance school. My favorite place is Gabriel Createur de Gourmandises. which is a tiny café selling interesting desserts. Until this point I am still sure that no place beats French patisseries. 

Just following the way of Louis blanc avenue gate, there is a lovely café in the corner of the street called Les Beatnik Modernes selling delicious brownies and carrot cakes with interesting selections of hot tea. A must-go to in rainy days. Louis Blanc really offers you tons of cute little café and restaurants with mostly a good taste. 

Find also the hidden Cathedrale St. Pierre in the direction of Place St. Albert 1er tram stop to have a feeling of going to the past. I did not enter the cathedral because I was not sure if we could go inside. 

2. Plage Palavas-les-Flots

The most wanted place of Montpellier is actually its beach. I could not say this is a wow beach because I came from an archipelagic country but It was not that bad either. Maybe the access is a bit confusing if you are a new comer. But, if you have a car and able to drive it would be a lovely trip to Plage Palavas-les-Flots. We joined a trip arranged by Erasmus so it was kind of messy and running with the time. They set the meeting at Garcia Lorca tram stop then take the bus to Luna Park bus stop that cost 2 euros for return ticket. I remembered that they have different stops of the beach so just choose the one that you want to visit. I think the most interesting part is not the beach itself but the place around it. Unfortunately, I did not really explore this place but just walk through it heading to the beach and come back. They have interesting restaurants and a beautiful canals. The sand was kind of white but do not expect blue water. It is a nice place to play volley ball and swim. I was not planning to swim but my friends dragged me into the water. 

After hours of swimming and playing volleyball, I was so thirsty so I bought 2.5 euro yellow melon smoothies and a lady was super friendly to us. She even tells where the seafood resto is. Just in front of the smoothies place there was a boat competition in the canal. The game is there were 2 boats coming from opposite direction with one man standing to be protected. The rest of the team needs to protect and also heat the standing man of their counterparts. It was fun to watch and there were lots of locals and tourists sitting there. It was lovely and fun. I finally tried my first Paella which is actually Spanish in the seafood restaurant recommended earlier by the nice lady. I shared it with Deema and it was not that yummy maybe because it was to fishy, I mean it consisted of sea creatures but it should not be that smelly. So, please explore the side part of the beach and maybe spend a night here. 

1. A little touch of modernity  

Moving to the modern part of this city is the stops after Gare St. Roch. 

My favorite part is to take off at Place de l’Europe and just walk to the Place de l’Europe with interesting half-curved building and a statue of an angel without head facing the river Lez.

Have a dinner at L’Arlequin and walk along the river bank. This place is really beautiful, I swear. From Rive du Lez take your tram to Odysseum to have a nice shopping time. If you want a different cinema atmosphere than the one in Gaumont, Comedie, just take off at one stop before Odysseum (Place de France) and enjoy the interesting restaurants around. 

Enjoy your 3.25 meal and the view of my campus!

Photo gallery