Around Montpellier

Above are a few photos from around Montpellier. I spent Monday morning walking around, getting the sense of the place. By chance, I happened into the Hotel de Ville (the Town Hall,) and they had a really great scale model of the city and surrounding suburbs. I got a better sense of the layout of the city, and better yet, it showed where all the parks and interesting features were, including Les Arceaux, a huge Roman aqueduct that still cuts massively through the city, from just outside the western walls and towering over the lower part of the town.

I wound my way through the city, getting more lost than I would have guessed possible at first, until I found Les Arceaux. From the vantage at the top of the acqueduct, I could get a real sense of why Montpellier was constructed here; the surrounding area toward the sea becomes somewhat marshy and is a bit unstable. By building up on the higher hills (hence Mont,) the city had a firm foundation, and the fortifications were more easily defensible. From this view, I could see the mountains rising further inland, and view the sea about 6 miles distant.

The center square of the city is beautiful, and known as Place de la Comedie, after the large, beautiful Opera which dominates the western side of the plaza. The old city clusters around this area, with winding little streets with shops, restaurants, and residences. There is a new addition to the center of town, Le Antigone, which is vaguely nouveau Romanesque, built in the 1970 + 1980’s and still done on a giant but welcoming scale – this is a gathering place, shopping plaza, and offices on the lower, east side of downtown toward the river.

One thing that is really cool is that the entire city only used organic compost to fertilize all of their many grassy park-areas and boulevards. No scary chemical dependence, just trucks of rich smelling, good looking compost being raked into the grass and spread under the trees everywhere.

My hotel is even a bit further outside of the city to the east, alongside the river, which winds through a flood control zone with grassy parks on either side. It is flowing fast, no doubt collecting the heavy rains that have been coming down the past few days, and adding it to the drainage from the nearby mountains.

The city has bicycles available for rent for 2 euro per day. Apparently you leave a form of identification with them, and you get a little fob that activates the locks on bicycles which are parked at stations all over the city. You just get a bike, ride it wherever you are going, and then lock it up. Then you can grab a different bike and do the same. Repeat until tired. I think I am going to try to do that after the conference tomorrow!