53. Montpellier

Our last night in France. We decided to spend it in Montpellier in order to catch the morning train to Barcelona t 7.30 am rather than 6-ish, which would have been necessary had we stayed in Avignon.

We booked a room at the Royal Hotel, whose main advantage was its proximity to the station; it was midway between the station and the main square, Place de la Comédie. There was nothing wrong with the hotel, just an efficient and standard chain hotel style room, probably a bit over-priced at €135 a night.

It was a Sunday night, and raining (the only rain we saw on our trip, until a short spell in England), so I can't say we saw Montpellier to its full advantage. It didn't feel unsafe, but there were several dodgy characters hanging around, and it took us ages to find somewhere to eat. One cafe we went into had no interest at all in serving; we left after being unattended for 20 minutes! We found the rather nice place pictured here.

Below: The Opéra-Comédie building from which the Place takes its name. From what we saw Montpellier boasts many handsome buildings.
Below: The train station with a colourful tram outside.
Below: The restaurant we ate at.
Below: Traffic stopper, Place de la Comedie