Italian Odyssey - 5.

We left Paris from Gare de Lyon on a TGV very fast train, and flew across the French countryside, south through Provence and into Montpellier. It was an endless vista of quaint villages each with its church spire, rolling hills and vineyards. Unlike Australia where our vineyards are regionalised, France has them everywhere! You can't travel very far without seeing vineyards! The trip took 3 plus hours and was smooth and effortless. A wonderful way to travel.

Our stay in Montpellier has been one of contrasts. Montpellier itself is a lovely old city, that has grown into a large modern city with the old town as its centre. The Comedie, is a huge central square full of outdoor cafes and bars, with modern trams running through it. From the square, radiate dozens of streets & laneways, leading to hundreds of shops and smaller shady squares, again full of cafes & bars. It is an absolute delight to walk around, though the amount of graffiti, is unbelievable. In Paris it was bad in parts, but here it is horrendous, with even monuments and buildings centuries old, defiled. It is the only blemish. 

The old city is old, dating back past the 12th century, and today houses one of the world's oldest Schools of Medicine dating back to the 13th century. Being a university city, it is full of young students, presumably studying medicine, and hopefully a cure for the lung cancer they will surely  contract! It doesn't matter where you sit outside, the smell of tobacco is ever present! Our hotel is right on the edge of the old city, which is closed to traffic other than residents and service vehicles. We chose it because it has parking, because now we have our first hire care, a Fiat 500, which we picked up at Montpellier Station on arrival. Brother Neil, had loaded our Navman with our Europe maps, and we were so pleased when that familiar voice told us "in 250 metres turn right Rue St. Augustine!" Driving on the wrong side in these narrow streets has its challenges, but apart from when I "turned", when I should have "veered", and we did a quick lap of an underground car park, we made it to our hotel! The hotel staff were fantastic, as with almost no English, we tried to arrange to do our laundry. When we booked, the hotel quoted "self Laundry", but apparently a recent refurbishment, took out that service! As it turned out, the two house maids said they would do our laundry in the hotel laundry at no charge! What angels they were! We gave them choccies and a boomerang key ring each! They were so excited! Our first night was spent in La Comedie, where we ate Pizza & Wine watching the passing parade. We were fascinated that at the open air cafes, waiters had to run back to their shop to get the food and run it out to the tables! Our waiters had to run the gauntlet of the tram tracks, purveying a constant flow of food & wine!

Thursday was a Bank holiday, and like in Australia, most people take the Friday for an extra long weekend, so it was pretty busy everywhere. We opted to test the satnav, and head inland to the Unesco town of St.Guilem Le Desert. We drove through countless vineyards, and up through the Herault Gorge, which was spectacular. There were people picnicking all along the river, and swimming at the big waterholes. We found our village, winding along a small stream, up into the hills. No cars in the village, so we found our way to the "paid parking", and wandered down into town. It was quaint, with its winding alleys and lanes hiding small shops and cafes. It is very touristy, but just beautiful. The square in the centre of the village was shaded by a huge plain tree, over 250 years old. But I guess in a village that dates back to the 7th century, it's a recent addition! The huge church must have some stories to tell, built in the 11th century! It is almost beyond our comprehension to imagine things this old!

From here we headed back down to the seaside, firstly stopping at Meze, which was nice, but windy. We walked around the small Marina surrounded by cafes. In this area they farm mussels, and seafood generally, so the menus offered mussels every way, plus cockles, oysters and fish. We drove a little further to the larger port city of Sete, with its huge deep canals, offering safe harbour to some seriously big Trawlers. It is an unbelievable sight, seeing these huge boats tied up in the narrow canals, right in the middle of town. I haven't lost my touch, and found a parking spot right on the main canal, and the decision was made that Happy Hour and dinner, would be taken in Sete. It was just amazing. Carol spied a table being vacated on a terrace overlooking the canal, and in seconds we were seated with drinks in hand, watching the never ending parade of people, cars and boats. We moved down along the waterfront to find our dinner spot, where we dined on Mussels & Frites (of Course), this time with a Roquefort sauce, which was delicious, and seafood soup with lots of crusty bread. Another memorable day ended, as we slowly wended our way home.

Friday dawned much colder with an odd shower. We spent the day wandering the streets of Montpellier, where markets were in full swing. It was a lovely day, as we found our way in the narrow laneways checking out the incredible history of the old town. Some of the old buildings, including the School of Medicine, and the old viaduct that used to bring the city its water, were most impressive. After a day dodging the showers, the fresh food market proved too much for us, so we loaded up with unbelievable ham, pates, terrines, plus fresh fruit and salad, and of course baguette, to make our own feast! We still had our wines, courtesy of Monsieur Safrin in Paris, so the package was complete! A night in. It was as good as it looked. The hams, the Brie, and pate/terrines, in France are to die for! And the strawberries & apricots are so sweet and so cheap!

Saturday was our big day. We decided to do a day trip to the French Riviera. The girls at the hotel thought we were mad. We were on the road at 7.30am, and took the tollway. We managed to handle the toll booths, though some took our cards, and some didn't! Could not figure out that system! After 3 hours we made it into Nice, and from then it was onto the local roads to Monaco and beyond to Menton. What sights and scenery we saw. The coastline is just unbelievable, with houses, villas, castles etc. stretching from the top of the mountains down to the sea. Monaco was bedlam! The Grand Prix is next week and the circuit is set up. We drove around the entire circuit, albeit slower than next week! There we were in our Fiat 500 alongside an endless stream of Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Bentley and all the top shelf Mercs & BMW's. What a hoot! Somehow, we made it out to the Cruise Ship Terminal, which with no ships in, was very quiet. The girl in the gift shop almost had a heart attack when we walked in, but we parked and had a good look at some of the mega yachts. It really is a whole new world of money! We found a quiet spot high above Monaco, and had our picnic lunch of leftovers, looking down on the this land of the rich & famous. We wandered back along the coast stopping where we could to marvel at the beautiful scenery, the cruise ships, the beaches, the people. We headed up to La Turbie, along that famous road, around the famous switchbacks & bends, that took Grace Kelly. It was a never ending fairy tale. We arrived in Cannes which was going crazy with the Film Festival in full swing. We drove down the Pomenade, past all the hotels and thousands of star gazers. Never seen so much glamour, so many limos and so many dinner suits! Sadly no Hollywood stars. We finished off the trip by stopping in at St.Tropez, which after what we had seen was a little underwhelming. Nowhere near the coastal scenery. We think it is a place you need to stay and get to know. It was very busy. We hi tailed it back to Montpellier, arriving home at midnight, exhausted but having had the best day.

Sunday we just felt like being lazy, so headed up into a very quiet old town, and found a lovely little outdoor cafe in one of the small squares in the back streets. We sat under the huge plain trees and enjoyed Sunday Brunch. A Canadian couple sat next to us and we chatted for a couple of hours. Brunch became lunch, and out came the wine, it was a relaxing and fun time with fellow travellers. They convinced us we should take the drive out to Aigues Mortes, the walled city about 45 minutes away, and we were so glad they did. We bid farewell, and jumped in the car and off we went. It is in the Camargue Region, famous for wild white horses, wild black bulls and flamingos! Yes, flamingos. We were amazed, but this marshy salt flat area is home to thousands of them. The old fortified city is just beautiful. It is one of, if not the only, fully walled cities left in France. One square mile, all behind the impressive & huge stone walls. We parked near the front gate, and in we went. We paid up for the parapet walk, and climbed up the stairs and walked all the way around, looking down into the town on one side and out across the salt flats and shallow lakes on the outside. The salt mines are quite a step up from WA's Onslow. Maybe they should get themselves a walled city!!! On the parapet, it is so hard to grasp that centuries ago, archers were raining down arrows on the invading armies through those narrow slits in the wall. Many knights left for the Crusades from Aigues Mortes, and that was the 13th Century! After the parapet, we wandered through the cities narrow streets stopping and looking in the hundreds of small shops selling everything from local crafts to wonderful ice cream! We settled in the main square for a drink and decided to stay for dinner. Most of the shops had shut, but the cafe scene was coming to life. We ate our delicious seafood entrees, and veal and local bull, serenaded by guitarists and accordian players who were busking in the square. A lovely evening finished off with one of those delicious ice creams as we strolled back to the car.

In the morning we packed our bags, returned the car, and boarded our train for Italy. We already seem to have been away for so long and seen so much, and yet we haven't even made it to Italy! The French trains are fantastic. We had a couple of changes, the first at Avignon, where we met a hiccup due to a passenger falling ill on a train. TheTGV staff were in a right tizz, and we were shuffled off to another platform, where to avoid delay they linked our train to the Marseille train and sent us on our way! At Marseille, they unhooked the other train and off we went to Cannes. There we had a 3 hour wait for the Italian train to take us to Genoa. That was good as it gave me time to start this blog!  The train trip was fantastic, as it followed the coastline, sometimes right beside the Mediterranean, all back past the French Riviera. We managed to get seats on the water side and just wowed at the scenery all the way to Genoa, where we arrived at 9.15pm. We found a taxi, showed him the Hotel, and with a big grin, he pointed down the street about 250 metres, where we saw our hotel sign! We thanked him for his honesty, and were soon checking in. The only surprise was no lift!!! But thankfully we were on the first floor. We threw our bags in the room, and headed to the lovely bar next door for a celebratory drink. After 30 years of talking about it, we are finally in Italy. Ciao bella!!