Bunnies and seasand

Blog is slowly starting to lag reality a little less. Recently, for the long weekend we made the bunny schlep to the seaside for Easter.

Many moons ago, when travelling to Paris for the first time, I remember another guy with his house on his back telling me that you have not been to France until you have been to the South. This kinda blew the wind out my novice traveller sails, as my plans limited me to Paris and the East, humph! Back in 1999, I think the reference was to the Riviera, now we had the more 'normal' Montpellier in sight. Nevertheless, after many an adventure, I was still excited to finally be heading south after having not seen 'France' for all these years.

Another first, I also set my personal land speed record, well without considering take-off and landing, and those buses in Peru. This time it was in the duplex TGV that gets up to 320 km/h, what a great public transport!

Our TGV (train à grande vitesse) in Gare de Lyon. Arrive 2 minutes before departure, and arrive in the city centre, all in it rivals flying on a short haul.
















Sun setting at 300 k's an hour...

Beach at Carnon, beautiful spring weather.














































Sour fig on the beach, could be Cape Town.

Montpellier is mostly beautiful with an old inner city surrounded by an architects wet dream; a modern pseudo Greek suburb, not my idea of pretty. The inner city has narrow tall alleys, walls decked out in a Montpellier cream, it all helps keep the streets cool in the heat of summer.

Spring showing its gorgeous colours in Place de la Comédie

Just up the road from Montpellier is one of France's most beautiful villages, and I'm not just making that up. An association established in 1982 (Les plus beaux villages de France™) has nominated 146 villages that are promoted and looked after to protect this heritage. One of the 146 goes by the name of St Guilhem le Desert. It also has historical significance in that it's along one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.

The perfect place for crêpes and cider, the place in St Guilhem le Desert.

Along the coast from Carnon is the old walled town of Aigues-Mortes (dead waters), which makes sense I guess given all the lagoons around. An intriguing spot with many a quaint street and scrumptious smelling crêperie. Worth the visit, an especially good spot to chill for lunch or a glass or two of wine, I imagine.

Something about beaches that just call for sunset photos, so forgive me, couldn't help myself.

I am sure the Easter bunny enjoyed using us as an excuse to hit the beach, must've been hell to stop the eggs melting...