We were actually visiting this southern metropolis for the 2nd time. In 2002, we'd driven through while on our way to Seté, Collioure/Port-Vendres, and Barcelona, staying at a freeway motel that could have been in the US except for the better food and wine. That time we had gone into the city center, hoping to find a restaurant and admission to the notable arboretum/botanical gardens. We had fair luck with dinner, but we were too late for the gardens, which we could see over the fence. And the odd cathedral was done for the day. However, we did get a view of the city from the catch basin into which the city's water was once delivered by an aqueduct whose fragments dot the cityscape below.
This time we were more intentional. We saw much more of Montpellier and I fell for the place. I doubt I'll ever have the chance to do it, but I'd like to spend a month or two getting to know it. It's an important city, and it's an attractive one—not least because of its location. We stayed overnight at the same motel, but we had time to walk in the city, take public transportation, find dinner, and start the next beautiful morning with petit dejeuner at a street cafe before getting serious about the gardens.
