MONTPELLIER.
Place de la Comedie.
Regional capital, Montpellier is a city of mixed and shared backgrounds, traditions and creative activities. It boasts a very old, internationally renowned Faculty of Medcine and high-technology centres with 10,000 researchers, artists and a very lively population that enjoys colourful markets, the new tramway, gardens and new quarters. To absorb the city completely, taking each in turn, go through the old, enclosed colourful centre of Montpellier, with its renaissance residences, reminiscent of Tuscany, the classic 18th Century Peyrou gardens and the Place de la Comedie., the neoclassic Antigone designed by the architect Ricardo Bofill. Then follow the banks of the river Lez towards the Hotel de Region and then turn onto Port Marianne, the urban, river port that brings the Mediterranean back to Montpellier - its companion since time immemorial. Montpellier has lived through one thousand years and gone through this time with redoubled enthusiasm, nourished by a joy of living and a thirst for knowledge. This is a large, bright city, alive with its 60,000 students, its crowded , colourful terraces full of activity in the sunshine, with a certain taste for culture, dancing, music, theatre, architecture, strolling around in the evening and animated discussions. 8th biggest city in France, Montpellier had around 240,000 inhabitants at the last population census.
Montpellier office of tourism............www.ot-montpellier.fr
The long term programme of renovation - including a sleek new tramway, Ricado Bofill`s postmodern Antigone quarter by the River Lez, and the Corum conference and concert complex - has helped to make Montpellier France`s fastest growing city. Located just a few miles inland from thesea, it has been transformed from a sleepyuniversity city into the powerhouse of Mediterranean France - and the new darling of the international party set. But its not all about technology and transformation: Montpellier is an ancient academic city with handsome historic buildings, abundant gardens and an impressively vast central square.City life centres on the vast, pedestrianised place de la Comedie, dominated by the Opera House which owes its ornate look to Charles Garnier of Paris Opéra fame. At the opposite end, the landscaped esplanade Charles de Gaulle , whre there is a market most mornings, leads to the modern concert hall and conference centre Corum. At the market you can try Perladon goat`s cheese, savoury olive and bacon fougasse breads, and oysters from Bouzigues. The city`s main shopping street is , rue de la Loge, runs from place de la Comedie. From place de la Comedie you can plunge into the old town, with its wealth of elegant private mansions and courtyards dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries
The Antigone.
Rue Foch leads west of the old town to the ornate 17th century Arc de Triomphe, from where the terraced promenade de Peyrou provides vies as far as the Med and the Cérvennes National Park. The walk leads eventually to an aqueduct modelled on the Pont du Gard outside Nimes, passing the Jardin des Plantes one of Europe`s oldest botanical gardens. Nearby, bulky St. Pierre cathederal, set in steep, picturesque streets, demonstrates a hotch potch of architectural styles. The Languedoc region is named after the Occitan word for yes, oc. The Occitan language of medieval troubadours was all but erased until its relatively recent resurgence in schools and universities. A fiery movement aims to reclaim the old language and students take to the streets to protest at France and Europe`s failure to grant Occitan the same status as Breton in Brittany. Occitan rap groups have a loyal following in local clubs. Tourist information.
Tramway network.
Two distinct tram lines run in Montpellier one east/west and the other north/south. The two lines cross and meet at various central points to enable interchange. The north/south line (tram car are distinct in their floral livery) runs between St. Jean de Vedas in the south to Jacou in the north. The east/west line (tram car in blue livery) runs between Odysseum in the east to Mosson in the west. There is a third line planned to run towards the Mediterranean. The tramway is very clean, quiet, efficient and enviromentally friendly. Prices are cheap and a family can park their car at one of the many tramway park and ride locations and travel all day for about 4 euros.