Excursions Outside Montpellier, France

Flamingos in a lagoon near Montpellier. 

Continuing my last post in which I wrote of studying French in Montpellier, I wanted to include some photos of that Languedoc Roussillon region which lies on the Mediterranean bordering Spain.  Winter turned this otherwise green area a tad bleak.  Nonetheless, I was happy to get out into the countryside as my French hostess drove me around on occasional Saturdays--a day I did not have classes.  Since we spoke only French, I offered questions after first figuring the vocabulary and construction ... but though my comprehension wasn't bad, I know there was a lot she explained about the region that I missed.

Palavas-les-Flots is a seaside resort just a few miles from Montpellier

Marina at Palavas-les-Flots

Walls surrounding the medieval city of Aigues-Mortes only 16 miles from Montpellier.  It was once considered to be a safe haven for Protestants.

Inside the Aigues-Mortes city walls.

The Aigues-Mortes town square.

A candy shop.

Carcassonne.  (See my July posting for more on this amazing place.)

Narbonne, once a port, now some 9 miles from the sea.

The Narbonne cathedral.  Established in the 1st century B.C., the town lay on the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul.

The cathedral's cloister.

The cathedral in the ancient town of Béziers.

A view of the wintry landscape from the Béziers cathedral.

The Pont du Diable on the Hérault River on the way to Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert.  The inhospitality of this landscape made it a good region for the Cathars to hide out from religious persecution.

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, noted as one of France's most beautiful villages.  It lay on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella.

The Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert abbey and what's left of its cloister.  The rest now resides in The Cloisters Museum in Manhattan.  Up behind, you can see one of the Cathar castles which were built in highly inaccessible places to avoid religious persecution in the 12th century.

The 12th century Abbaye de Valmagne.  The interior of its cathedral was later converted to a wine cave.

The seaside resort of Sète, known for its oysters, very near Montpellier.

After those six weeks in Montpellier, I decided against spending winters in France.  Besides the cold and a weak dollar, I did not feel as adventurous as of old.  As for studying French, I thoroughly enjoyed the language but despaired over learning gender.  With no basic rules as to whether something was masculine or feminine, each word had to be remembered separately along with its appropriate adjectives and prepositions.  Toward the end--my brain seemingly maxed out--I sometimes found that the simplest word, the simplest phrase would throw me completely. 

When I got home, I stuck my class notes in a box.  They're still there.  Regardless, this venture was a marvelous experience--one I'd long wanted to try.