#30 Extravagant Buildings from Roman Times to the Modern Era

November 29, 2021: Montpellier

F. After waking up with ice on the windows this morning and a forecast of 0 degrees again for tonight, we wanted to stay overnight at a campsite in Montpellier so that we could operate our heater for more than 4 hours. So we drove to the - according to Google - only campsite that was still open. The receptionist explained to us in very good English that they were full because many pitches were unusable due to too much moisture. He also didn't know of any nearby place that was still open. I was just about to leave very disappointed when his colleague came into the reception and said that the campsite north of Montpellier will only close for the winter in two days. The receptionist then called the other campsite on the spot and clarified if they still had space for us. Yes, everything was fine. So 20 km later we were on an almost empty campsite and it was 23 degrees in our van thanks to the heater.

The next morning we enjoyed the benefits of the campsite for a while and then set off to visit the city of Montpellier. We parked our car under the huge aqueduct from Roman times and walked from there through the triumphal arch into the city center.

The architecture of the buildings reminded me a bit of Paris, with all the small balconies and the many decorations on the facades. The city center of Montpellier consists of endless streets and smaller roads, where the ground floor houses various shops. Everything from expensive boutiques to small chocolate factories to cheap junk shops could be found.

We walked through a huge shopping center to the famous district of Antigone. This was built from 1978 to 2000 on a former military barracks site. The architect tried to combine the aesthetics of antiquity and modernity, which makes everything look very grand and pompous. Since the monumental buildings on the 400,000 square meter site are just so incredibly large, it was difficult to take some good photos. Here nevertheless our attempt...

On the way back to the car, we saw Santa, his elves, and the Christmas versions of Mini and Mickey Mouse at the entrance to the Christmas market. In this sense, a nice commercial pre-Christmas season to all of you...

Day 44 - Total Tour 3,651 km

---- Subscribe ----

If you want to subscribe to our blog, you can either sign up at Vakantio and click on subscribe or send us a message and we will put you on our own mailing list. Of course, we are also happy to receive feedback!

Email: querfeld2@gmail.com