Day 6-9 - South of France

On the Saturday we were up early for our flight to Montpellier in the South of France. After quite an eventful trip we managed to make it into the centre of town in time to meet Mike and also our AirBnb host.

We spent the day walking the streets of Montpellier and eating baguettes and drinking red wine. It was a great day and a great welcoming to France but the hangover the next day was not ideal.

At midday on Sunday we got the train to Avignon which was the seat of the pope for around 70 years in the 1400s. After discovering our hostel had a pool and refreshing ourselves we spent the afternoon looking at all the sights in Avignon including the Popes palace. After another successful day we sat at our hostel with some nice beers and looked over the river and the city.

We were up early the next day to catch the bus to Pont du Gard. This was the highlight of my quick tour of the south of France. Being able to see the ancient roman aqueduct, still standing after 2000 years, and to walk through it and hear the history of it was amazing. We then swam in the crystal clear river with it towering above us which was truly breathtaking. It was soon time to say goodbye to Mike and for Rob and I to head to Arles, but it had been great to catch up even if only for a few days. Fair to say I wasn't going to forget our trip any time soon!

In Arles we managed to pack in a lot as well, looking through the catacombs, the ancient theatre as well as the amphitheatre in which gladiators had fought. Unfortunately we missed the mock gladiator fights by only a few hours but it was still amazing to see. We even got to look at some of Van Goghs early art pieces as he spent a period of his life in Arles, in fact we saw the hospital where he had his ear operation.

That afternoon I left Rob and headed to Lyon where I met Lucile and had a very quick tour of Lyon which was a beautiful city. However it was soon time to say goodbye to France as we got on the train to Freiburg in Germany!