Travel Diary Pt. 2

A country break in Montpellier.

My French flatmate, Magali, is originally from Montpellier and kindly offered to put a group of us Brits up for a few days of sunshine, sea and... wine. We spend half the break at a the most amazing country house in Montaud by the vineyards and the latter half at a seaside house with a gorgeous pool (lucky us right?!).

View of the city from the Corum.

Chilling on the roof in the sun.

Beach, Palavas.

As much as I'm not one for beaches (sand, why?!) we had a great day lounging about here, a nice break from the city.

The family vineyards, Montaud.

The house in Montaud which is in the countryside of Montpellier was beautiful, we had a late night BBQ in the vineyards, drank the wine which they made there and met a donkey whose best friend was a sheep; living the dream.

Montpellier.

Beautiful balcony at Montaud.

Place Royale du Peyrou, Montpellier.

Whilst in Montpellier we also went to the FISE, which is the international festival of extreme sports; yes, not normally my thing but it was actually a really fun day out! I had a great time here with some top friends, and it helped we had our own personal tour guide. (Merci Mag!)

A short stay in Marseille.

The final trip I have taken this year was a last minute break to Marseille. I had one day in between arriving back from Montpellier to catching the 7am bus to Marseille. We booked a lovely little Airbnb in the area of Samatan which served us very well.

Port Vallon des Auffes.

Just a 5 minute walk from our apartment was this adorable little port, lined with colourful houses all packed in, surrounded by rocks and cliffs. We found a great spot by the sea front to have a drink and dodge the impending storm.

Mirrored roof at the Vieux Port, centre of Marseille.

 The Old Port is in the heart of the city, an eclectic mix of old and new, it's very evident that Marseille is one the oldest cities in France and is buzzing with culture.

MuCem.

Marseille was a spur of the moment trip but we actually had a great time, although the weather wasn't fantastic but thankfully we did manage to avoid the downpours! We also had time to nip into one of the many Savon de Marseille factories and pick up a little souvenir treat, perfect.

So I will be very surprised if any of you made it all the way through the full post! It turned out to be a lot longer than planned- I promise I'll try keep it short and sweet next time. On that note though, I really wanted to share with you some amazing parts of France and Europe I have discovered this year that I otherwise would not have visited if it had not been for my Erasmus year. It's certainly taught me to seize every opportunity and make the most of every moment; however cheesy that sounds, you don't really truly understand the terms until you stop putting things off, worrying about money and just well, making the most of it!