Marseille St. Charles station is located on a hillock and looking backwards from the entrance, one can enjoy a splendid, unspoiled view of the city (see picture) and its famous church – Notre Dame de la Garde. This is all that we did in Marseille, for it was just a short stopover.
An unexpected stop...
The next train landed us in Montpellier, a charming town further South-West where we had three hours before we could board the next train. As we got into the town looking for something to munch upon, three interesting things caught my eye, making sure that I do not forget this little 3-hour jaunt. First, it was the unusually designed trams whose sizzling colors and voluptuous form seemed to perfectly complement the Mediterranean disposition of the town (pictur
e). And then there was this superb little bakery on a narrow by-lane of the main street which connected the station with the city center. I have forgotten the name, but it had such a rich and unique collection of pies and snacks (of a degree I haven’t even seen in Paris) that we came here thrice within the span of those three hours and couldn’t help flouting the economy-norm of backpacking! As if to add to the variety, each time when we went inside, we found a different girl at the counter, and each one of them was drop dead gorgeous! Frequent flyer incentive, eh?
The third remarkable thing was a big building
under repair, which was covered completely in a huge painting matching all the colors and contours of the original building, so as to give the illusion that the structure stood there intact, untouched as before (see picture). I have seen similar artifices before, but this one was way too intricate! So, nearly besotted by Montpellier, we hopped on to the caterpillar-shaped TER and arrived in Agde.
Cervantes said once - When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome…
Cap d’Agde is a fantastic beach, one of the best in Europe, about 15 km from Agde and we had to take a taxi to reach there. Now all I can say here is that we spent the better part of the afternoon sunbathing and exploring the beach and the people around. The curious reader is once again advised to Google “Cap d’Agde”. :D The non-curious type may just get into their birthday-suits and keep on reading. :P
More than pleased with Cap d’Agde, we returned to Montpellier in the evening and Jatin left for Lyon. I still had 20 minutes before the arrival of my Paris-bound train and was feeling hungry. So, I once again ran to the good-old bakery, for the fourth time, and grabbed some new stuff to gorge upon. Alas, this time there were no new femmes at the counter, but already bamboozled by the Agde experience, this was a sacrilege I could easily tolerate!
Time for a TGV ride again! The speedy lass cruised past the rolling fields and rivulets and took just four hours to lift me from Montpellier and drop me right in the middle of Paris at Gare-de-Lyon. An erratic and troublesome kid sitting beside me in the train kept screaming throughout the way and made sure that neither I nor anybody else in the carriage was able to sleep. So kind-of pissed, I took the metro and then caught the suburban train to take me to my home just outside the city. Since it was to be a 45 minute journey and I was acutely sleep-deprived,
I dozed off… and? next post...
2 comments:
The kid must have been really irritating since you still remember me,....
Do me a favour and mail me some more pics of cape d'agde(just curious ;))
Ain, ye irritating kid ka tujhe yaad karne se kya relation hai?? N of course, one isn't allowed to click pictures in Agde. At the very entrance, there are lockers where you are supposed to leave cameras and stuff. So koi pics nai li. Sorry!!
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