Montpellier Surprise!

On Saturday morning, I arrived at the train station 30 minutes before my train was scheduled to leave for Madrid. Except, there was no train to Madrid listed on the departures board. Upon asking around, I find out that this train isn’t running today because of strikes on the French railway system. An agent helps to reroute me, but I can’t make it to Malaga today after all- just to Madrid at midnight on a Saturday. This requires me to leave immediately for a town called Montpellier in France, I spend 7 hours there, then take a train to Barcelona, then to Madrid. What can I do? I get on the train to Montpellier, willing the train to move fast so I can get WiFi and figure out where I will sleep tonight.

I’m able to find WiFi in the Montpellier train station and book the second hotel I try in Madrid, not far from the train station. I find a random hotel concierge who is willing to store my backpack (for free) while I wander the streets of Montpellier, and I get an audio guide for a walking tour of the city. Goddamn, I am feeling resourceful.

Montpellier turns out to be lovely! The walking tour takes me all over the cute downtown, past lunchtime restaurants crammed with locals, and I have an excellent lunch with only a vague idea of what I ordered: two kinds of cheese, some kind of fish wrapped in a crepe-thin dough into a cigar shape and deep-fried, a fish spread that I wasn’t sure about at first but stuffed myself to finish, and a small salad. Also, two glasses of some local white wine. In the midst of this, I took only one picture: the ubiquitous Arc de Triomphe, built by Louis XIV to honor himself, of course.

Ok, two photos- also one of these cute wide and short water glasses I’ve seen at multiple restaurants now.

And now I’ve made it to my hotel in Madrid, leaving in the morning for Malaga. I hope this is the only big surprise of the trip!