Crete

In September, my mum and I went to Crete for a week because we hadn't spent that much time together due to me being on my year abroad in Spain and then in France. We stayed in a hotel that was right next to the beach, in quite a remote little town but it was so lovely to be be abroad and not have to worry about going to work or to classes. We spent the entire week either led by the pool or on the beach and it was just fantastic to have a real relax.

It was so nice spending time with my mum and the views were beautiful, especially when the sunset over the mountains and the food was great too, I had the most amazing strawberry slush and waffle that I've ever tasted and all the staff and locals were lovely.

 

 



 
 
 
 

Arles, Les Baux-de-Provence & Carcassonne

This blogpost is very late as I've been home from France for just over 2 months now but I realised that I never wrote my post of the 2 day trips I went on in the last week of my time in Montpelier.

The first day trip I went on was to Arles and Baux de Provence. We set off from Montpelier in the morning and once we arrived in Arles we went on a tour of the city. We first went to the Arles Roman Amphitheatre which was built in 90AD and was used to provide entertainment in the form of chariot races and hand to hand battles but it now mainly only used during festivals.

We then went and saw the crypts where the Romans stored food and used them as escape routes if the city was attacked. Next we visited l'espace Van Gogh, which is the area that Van Gogh visited and we saw the real life places that have featured in some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings including 'Cafe Nuit' and 'Garden of the Hospital in Arles.' The tour guide gave us a lot of information on Van Gogh including the fact that the people of Arles made a petition to remove Van Gogh from the city because they didn't like him.

 


After visiting a food market where we bought some lunch, we went to see a Roman theatre and then got back on the coach and went to another place called Les Baux-de-Provence.




Les Baux-de-Provence is a commune which is located in the Alpilles mountains and therefore has some fantastic views of the surrounding French countryside.

The following day, we went on a day trip to Carcassonne to visit the medieval fortified city. The fortified city consists of two outer walls with 53 towers to prevent an attack from the surrounding city, as it was occupied by the rich. It was very interesting to find out the history of the city and visiting a place that looks like it has come straight out of a film was amazing.