My Compostelle 2 : the Via Tolosana: Day 13 - Leaving Lodève and heading back

It was a gray day when I left. Mme. Rouillon couldn't drive me to Montpellier like she had promised earlier as she had car problems. I took the bus, and then the tram, taking a slightly later bus than planned as it had fewer stops and arrived earlier. This was a good thing as I didn't have change in my purse for two trips. Returning to Montpellier also gave me more time to take additional photos, since I had seen very little of the town earlier. I had last visited Montpellier more than 30 years ago, and I recognized very little as it had mushroomed and developed so much. On the other hand, Lodève, like Moissac where I stayed along the Via Podiensis a couple of years ago, was a no-frills town, situated in a parched, somewhat hardscrabble setting. The unusually hot, prolonged, summer hadn't helped. I had described Moissac as "gritty" and something of the same quality was here in Lodève. And what had taken me days to walk here during the past week now took less than an hour returning to Montpellier by bus...

Lodève

waiting for the bus

I had just descended this very hill into Lodève the previous day

One of Montpellier's colorful trams

It was fun being back there again, however, and this time I had the luxury of time to explore. I took in the Cathédrale St. Pierre which I hadn't visited earlier, the Parc Royale du Peyrou; but Henri IV's Jardin des Plantes was closed Mondays. Par for the course. Around the nearby School of Medicine, students were returning to school and there were ritual antics associated with their return. Different rival groups in ridiculous costumes carried on a battle of sorts in a festive atmosphere, each group crying out lighthearted threats to the others. I strolled around, had a lovely salad at an Italian restaurant, and headed to the train station where I took advantage of the free wifi.