Unpredicted dark clouds covered the sky this morning.
Nevertheless I started at 09:15 without suncream.
On the way I did another sightseeing tour through Arles. It was very quiet most of the inhabitants seemed to enjoy Sunday morning in bed or with a comfortable breakfast.
Most of these little villages have a morbid aura. Very many buildings are rundown. The same at Marseille. Also Montpellier the city I’m in now. But only partially. The main places and boulevards are perfectly refurbished and look fantastic.
Montpellier is an industrial city with 250.000 inhabitants. Thereof 25 % students. Only Aix-en-Provence has the same part of students. Three universities are at Montpellier.
Main industry branches are medicine technology, metal processing, print, textile, agro, chemicals and wine production.
Hence this city is sucessful and rich so it is able to maintain infrastructure.
And, very important, Montpellier is on the LGV (Ligne de la Grand Vitesse) so it is connected to Paris in 3:19 hours.
Fortunately today the wind supported me so I made many more kilometers than yesterday and in an easy manner.
Moreover I came soon back to the bike path EV 8 and although it was most of the distance only a road there was less traffic. I pedaled relaxed and enjoyed the nice Camargue landscape with horses and cattle / bulls and different fragrances.
Often the bike path was along a channel and straightforward. Sometimes with a lagoon at one and the channel at the other side.
The Camargue is a plane bottomland in the Rhone delta with lots of lagoons some of them huge.
The Rhone was regulated over the years. As a consequence there are no floodings. And hence the soil is threatened by salinization.
I was ambivalent to make the detour to Montpellier. So I cycled. There was a pretty good and comfortable bike path to the city and so the decision was made 😉
I could find a hotel next to downtown and went to the city for dinner and sightseeing and to stroll through the places and boulevards.
On the way to the Indian restaurant I saw a Häagen-Dazs icecream store and came back to it after dinner to enjoy a desert. Directly next to it lies Amorino a French icecream store. Once upon a time Amorino was at Innsbruck too and I remembered the delicious but expensive icecream they offered.
I took the second largest cup for 7,70 with 3 sorts: chocolate, vanilla, pistachio. It was absolutely delicious and worth it.
I sat down at the Place de la Comedie the main place enjoyed the icecream and the colorful activities there.
And colorful in its best sense. White persons, black ones, brown ones, red hair and blonde and brunette, fine dressed, chilled dress, jogger. Jung man driving there bikes on the rear wheel through the crowd, parents with buggies, beloved couples, younger once and older, groups of young people mixed black and white and between all of them the busy bike messengers with their cubical back bags. On one of them I red „uber eats“. I never saw so many bike messengers. One of them I saw to pick up icecream at Amorino.
Now I looked up „uber eats“. Well, I found it and an app is available too.
Also I saw two groups of four soldiers in full combat equipment with MPs in their hands and bullet proof vests.
