Montpellier & Marseille April 2016

Montpellier & Marseille April 2016

For the second year running, Newport Gwent Dragons reached the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup and were drawn away to Montpellier in the South of France.

Steve Mullis, Thomas Tasker and I decided to make the journey to support them so after checking dates I set about booking the Ibis Centre Hotel for three nights from Friday April 22nd until Monday  25th.  We flew from Bristol to Montpellier on the way out but as there was no return flight available for Monday from there, we agreed to fly back from Marseille on the Monday evening.  This would also give us a chance to see a city that none of us had visited previously.

After that arduous journey to Gatwick we headed to the bar for a few drinks before boarding our flight.

The hotel was fine and the staff very friendly and accommodating, so we decided that we would eat breakfast there every morning.  Good value for money.

Montpellier is a fine city about 12 km from the sea.  It boasts the largest pedestrianized city centre in Europe complete with a new tram system.  It is teeming with shops and Restaurants and dining out of an evening was what you would like to expect in France and we were never disappointed, visiting four different restaurants including that old favorite ‘Entrecotes’

We lost the match on the Saturday evening to a star studded Montpellier side, including amongst a near all international line up, the Du Plessis brothers from South Africa. Despite this fact, the Dragons produced a sterling performance especially in the second half.

The ground was very modern and held about 15,000 people but their food and drink policy was a little unusual in that you had to Pay 1 Euro for a credit card upon which you could deposit any amount of money.  Thereafter, the only way you could purchase food and drink was by proffering this card for a diminishing balance after placing each order.  The worst part of this system was that if you had a balance on your card when you were ready to leave you would not be able to cash it in.

On the Sunday we took a tram to the final station on the route to the coast then walked a couple of Kilometers to get to the beach.  After a stroll around we had a relaxing pit stop in a port side café/restaurant before heading back to Montpellier.

The following morning we had an early breakfast and booked out of the hotel.  We caught the 9.00am train to Marseille and settled down for a relaxing journey.  On arrival in Marseille we headed for the ‘Old Port’ area and were not disappointed when we reached there.  It appeared to be steeped in history and there were many boats moored along the quays which in turn were surrounded by cafes, bars and restaurants.  We stopped in a restaurant suitably named ‘Le café du Port’ for a quick drink which soon turned into a few bottles of wine and a splendid lunch meal.  I would highly recommend this restaurant which had recently re-opened under the ownership of a young French man and his family.

After finishing our lunch we decided to take an open top bus tour to see as much as we could before heading to the airport.  I think it is fair to say we have all been on better bus tours than this one but it did give us the opportunity to see areas of Marseille that we would otherwise have missed.

On completion of the tour we returned to ‘Le café du Port’ for a final bottle of red between us before heading to Marseille airport for the long trip home.  Oh how I dislike the car journey from Gatwick to Newport at the end of a holiday, be it a short one or a long one, but you can’t make an omelet as they say.

Here’s to next season and hopefully we can go one step further and reach the final.