France, in the opinions of M and myself, was shit..to put it nicely. Everyone we met were complete oddballs, rude, unfriendly, unhygienic, sad, horrible, scummy people. We spent a total of 46 hours in France, living off baguettes and cigarettes. If we were to write a pros and cons list I can only think of one entry for the former: Bottle of house wine €9.
I decided that none of the three destinations we passed through were worthy of their own blog posts therefore I shall divulge all relevant details in subsections accordingly.
Cerbere
Cerbere is a small coastal town on the border with Spain. We rocked up at the station confronted with what seemed to be a ghost town. Nothing was open and after an abrupt conversation with some lady seated behind a glass window we knew we were in a very weird place. We walked into 'town' sat down to eat something, were told we couldn't have extra bread, were ripped off for tapas that had clearly come straight out of a jar and then realised that the lady at the train station wouldn't be the only hostile person we'd meet.
We proceeded to spend the next few hours picking at a stale baguette on a park bench starring at a tree, whilst homeless drunks starred at us and children ran around in the nude.
Getting on the train to Montpellier we were happy and excited, we really thought good things would be awaiting us....if only we knew.
Monderrier Montpellier
I feel that if there were to be an opening theme tune for this destination it would go something like this: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHH AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. Then silence.
Montpellier, is apparently a nice place - away from the station. The station and the surrounding area however, is a cesspit full of unmentionable people, aggression, prostitution, drugs and most probably the HIV virus.
Arriving on an extremely busy Saturday night with no possible way out of there by train, we had no choice but to find a hotel for the night. The first hotel we found which was right opposite the station seemed like a sure choice until we found out it was almost €80 for the night, which for two backpackers on a serious budget was far too steep. So we decided to find somewhere else and were told that there were a lot of hotels in the area. We walked quickly through the streets lugging our backpacks, sweating like pigs and being harassed by almost everyone. Every single hotel we passed had signs in the windows or on the doors saying 'COMPLET'. We couldn't understand why or how this was possible and put it down to the fact it was a weekend. After a lengthy mission through back alleys and bustling roads we realised we were in a rough area and felt the most ridiculous sense of relief when we passed one shitty hotel which had a room available for a mere €35 for the night. An absolute steal we thought and even said to each other in the lift up to our floor. How naive we felt when we got out of the lift, only to hear the distressing sounds of whoring. We darted into our room which was comprised of a skanky bed and a bide. We didn't want to touch anything as it was quite clear where we were and what we were in! M and I made our way downstairs and bluntly said, we don't want to stay here please give us back our money. The man with no fingers left on his right hand and two chelsea smiles on his left cheek was not pleased, in fact - extremely angry. He barred us from the brothel I mean hotel, 'Next time you come back here, I will not give you a room!!! Do not thank me!! Just go. This is not normal behaviour!'. Clearly, this man was deluded. On the plus side we got our money back.
We quickly walked back to the first hotel, happily paid for the night and were on the first train out of there in the morning.
Saint Raphael
Saint Raphael is near Cannes, although not exactly what we expected. We realised it wasn't blessed with extreme beauty but rather extremely overpriced food and drinks, a string of tacky bars and restaurants and again, very odd (however not hostile) Frenchies.
We stayed at a small hotel for a reasonable price, made fun of Gordito (previously mentioned in MIA post) and decided to spend the two days we had booked doing absolutely nothing. We went to the beach, ate sandwiches, heckled people from our bedroom window and had early nights. Not much else is to be said about Saint Rapahel, or France for that matter as I believe the next sentence speaks for itself:
We left for Italy after having spent approximately 46 hours in France.
I decided that none of the three destinations we passed through were worthy of their own blog posts therefore I shall divulge all relevant details in subsections accordingly.
Cerbere
Cerbere is a small coastal town on the border with Spain. We rocked up at the station confronted with what seemed to be a ghost town. Nothing was open and after an abrupt conversation with some lady seated behind a glass window we knew we were in a very weird place. We walked into 'town' sat down to eat something, were told we couldn't have extra bread, were ripped off for tapas that had clearly come straight out of a jar and then realised that the lady at the train station wouldn't be the only hostile person we'd meet.
We proceeded to spend the next few hours picking at a stale baguette on a park bench starring at a tree, whilst homeless drunks starred at us and children ran around in the nude.
Getting on the train to Montpellier we were happy and excited, we really thought good things would be awaiting us....if only we knew.
I feel that if there were to be an opening theme tune for this destination it would go something like this: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHH AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. Then silence.
Montpellier, is apparently a nice place - away from the station. The station and the surrounding area however, is a cesspit full of unmentionable people, aggression, prostitution, drugs and most probably the HIV virus.
Arriving on an extremely busy Saturday night with no possible way out of there by train, we had no choice but to find a hotel for the night. The first hotel we found which was right opposite the station seemed like a sure choice until we found out it was almost €80 for the night, which for two backpackers on a serious budget was far too steep. So we decided to find somewhere else and were told that there were a lot of hotels in the area. We walked quickly through the streets lugging our backpacks, sweating like pigs and being harassed by almost everyone. Every single hotel we passed had signs in the windows or on the doors saying 'COMPLET'. We couldn't understand why or how this was possible and put it down to the fact it was a weekend. After a lengthy mission through back alleys and bustling roads we realised we were in a rough area and felt the most ridiculous sense of relief when we passed one shitty hotel which had a room available for a mere €35 for the night. An absolute steal we thought and even said to each other in the lift up to our floor. How naive we felt when we got out of the lift, only to hear the distressing sounds of whoring. We darted into our room which was comprised of a skanky bed and a bide. We didn't want to touch anything as it was quite clear where we were and what we were in! M and I made our way downstairs and bluntly said, we don't want to stay here please give us back our money. The man with no fingers left on his right hand and two chelsea smiles on his left cheek was not pleased, in fact - extremely angry. He barred us from the brothel I mean hotel, 'Next time you come back here, I will not give you a room!!! Do not thank me!! Just go. This is not normal behaviour!'. Clearly, this man was deluded. On the plus side we got our money back.
We quickly walked back to the first hotel, happily paid for the night and were on the first train out of there in the morning.
Saint Raphael
Saint Raphael is near Cannes, although not exactly what we expected. We realised it wasn't blessed with extreme beauty but rather extremely overpriced food and drinks, a string of tacky bars and restaurants and again, very odd (however not hostile) Frenchies.
We stayed at a small hotel for a reasonable price, made fun of Gordito (previously mentioned in MIA post) and decided to spend the two days we had booked doing absolutely nothing. We went to the beach, ate sandwiches, heckled people from our bedroom window and had early nights. Not much else is to be said about Saint Rapahel, or France for that matter as I believe the next sentence speaks for itself:
We left for Italy after having spent approximately 46 hours in France.
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