The closest big city to me was Montpellier where I planned to attend a round of 16 match (I missed it since I had work to do and the match was at 6PM!). However the closest town to me as a place called Aigues-Mortes that was walkable from my hotel. Unlike most cities that I’ve visited in my life, this one happens to be a medival walled city that was generally still functioning. The city was built in the 13th century (at least thats according to the Church that I saw near the middle of the central square). When you first go to the city, it doesn’t look all that big until you actually get into it and start walking around.
The city has a town square where most of the restaurants are. From the main entrance its a straight shot to the town square that has a bank, a small museum, small shops, and restaurants. There is also a statue but I don’t know who its of. There was also a Church that looked really old but I couldn’t go inside of it. I didn’t get the sheer size of the town until I started walking around it and took pictures from various spots in the town. The streets were all cobblestone and some of the exits looked like the original wood was on the doors. There was an exit that I used that led to the water (its on the coast) and then I was able to capture the full extent of the outer wall (naturally I took a picture). It would have been awesome to take my drone on this trip but I don’t know if they would have let me fly it over the city to take some video or photos.
The city itself is relatively quiet and there were a lot of residences within it. Parking was really tight in there and the streets were definitely not made for cars, it was made for pedestrian traffic but they still allowed cars in to drive and park. During my first visit I drove into the city (dumb idea) and got lost since I couldn’t figure out what roads went which way (the signage was poor of course). It was during my second visit that I took most of the pictures. There was also a tour that you could take of the ramparts but it closes really early and work was about 30 minutes away and I always got out late so I wasn’t able to see them. Hence my wish to take my drone for a little flight if I brought it with me.
The best shots of the city that I took was from the outside just as it was going to dusk. I did a combination of shots with my iPhone 7 and my GoPro Hero 7 Black. I didn’t have the right mount with me to do a video tour of the city but thats ok, the photos were still pretty impressive in my opinion. It definitely was a great experience going to the walled city, it was something that I have never seen in person before. It was interesting to walk around and take in all the old architecture and how the residents tried to sprinkle in a little bit more modern stuff (I thought they should get rid of all the cars and street signs and just make it a pedestrian town). Definitely cool as an experience, it makes me want to go to some other walled cities of greater fame in places like Eastern Europe or Italy just to see how they compare.
Wonger's Ramblings 