Travels with archy and beyond

Much about this part of southern France east and south of Montpellier, calls the California delta to mind: oleanders, palm trees, rice fields planted in the flood plain of the Rhône and other rivers, wide delta marshes with egrets and other birds (more that that later), long views of the flat countryside punctuated by hills of scrub forests…

But then, of course, there are the Roman ruins, the castles, the churches, the amazing poppies ala The Wizard of Oz, markets, cafés and— ooh, la la— the Mediterranean…