You might want to consider Montreal, Quebec. It's a very lively city. It's more populated than what you're asking for (1.6M), but it has 4 universities, and the

You might want to consider Montreal, Quebec. It's a very lively city. It's more populated than what you're asking for (1.6M), but it has 4 universities, and the city itself is on a mountain (mount royal, not a very big mountain), which is itself on an island (the island of montreal). You can e-mail me if you want to know more about this city. iratsu at gmail dot com