Super Sete

Big sister Katrina has been to stay for a few days and has enjoyed a whistle stop sun-soaked tour of the local area.

We decided to show her the fishing port of Sete which is known as the Venice of Languedoc. It is an unusual town, which thanks to its geographical position, has many faces…

At the heart of Sete are the 17^th century canals alive with fishing boats and tour boats of all sizes and punctuated with road and rail bridges which lift at certain times of the day and allow the waterways’ pulse to beat strong and true as trains stop and cars queue and the town itself is rendered semi-conscious. Salt and fish and hot engine smells fill the air. And then the bridges drop down again and the enfuriating noise of mopeds rips through the senses once more. But the canals are the lifeblood and link the Mediterranean with the Rhone to Sete canal, the Canal de Midi and the enormous inland lagoon of oyster beds – the Etang de Thau.

Sete is a celebration of water and Katrina was lucky enough to see the town in full fete. Quays which are normally traffic blighted had been cleared and cafes had spilled tables and chairs onto the road and piled them high with mouth-watering displays of seafood. Chilled out tourists could wander at will and enjoy the walls of sound provided by bugle bands, oompah bands, strolling jazz, pumping accordions and banks of black speakers which lured the world and his wife to master new dance moves to thumping club music. 

And somehow above all this noise you could hear laughter and splashing. The “Cadre Royal” (part of the canal) had been turned into an arena for the Saint Louis festival and 10,000 spectators were expected to crowd into it to watch the biggest water jousting tournament of the year. But you don’t have to sit in the stands to watch it. You can hurl your inflatable dinghy or lilo or armchair or crocodile into the water and escape the sweltering heat by wallowing in the water for the event. We opted for the shade in the stands and watched as defiant jousters, dressed in white from head to toe, paraded into town with lances and shields held high. Two boats, each powered by ten oarsmen, charge at one another and, as they touch, the oars fold in so that the knights hovering high above on platforms can go to battle. The crowds scream with delight as a man in white plummets slow motioned into the water and one can only hope that he takes a spectator on an inflatable with him. It is fun to watch - but an hour in this heat is all you need.

Steep slopes with clusters of cypresses spiking the sky, rise up from the centre of town to a different Sete. We took Katrina up to the top of Mount St Clair to enjoy the panorama and we gazed out to sea, looked down on the red-tiled roofs and veins of waterway and turned to watch the sails of boats skirting along the edge of the oyster beds in the turquoise lagoon. These oyster beds fan out across the water like dinner tables for giants.

http://www.ot-sete.fr/videos_sete_video_joutes-rubrique-1229-FR-TOURISME_SETE.html

(sorry - having problems embedding a proper link, but this site has several clips showing the area)

Then to the south-west of Sete is a long spit of land which separates the lagoon from the sea. A road and the railway run along the middle and divide beach from vineyard. 

We drove down to the beach and enjoyed a refreshing swim in water with a wonderfully welcoming 24 degrees temperature. As the sun grew old so Sete settled into a shimmer of sparkles wrapped in velvet blue.