Montpellier (Sète), France – Monday, January 3
January 3, 2022
Last updated on January 21st, 2022 at 06:09 pm
Scenic Sète by Foot
Explore the port city of Sète, the “Venice of the Languedoc.” Located on a thin strip of land, Sète received its name from the many canals that crisscross it, linking the Mediterranean to the enclosed saltwater lagoon of Ethang de Thau. Meet your guide and walk along Sète’s main canal. Learn why Sète is a destination for seafood-loving gourmets as you watch the largest fishing fleet on France’s Mediterranean coast troll the fish-abundant waters. Get a sense of the strong cultural identity of this major port city and of its inhabitants as you stroll the streets of the Old Port, viewing the churches, art galleries and other historic public buildings that line the quay. Then, experience at your leisure the shopping opportunities and unpretentious atmosphere of this city, different from other resorts in southern France, before heading back to your ship.
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise from our stateroom balcony. We had a little longer before our excursion to explore Sète, and our new cruise friends had given a hearty recommendation for the breakfast in the Explorer’s Lounge, so we headed to the front of the boat this time to eat. There were only a couple of other passengers around, so we pretty well had the place to ourselves. The waffle immediately caught our eye, complete with fresh fruit, sweet caramelized Norwegian cow/goat cheese and sour cream, topped off with maple syrup. It tasted as good as it looked!
We had a walking tour of Sète, a cute fishing city in southern France. It is also known for its network of canals, leading it to call itself the ‘Venice of France’. The city is situated on the rim of the archipelago of Thau. Our tour crossed two of the canals as we walked past medium-sized boats docked along them, and shops, bars and restaurants, and apartment buildings. We heard about ‘La Tielle de Sète‘, a meat pie made with spicy octopus. It didn’t sound real good in the middle of the morning, so we didn’t work hard at finding a place to try it!
They were still celebrating Christmas, so the shops that were open were featuring Christmas sales of mostly clothing items. We made our way to the local mall for a bathroom stop. The mall had a lot of different booths, but most of them were closed. The main town square had a Christmas market was was in the process of being dismantled. The square featured a fountain fashioned around a giant bronze octopus and water-spouting dolphins. We walked past several art stores and galleries, most closed and walked up to the église Saint-Louis, the local Catholic church, but as with most places on this trip, we only saw the exterior.
There were lots of murals/paintings on the outsides of the buildings throughout this part of town. We made our way to an overlook of the city and the harbor and took several pictures there. Apparently the local contest of skill involves jousting from boats, with a competition each year. The local jousters have their own bar, and the reigning champion is noted in some of the murals as well as their jousting all-stars.
We made our way back along one of the canals, getting a chance to see the fishing boats and their equipment up close. Tuna fishing is their specialty, and there is a fairly limited season, so not much was happening when we were there. A large amount of their catch is sold to Japan. The tour ended and we took our time to get some more photos, to sit and do some people- and pigeon-watching, and discovered a vast school of fish along the edge of the canal. We even saw a small village for feral cats on the way back to the ship.
For lunch, Joyce selected a seafood salad that was served in half of a coconut. We don’t see much like that back in Lafayette! We had a fairly free afternoon, and hadn’t seen much in the city that we wanted to hike back to see, so we did some relaxing, including another trip to the hot tub by the main pool. Practically no one else was in the area, so we spent several cycles in the tub. Since Alan had stayed up to monitor the Purdue-Wisconsin men’s basketball game (disappointing), an afternoon nap hit the spot.
The sunset over Sète was even prettier than the sunrise. We had a leisurely dinner in The Restaurant, and Made talked us into a couple of adventuresome dishes, including an eggplant appetizer with a mushroom sauce and blue cheese, while Joyce had a seafood salad. The prime rib was very good, but the chocolate souffle with Bailey’s sauce (served with ice cream, of course!), and our new favorite Bombay Chai, which Made automatically knew we wanted!
The entertainment crew put together a very entertaining variety show in the theater to cap off the night.
