Second time, Sète!

We have just returned from a great day out.  Yesterday we went shopping to the big shopping mall at Odysseum.  We had thought we were just taking Susan to the outdoor store Decathelon to look for a special shirt but we had so much fun shopping that we stayed all day.  Hit most of the shops that looked interesting to us, ate some fabulous macaroons, had lunch and a good café creme.  

Today we wanted to go somewhere so Susan could put her toes in the Mediterranean and visit a beach.  We chose Sète because Wendy and I had enjoyed our first visit.  We had even more fun than expected.  We arrived and got onto the middle of the bridge right in front of the train station just as it started to swing open, rotating 90 degrees. It does this several times every day and there was a line up of boats waiting to go through.  No horns or sirens, just a bar coming down to stop pedestrians and vehicular traffic.  We could easily have jumped onto the swinging span.  Fun to watch it all take place within a few feet of us.  We carried on to the centre of town once that excitement was over. (As you can see by the pictures it was a cloudy morning but cleared up at noon and was still in middle 20's).

Susan and Wendy

We wandered through town and checked out a few little shops after our coffee in the main plaza.  Lots of fun watching people.  We walked along the canal to the tourist info to find out how to get to the beaches.  The info person was very helpful and told us which 2 local buses would work for us, so we headed out right away to find the bus stop.  

Found a beach.  Nobody there, wow!  It was beautiful and we could not believe how warm the water was.  If only we had thought to bring our bathing suits.  But it was a perfect "paddle".  Susan and I were happy - bucket list check.

Our next adventure was when we caught the bus back to town.  We realized it was a different number on the bus but driver said he was going to centre ville.  Off we go on this smaller bus and soon headed up the hill instead of around it.  We went right up to the top of the hill of Sète and down the other side.  Very narrow little streets winding down the side of the hill, with lovely houses with sea views.  Passed a chateau on the way.  We decided you needed special bus driver training to negotiate these streets.  We did end up right where he said we would, in the middle of Sète.  Bonus ride for us, didn't expect that.

We immediately walked down to the canal to take the 2pm canal boat tour.  45 minutes up and down all the canals as well as poking out into Étang de Thau, the largest of the salt water lakes that the Canal Midi empties into.  The tour was in French but we 3 were given a sheet with English explanation, not the best way to go, but it was great to see the town from the water and go underneath some of the very low bridges. 

Here's the hill above Sète and the town around it. 

Lots of very low bridges to duck under.  One barely skimmed the top of the boat so we were bent over double.  

After our canal tour we had lunch.  Did not pick well this time although our food was ok it was not a highlight for this trip.  Hard to chose when there is a whole line of restaurants along the canal, and feeling very hungry.  Oh well, all part of the travel experience.  

After lunch we walked to the train station to catch our 4:10 train "home".  Some friends of our landlord came by to drop off some things to put into the garage, and they came up and shared a glass of wine with us.  They are American but have lived here for 10 years so we had lots of questions for them.  After they left we had a 'light' supper of fresh baguette, local cheeses, olives and a local red wine from the Pic St. Loup area of our wine tour. 

Tomorrow we have planned a trip to Uzès and Pont du Gard.  Stay tuned!