Sète - the Venice of Languedoc

We have had a great day today visiting the town of Sète. Not far from Montpellier, about a 20 min train ride to the west this time.  You won't see it on our blog map as it is too small.  

The town has a number of canals and lots of bridges. What we enjoyed most were the walking paths along the canals, as well as bike paths.  Sometimes cars and trucks travel down what you think is 'pedestrians only' but no one seems bothered.  It is Monday so many of the stores were closed; happens all over France, but as in any place where tourism plays a large role in its survival, the restaurants were up and running, and the little ticky-tacky tourist shops were all open.  If we get another opportunity to go back we would definitely make our way over to see the beaches, a long way around a corner and along the Mediterranean.  The town boasts of 12 km of beaches.  Sète is built between the Etang de Thau, (salt water lake) and the Mediterranean.  This Etang is the lake that the famous Canal Midi empties into.  

We wandered up and down streets and along the canal in the downtown area. Then lunch called. As any seaside town, Sète is known mainly for its seafood.  We found a place on the canal that looked popular and interesting and ordered the menu de jour.  Both of us were anticipating a gazpacho starter.  Wendy ordered gambas (Mediterranean prawns) for her main course and I ordered a pasta dish (not being as keen on seafood). And then we found out there was no gazpacho today.  My next choice was a salad au chèvre chaud - what a surprise!

And it was delicious. Wendy, forgetting what she had ordered for her main course, ordered Bouquet de crevettes and she loved it, although it made for fishy fingers!

And then her main course arrived: gambas grillée: so you could say she got totally "shrimped out" today!

And of course dessert came with our menu de jour and we both ordered the apple tarte as we had heard that it is especially delicious in this part of the world.  And they were right - so much so that we only remembered to take the picture half way through.

Sète is considered the largest French fishing port on the Mediterranean.  Although it had not been on our list of places to visit, we are so glad we did.  A chance chat with a Brit on the bus back from Aigues-Mortes last week put it onto our list and we are both so glad we had a chance to go and visit today.

A demain. 

Marion et Wendy