Visit: Sète, a coastal town that’s wide awake

Photo by Tom Corser http://www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution

Just want to clear something up before we start – despite what you might have read in some travel reports, Sète is not the Venice of Southern France. The only thing the two have in common is canals, that’s it. Yes, there’s a lot of Italian influence in Sète, but the similarity really does end there. Where Venice is showy, chic and overridden with tourists, Sète is unpretentious, gritty and real. Of course us tourists do take over in the height of summer, but the life of the town continues throughout the year. People live and work here and the active art and music scene keeps going no matter what season it is.

Lying at the bottom of Mont St Clair, between the Thau lagoon and the Mediterranean Sea, Sète is a busy working port made up of pretty back streets and a network of canals. The main tourist strip is beside the Canal Royal and this is where the annual water jousting tournaments are held in August. It’s easy to watch the show from the side of the canal, or find a table at one of the waterside restaurants.

The town is famous for its seafood, especially the oysters that grow in the salty Étang de Thau and it’s worth checking out the indoor market to find fresh fish and shellfish, as well as the octopus filled pies, tielles that are a local speciality.

If you have the energy for a hike, the views from Mont St Clair are breathtaking. 400 steps will take you up to Notre Dame de la Salette, a chapel with bright walls painted in stunning, modern frescoes. You’ll also find a beautifully moving burial site on the mount, Cimitière Marin, where local sailors are laid to rest. The cemetery inspired Sète’s famous symbolist poet, Paul Valéry to write his poem of the same name, and in fact he’s buried there too.

At the summit of the mount is the Quartier Haute, where you’ll find a lot of ateliers belonging to the artists who live there. But if you like art on lower ground, there are the town’s two major contemporary galleries, CRAC (Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain) and the MIAM (Musée International des Arts Modestes).

By Christian Ferrer (Own work)
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution

Perched at the edge of the sea is a 15th century amphitheatre which is now a spectacular music venue, Théâtre de la Mer. If you’re planning a trip to Sète, I’d recommend booking a ticket for one of the many concerts held throughout the summer. You can listen to music while watching the sun setting over the sea and the waves crashing against the rocks behind the stage.

For more information on Sète’s art galleries visit their websites here (CRAC) and here (MIAM). The Paul Valéry museum is also well worth a visit, find out more here.

If you want to see the water jousting that forms part of the annual Festival of Saint Louis, visit the tourist office website for further info. The provisional date for this year’s event is 21 – 26 August 2014 

Click here for times and prices of the various concerts at the Théâtre de la Mer.