Now, I do love the Côte d’Azur, I do. Or I have come to love it after my dives for the rare pearls of peace and the past. They can be hard to come by. Not so on the wide-open other side of France’s Mediterranean coast. If authenticity is what you seek, Sète, a half hour south of Montpellier, is ready for her close-up. But only if you are shooting a documentary because this girl has a day job. A polar anti-thesis to Cannes, it is the second largest port on the French Mediterranean after Marseille, one instigated by Louis XIVths own Colbert. Materials of all sorts are launched across the world and the fish is as fresh as you can dream of (more of that very soon). The Grand Canal winds its way between the Bassin de Thau and the shimmering sea and yet the ambiance entirely lacks the frothy romance to deserve its nickname as “The Venice of Southern France.” Locals, of whom I was lucky enough to have one show me the ropes, call it an island but it isn’t quite one. Sète is of the in-between in several senses. Prosperous times have been followed by rough economies and then back again. And it shows. This is not a place to come looking for a dream but to wake up (hopefully not in one of the sailor’s bars) and realize that you just might love it somehow, despite or because of the rusty iron balconies, the grated plaster, the glint-eyed sea captains that will threaten a punch if you take their photo. But there are also hipster hotels, a contemporary art museum staffed by pouting young folk draped in black, a burgeoning photo festival and one of the world’s most beautiful concert venues in a Vauban fort positioned for sunset over the waves. I just want to take my hankie and polish the corners a bit. But Sète might prefer to be left just as it is, to follow the ups and downs of its own tide.
If you do, will you swing by and pick me up to go with you? It is on the way! 🙂 But we will have to pack a picnic lunch because, as you can see, there is nothing but seafood on the menu everywhere you look!
The gallery was one of the exhibition spaces for the photo festival and it was quite interesting. Here is the link for the festival's site: http://en.imagesingulieres.com/ They are still finding their footing but it has a lot of promise!
There is no limit to my esteem for Jane and Lance. Truly. I often wonder if I should just conscript them to be my ghost-writer as they express what I can only hope to so effortlessly and succinctly. When you come to France perhaps we can spirit away for a weekend to Budapest?!
As for Sete, it was interesting that our friend felt that the city itself hadn't really changed in the past thirty years. It feels stuck in the post War vibe, like a ship in a bottle.
PS. Thank you as always for your kind words, friend!
Dear Jane and Lance, please see wonderful Virginia's comment below.
David, you always give me so much to respond to that I don't know where to attack first!
Sete. Yes, you DEFINITELY need to go for at least a day for one reason that even Monsieur Le Snooty Bottes will not argue with: to eat. And I will tell you exactly where to go. You will thank me. Both of you. And you were quite right–I didn't see any obvious tourists at all. Just locals (granted this was not in July or August, apparently quite different). It is quite run-down, it is true though, I have to say.
I am fascinated by your having two new homes at once! My goodness. I am being too nosy but am curious if you are going to keep the house in Argeles for les vacances or will you rent it out? Poor Herve with the paper-signing, it is enough to scare off save the heartiest, most-determined…
And finally, the hippos! Above the Ladie's Bath! How very Fantasia. 🙂
As Bisous Ours as ever,
H.
Wow, thanks Jules! Would love to see you too!
You DO need a photo! Hmm, I think that you just click on your profile and add one.
And I think that you are lucky too!! To have lived outside of Florence and to have been there with Giampi and his family must have been amazing.
xoxo right back at ya
Brooke, I think that you will really like the post that I am going to do soon with all of the architectural details in Sete. It is beyond patina, believe it or not!
And to you as well, Helen! Ah, grilled sardines. Aren't they just so wonderful? We used to make them nearly every Wednesday after the market in summer. They cost nothing at all and are so easy. Alas, now that we no longer have a BBQ, we don't make them anymore because I am not about to start frying them inside of our apartment! :O
The light was so amazing, Judith. There was a lot of dark clouds so that the light would spill through the sides and make the blues glow!
Oh my gosh, thank you Natalie!! Any compliments about my photos especially mean so much coming from you.