A wander around Sète

The port and resort of Sète may be off the tourist map for people from northern Europe, but it's popular with locals who like seafood, music and water jousting - and the great thing for low-carbonistas is it's en-route from Avignon and Nîmes to Portbou so let's pop in and have a look around.

This busy fishing port sits on a slither of land between a salt lagoon and the Mediterranean Sea.

People come to Sète to wander around the old town, eat seafood while looking at the boats that caught it and find out for themselves why they call this place the Venice of the Languedoc.

For lunch, I’ve decided to grab a spicy seafood pasty from this place (Tielles Cianni Marcos) 

...have a wander along the seafront

...and ruminate on a problem that bothered the guy that the street with that pasty shop was named after - Rue Honoré Euzet.

A hundred years ago Honoré Euzet was the local mayor and it seems over his thirty years in office, one thing really bugged him.

or more precisely, the name of the place he was mayor of being called this. Sète used to be spelled Cette, which is French for this.

Now, we don’t know what mayoral incidents got him so worked up, but we do know he made an impassioned plea in October 1927 that Cette was confusing AND humiliating and the name had to be changed.

His fellow councillors went along with him, the name was changed and that was that.

Or is it this was that?

Over on the other side of town, people are more interested in another local kid who ended up a national treasure. 

George Brassens was a big hit during postwar years known as the trente glorieuse. He liked to write songs about life, love and friendship but found time to pen the odd ditty about pompous people like judges (and local mayors). Once you know about George, you can see him all over town.

People come to the Espace George Brassens to learn more about George, listen to some great songs and visit his grave in what is locally known as the poor cemetery. 

As you probably guessed, if there’s a poor cemetery, there must be a rich one too.

This one comes with a view, but hopefully not to die for.

It inspired another local lad, Paul Valéry to pen a life-affirming fruit-filled poem that put this place on the map and also secured him a spot in the cemetery. Here is the full poem with an English translation.

Time for a stroll around the murals in the upper district before thinking about something to eat and in my case, catching the train to Portbou. 

But before leaving, there's enough time to pay a small homage to Agnès Varda and pop to La Point Courte to see where her film of the same name was shot.

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