A day at the beach in Sete is one of my favorite things to do during the summer in France.
A Day at the Beach in Sete
There’s something about the air, the sand, the attitude of the people around you at the beach that’s fun and carefree. I’ve felt that way since I was a teenager, spending days on the Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Instead of baking in the sun, drenched in baby oil, and drinking beer, the Barefoot Blogger sits under an umbrella on the Mediterranean, drinking mojitos. Spoiled. You betcha!
If you can come to the south of France and think the Rivera is the only place by the sea to go, try Sete.ย
Look at that sky! Look at the canal! Small boats stand by to take people out to sea or just around the corner.
A Day at the Beach in Sete
One of my favorite reasons to go to Sete is to visit with friends like Nancy McGee of the travel company Absolutely Southern France. She is the “Pearl Mesta” of the 21st century. If anything is going on in Sete, Nancy knows about it. Plus, she has the experience as a destination planner to make an ordinary day a special event. Below, she is telling my guest and her daughter, McKenna, about a special rose wine from Languedoc. Aside from its crisp, fruity taste, this one is topped with a glass stopper — an ingenious marketing ploy for selling wine to women. The bottles of wine are available with stoppers of various colors. So women like me want to collect them. The pink, green, yellow, or clear “corks” can also be used to top other wine bottles. Clever!
Even though the temperatures were in the high 90s, we were happy as “clams” on our soft-cushioned lounges under beach umbrellas at the l’ACD club. We were treated like queens. Handsome young waiters and attendants were on call for beverages and snacks or simply to adjust our chairs when the sun shifted.
If being pampered on the beach isn’t enough, there’s a restaurant a stone’s throw away with the most delicious varieties of seafood you can imagine. The tuna, however, was our favorite choice of the day. Sete is known for its bluefin tuna.
Aside from her tour business, Nancy is an expert in French etiquette. This day, we had a lesson on how to filet a fish at the table. According to Nancy, you run a knife along both sides of the skeleton bone on the top, then along each edge. Simply lift the fileted fish off the bones. When done with this side, turn the fish over and repeat. How easy is that!
Now that the day at the beach in Sete is over, it’s time to take the train to Carcassone. Never mind that we missed the train we booked! Friendly personnel on SNCF helped us “get on track” to our next destination.
