Summer holiday 2004
le Cap D´Agde − France


Tuesday, 13th July

Sorry to bother you with our repetitive morning ritual, but this morning is pretty much the same as yesterday. We got some fresh French bread, a few croissants and a Dutch newspaper. Having finished our breakfast we decide to go for a walk and stroll to the "Plage du Mole" beach. We follow the chain of shops that lead us to the village port. At one of the many fruit stands we buy some fresh juicy peaches for later. This morning it is sunny and warm (again) but still somewhat windy. The mistral is blowing strong today. After a while we return to the apartment for some coffee.

It is one in the afternoon as I become restless (it happens). I decide to go to Séte, since I have not visited the port there yet. When I visited Séte last week, I was unable to find the centre, remember! I am still quit curious as to what it looks like and a visit to this town was recommended to me. Apparently it is quite a nice town for shopping and dinning and a comparison was made to Venice, Italy. So, I get into the car and leave Cap d´Agde behind me, following directions to Séte while making a wide circle around town. On my right I pass the flood-planes. A wide field with dried up and cracked mud with here and there some grass. I learned that during the winter season these fields are inundated by the incoming tide. In the distance I can see a large but shallow lake, the remainder of last winter. I can also see some strange pink spots walking in the middle of it. I then realize that this is the flock of about 20 to 30 wild flamingos that I also saw last time.

After a roundabout or three, they really seem to love these things around here, I reach the beginning of the sand barrier that separates the Mediterranean from the "basin de Thau", an inland saltwater lake. This lake or inland sea if you like is still connected with the Mediterranean on two places. On the west side a wide canal cuts through the sand dunes and connects the both, thereby enabling tide movements. On the other side, east of Séte, an even wider canal does the same thing. I drive along and soon after the sea appears from behind the dunes. I am now about halfway the twelve kilometer stretch of sand barrier, and the beach is considerably less deep then at the beginning. The view here across the Mediterranean is awesome, and goes as far as the eye reaches.

I park the car on the small parking that I found last time and I follow my way through the narrow passage which sides tower high above me. The road that leads through here ends at the small round-about that I have mentioned during my previous trip. I walk across the round-about into the direction of what looks like a wide and long canal, passing the local port where some fishing trawlers are moored. The street slopes downward with on one side the canal and on the other side lots of shops and restaurants. Moored in the wide canal are a large number of fishing trawlers, two rows thick on both sides, with enough room left in between to sail through. That is how wide this waterway is! It connects the "basin de Thau" with the Mediterranean. The water in the canal is crystal clear and it looks like if the rowing boat that I am standing next to is simply floating in mid air above the canal bottom. In the distance a low bridge is connecting both sides of the canal. It does look a little bit like Venice, Italy.

Séte is one of the larger cities in the vicinity and therefore it also attracts a lot of people from the region as well. You can conclude this from the overwhelming number of shops here that sell all sorts of luxury goods. If that could not convince you, the sheer number of people that populate the streets will. Wandering through the crowded centre I pass various squares with attractive terraces, flanked by tall plane-trees that keep out the burning sun with their lush foliage. It makes Séte truly worth a visit.

Having finished my walk-about through this town, I pick up the car and return on my tracks to the outskirts of Séte. There I follow directions to Frontignan. The road now circles around the north of Séte and through its suburbs. Following this traffic congested road I end up on the east side of Séte. Here I have a clear view across the canal that connects the "Bassin de Thau" with the Mediterranean. I now notice that it has two bridges rather then one, with sparkling green water running underneath them. It simply looks beautiful. Unfortunately the dense traffic requires my attention, and the view disappears. After some driving around and scouting the area, I finely return to Cap d´Agde following the same road that brought me to Séte in the first place.