Sète

Today I took the train for a 20 minute trip to Sète. I was quickly immersed in a real live port city. Straight outside the railway station was the first of many canals I was to see, mostly filled with pleasure yachts. Not sure where to go, I wandered my way into and through the shopping area, following the Tourist Office signs. Once there I bought a map and found out I was really close to the Old Port. This had the smell of fish about it, with lots of fishing boats in port. There were also small boats being overhauled.

I had reached the Mediterranean ocean and waves were slapping against the rocks. Boats leave from here for Morocco I think, but it was the first overcast day I have had here in the south, so you couldn't see Africa.

I used my map to work out the best route uphill to Mont St Clair, where they had told me in the Tourist Office you got a great view on a clear day. I guess I knew it would be steeply uphill from the look of it, but the presence of some 'Stations of the Cross' bus stops made it even more clear: they don't tend to put these places on the flat has been my experience in Europe! It was a bit of a climb but views do always look better after a climb. It was very cloudy - heavy rain is forecast- but it was still a great sight. Must be magic on a clear day!

There was also a small pilgrimage church at the top: Notre Dame de Salette.

I headed downhill and back to Montpellier. Few more places on my list for here before I leave in the morning!

Some very French things seen in Montpellier:

- The huge bouquets left on May Day at a memorial for the Armenian massacre victims in 1915.
- memorial plaques to people like archeologists and poets, not just sports legends.

- Inspiring quotes from someone on a monument to them.