Page 484 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

EXPERIENCE Languedoc and Roussillon The stone staircase of 15th-

century HÔtel des Barons
de Lacoste in Pézenas

15
window on rue Triperie­Vieille
to the open­air Théàtre de la
Pézenas
Mer, is the Musée de la Mer,
and, within the 14th­century
Porte Faugères, the Jewish
exploring Sète’s maritime and
! E6 ⌂ Hérault @ n Pl des Look for the medieval shop To the west of the town, next
Etats de Languedoc; www. quarter (rue Juiverie and rue water jousting history from
pezenas-tourisme.fr des Litanies), with a chilling the 18th century to today.
feeling of enclosure. Shops Nearby is the Cimetière
Pézenas is a charming little selling antiques, second­hand Marin, where Sète’s famous
town, easily appreciated in a goods and books abound. All poet Paul Valéry (1871–1945),
gentle stroll of its main sights, around the town, vines stretch is buried. There is a small art
and abounding in evidence of as far as the eye can see. museum and breathtaking
its past brilliance as the seat views of the coast and the
of local government in the mountains from the lookout
16th–17th centuries. Then 16 on Mont St­Clair.
the town also played host to
many troupes of musicians Sète Musée de la Mer
and actors, including Molière. ! E6 ⌂ Hérault £ @ g " ⌂ 1 rue Jean Vilar § 04 99
The narrow streets in the n 60 grande rue Mario 04 71 55 # Hours vary, call
old town are beautifully Rous tan; www.tourisme- ahead ¢ 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec
preserved, with glimpses of sete.com
fine houses through court­
yard doorways: seek out the Sète is a major fishing and 17
Hôtel des Barons de Lacoste, industrial port, with a gutsier,
at 8 rue François­Oustrin, with more raffish air than much St-Guilhem-le-Désert
its fine stone staircase, and of the more leisure­oriented ! E6 ⌂ Hérault @ n 2 pl
the Maison des Pauvres at Mediterranean, with shops de la Liberté; www.saint
12 rue Alfred Sabatier, with selling ships’ lamps and pro­ guilhem-valleeherault.fr
three galleries and staircase. pellers, and quayside restau­
rants full of hungry sailors Tucked away in the Celette
eating platters of mussels and mountains, St­Guilhem­le­
INSIDER TIP oysters straight off the boat. Désert is no longer as remote
The Passa Pais Most of Sète’s restau rants can as when Guillaume of Aqui­
Following an old railway, be found in a stroll along the taine retired here as a hermit
this marked green trail Grand Canal, with its Italianate in the 9th century. After a life­
winds through the houses painted in pastel col­ time as a soldier, he received
southern fringes of Parc ours and with wrought­iron a fragment of the True Cross
Naturel Régional du balconies over looking Sète’s from Emperor Charlemagne
Haut-Languedoc, past canals and brid ges. Boisterous and established a monastery
some of the region’s water jousting tournaments here, above the River Hérault.
prettiest villages and on Canal Royal, dating back to Vestiges of the first 10th­
riverside scenery. 1666, form part of the patron century church have been
saint’s festival in August. discovered, but it is mostly
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