Le Sud de France 6.1: Hot Time, Summer in the Herault

They’re here!!!

A family heading to the beach.

Summer and the autoroutes of the Herault are teeming with the rattled masses of Europe yearning to get warm. There are daily reports of hundred kilometer long traffic jams as the population of the EU melts southward to the Mediterranean beaches. The Herault is overflowing with tourists-- up 6% over last year report the tourism people. Sadly, restaurants and local businesses say that despite that sales are down 30-50%. While more people are heading to the Herault, they have less money to spend because of the lingering economic crisis. Many tourists even come with their own food and stay in their camper vans at public campsites near the beach to cut their costs. It's a shame if they just stay at the beaches because there is lot to see and do in the Herault and much of it is inexpensive or free.  

The Butte de Leves near the village of Faugeres

The Herault has one of the most remarkable and varied natural environments imaginable. About the size of the American state of Delaware, it has an interior landscape of thousands of square kilometers of vineyards and long, straight rows of vines, framed by rugged mountains to the north and long, sandy, beaches on the Mediterranean to in the south.

The village of Roquebrun sits above the Orb

The Haut-Languedoc Natural Park, in the north of the Herault, is a large mountainous (the “Monts de Espinouse”) area that is a favorite of campers and hikers. It is an expanse of mountain lakes and forests, trails and camping sites, comparable to American national parks like Washington’s Cascades Mountains. One of the many entrance points for visitors to the park is the small village of Roquebrun, a lovely collection of stones houses perched above the Orb River. Down river from Roquebrun, the Orb narrows and becomes a series of rapids that are a favorite challenge for kayakers from all over Europe.

The Cirque de Moureze

The Cirque de Moureze with landscape of strange dolomite rock formations is another natural wonder of the Park. There are a number of hiking trails through the Cirque that range from an easy hour’s walk to a hard, ten-hour trek. Best of all the Cirque is only a few minutes from the bustling town of Clermont l’Herault. Further north, towards the eastern side of the Herault, is the Tarn River Gorge, a spectacular series of canyons and cliffs carved by the river as it flows south to the Mediterranean. The only cost to a visit to these natural wonders is the price of gas.

In the southern Herault is the Herault is the Bassin du Thau, a huge saltwater lake that it is the heart of the area’s mussel and oyster farming industry. The Bassin lies on the Med and has a ten kilometer long sandbar of beaches along its seaside. Unfortunately, by early summer, the sandbar is packed with the camper vans and huge RVs of the European middle class. The line up of hundreds of TV satellite dishes next to the camper vans makes the sandbar look like Cape Canaveral before a shuttle launch.

a dolomite formation

The mussel and oyster farms of the Bassin du Thau

At the western end of the Bassin is Le Cap d’Agde, a resort town that looks a lot like South Beach. As the locals tell it, if you want to experience a good old fashion Roman orgy, nothing matches the antics of the folks of Le Cap d’Agde. From private clubs to “naturalist” beaches it is a playground for the suburban European working class looking for a very good time.

And speaking of the Romans, they settled here over a thousand years ago and left their mark all over the Herault. They introduced wine and olive cultivation to the region and built bridges, roads and villas, much of which survives today. Near the village of St.Thibery, for instance, there is a lovely old Roman bridge spanning the Herault River and further south near the village of Loupian there is a preserved Gallo-Roman villa.

Sand fills the Orb river at Valras-Plage after a storm, turning it yellow.

The Jardin St.Adrien near the town of Servian

Another beach town, one of our favorites, is a far calmer place than Le Cap d’Agde. Valras-Plage is an old-fashioned seaside town with a long sandy beach and a beachside “boardwalk” lined with cafés, restaurants, and beach clothing shops.

The actor Gilles Buonomo performing

Another surprisingly big part of life in the Herault is art and culture. With a total population of less than a million people, it is a surprise that so much music, theatre, and art can be supported here. Montpellier is the capital of the Herault and it is considered by many France’s “third City” after Marseille and Paris. Each year it has a ballet festival, classical music performances, and art exhibitions. The city’s municipal museum is currently showing the photographs of Brassai, one of my personal icons.

About 25 kilometers southwest of Montpellier is another seaside town, one I’ve already written about, called Sète. In July, the town goes water jousting mad as rower powered boats race towards each other carrying jousters with lances, who try to knock each other into the water. For a more serene activity, the museum in Sète is showing the works of Joan Miro this summer, should you need a break from the sportive types.

Calderoni sings in Pezenas

I’ve  written about Pézenas, the town we live next door to in pieces like “A Passion for Pézenas” and “Searching for the Moon and Molière.” It is a small town with only about 8500 inhabitants and yet its arts and cultural programs are extraordinary. The town has a small, elegant Molière museum, the Museum de Vulliod-Saint-Germain, which is an old mansion that was donated to the town by its wealthy owners. It has a wonderful performance space with superb acoustics for concerts. In the last few weeks, we attended two concerts there. One was an “a capella” performance of lyric opera songs by an extraordinary soprano named Kamala Calderoni, who I may add is originally from San Francisco, and a second a concert of violin and cello duets by a couple of Irish musicians, The Duo Chagall.

A fete du vin 

Summer activates in Herault aren’t just these events but include hundreds of small village fêtes. For example in our little village of only  1500 people we have had  since June 1^st ; a “fête du vin,” a poetry and theater fête, a music fête, three wine tastings at the caveau (the wine co-op), a motorcycle and old American car rally, a regional judo championship, a monster car and truck show, a three day village fête (including dinner for the entire village on our street) and an event that involved children pushing young bulls into plastic swimming pools (please, do not ask.)

at the poetry fete

After all of this the village takes a small break and resumes it activity in September with the 3^rd Annual “running of the bulls” through the ancient, narrow streets of our tiny village. It is an event you cannot miss because the  bulls run right past your front door.

A little scary yes, but hey, it’s all part of summer in the Herault. 

And if you enjoy these posts, please pass them around to your friends, families and the people you don't like so much too.

Sud de France 3.8: A Day in Sète, the “Venice of the Languedoc.”

Someone wrote once that Sète “smells of fish.” Ptolemy mentioned the town around 75 A.D and he didn’t seem to notice that. But Sète's never smelled of fish when I’ve been there, just a delightful hint of salt in the air from the sea that surrounds the town. 

Sète’s has a unique location, nestled up against the 577 foot (176 meters) high Mount Saint Clair and bordered on one side by the Mediterranean and on the other by the Bassin de Thau a very large, salt water lake.  

 These elements make for a strikingly beautiful setting. Mt. St. Clair stands out high above the nearby landscape that it can be seen from miles off the coast, making it a convenient coastal landmark for sailors for centuries. Today the mountain is home to a number of restaurants and hotels with spectacular views of the harbor and sea. 

The Bassin de Thau is filled with thousands of crisscrossed mussels and oysters growing racks. It is separated from the Med by an eight mile (13.5 km) long sand spit full of sandy beaches and bird filled marshlands. In the past the beaches were packed in summer with campers from all over Europe. Their parked camper vans often blocked traffic but today a newly completed parking and traffic revision has eased the problem. 

Sète is the largest French fishing port on the Med and is called the “Venice of the Languedoc” because of the system of canals that thread through the town. Bridges cross these waterways and while not as Renaissance pretty as Venice, it still makes Sète a lovely water loving city. It’s also the southern end of the Canal du Midi, a manmade waterway that goes all the way through France to Bordeaux and the Atlantic. The Canal is a favorite of boaters who kayak or rent barges to take leisurely up the Canal on a summer vacation. 

The other day we went to Sète for its annual used book fair. Our first surprise  there was parking our car in the underground or rather under the canal lot that was literally cut out of the rock beneath one of the city’s waterways. We drove down through what looked like a cave tunnel. Happily like other parking facilities in France, calming classical music was piped in to the chambers of the lot to reassure drivers that all was okay.  

We were parked under this lady's dog.

 

The used book fair is a modest affair held in the Place d la Republique, a small park with the Mayor’s office on one side of it. Across the park is the main office of France’s second major political party, the Parti Socialiste. I guess the arrangement allows the Socialists to keep an eye on the Mayor. 

The book fair was a small and easy event. A dozen folding tables were set up under the trees and books were laid out in piles. The texts ran from manga Japanese comics to 16^th century travel guides.

Browsing the book fair's offerings

 We went through the fair but didn’t find anything special to buy. So we next set off to Sète’s “Les Halles.” Like the Halles found in most large French towns and cities this is a covered produce market with a high glass and iron framed ceiling. Inside the Halles are the usual vegetable and meat stand as well as a number of lively restaurants. 

The sports bar in Les Halles

The owner of Chez Leon Louis on les Halles

In Les Halles we got some olive oil and preserved fruits and then headed out for lunch. Despite it being a late fall Sunday the streets were full of people. Many were shopping others just strolling along the canals. 

We walked a block down from Les Halles to the Quai de la Resistance along one of the main canals. We chose a small sidewalk place from the four or five restaurants that were open. As we entered the place, a waiter dashed by us with a huge tray of clams and oysters perched on his shoulder, evidently he was off to deliver a take-out order. We took a seat under a large tent like canopy facing the restaurant so we could watch the owner standing one side of the sidewalk shucking oysters. He worked calmly and meticulously but always stopped for a minute to greet and chat with passersby. He seemed to know everyone on the street.  

For me the treat is not oysters but the local mussels. I ordered a bucket of moules (mussels) in a light cream sauce that was incredibly fresh and tasty. One of my favorite things about living here in Mediterranean France is access to totally fresh, locally caught seafood. Especially mussels, that are petite and delicate and about a third the size of the monsters mussels (read older and tougher) we’d get back in the Pacific Northwest. 

Finishing lunch and our “demi piche”, half pitcher, of rosé we got up and strolled along the Quai. The whole meal for two us came to under 20 euros.

About a block from the restaurant we came upon “La Biscuiterie, Sucré & Salé. It’s a new shop that’s only been open for a few months and it was doing a lively business. Sucré & Salé bakes and sells only biscuits and Madeleine cakes. 

Seemingly simple things you’d think, but they make these two humble cakes something of a culinary art form. They have Madeleine cakes flavored with lemon, with apricot, pistachio, walnut, olive oil, spice, honey, chocolate and more. And the biscuits receive the same treatment spiced with everything from paprika to Provençal herbs.

The two young couples that run the place are taking Proust’s humble Madeleine and improvising on it in a most delightful way. 

Their whole presentation is whimsical and most theatrical.

Naturally we loaded up on cakes which made for a sweet way to end a very pleasant day in the Sud de France.