By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises
Sète is a commune in the Hérault department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.
So it is French, of sorts, although its ancient origins are as part of Occitania.
Occitan is a Romance language, still spoken in places here and there in the Languedoc region that includes parts of southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, and Spain’s Val d’Aran.
Languedoc means the Language of Oc.
Oc is the Occitan word for “yes.”
And so we have arrived in the Land of Yes. Take that for whatever you want.
What else is Sète?
Poetry, mystical sometimes indecipherable love songs, mussels, and oysters.
A city built around an ancient canal, a place that apparently is the world capital of the sport of water-jousting.
And a relatively obscure port that in 1947 was the embarkation place for 4,500 Holocaust survivors on a barely seaworthy former cruise ship that on its way to Palestine changed its name to Exodus.
On this visit, I went with guests on a visit to the charming town of Pezenas, once a wealthy trading center and home of the great French author Moliere.
A PEZENAS ALBUM
From there we went to the Abbey de Valmagne, which dates from the 13th century and later. In more recent times, it is home to spirits of a different kind: a wine cave.
ABBAYE DE VALMAGNE
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