11 June - French Riviera: Sete

June 11, 2019 - Sète France

This morning, we slept in until about 08:00. It was really nice. We went to breakfast and prepared ourselves for our visit on French soil. Looking out the window of our stateroom, we could see that we would need our jacket. In fact, it was raining off and on for most of the day. We started off by strolling down the Grand Canal Royale and out to the wharf to the Sète lighthouse. It was a nice little stroll. On our way back to town, we saw a French cemetery on the hill so we walked up to it and wandered for a little bit. They sure do love their dead family and love to honor them and keep them in remembrance.

From the cemetery, we continued to hike up the hill to the belvedere. It was quite a hike. I told Sherry Ann that it was like this nearly every day on my mission. She couldn’t believe it. After we finally reached the top, we looked out over the city and marveled at how high we had actually climbed. At the top, there is a small chapel/church that we went into. This church was so humble and plain compared to the big churches and cathedrals in the big cities.

Coming back down the mountain was faster. About half of it was coming down a. Set of stairs, and then a pretty steep road. We made it down and found ourselves at a market, where we stopped for lunch. At one of the stands, there was an interesting food that was all closed up like a pie. We almost bought one, but since I didn’t know what was inside, I hesitated too much and we walked on by. We agreed on a pretzel-looking bread with melted cheese all over it, a baba rhum, and some...not sure what they are, but like a marshmallow square, and sat down to eat. Pretty soon, three local ladies sat down next to us, and each had one of those pie things. So I asked them what they were and how they were prepared, and they said it was a local specialty and that we needed to try it. The filling is made with a tomato paste and chopped up tuna and calamari. So, I got up and bought one, which Sherry Ann and I divided (with the help of a knife that the ladies let us use). Okay, I can’t lie...it was pretty darn good.

After eating, we found the neares WC, and headed back out to explore Sète. We were tempted to stop by a gelateria, but kept going and quickly stumbled upon a place with crêps and Nutella. Of course we didn’t dare pass it up. They made the crêpe when we ordered it, so it was fresh and warm, and the Nutella all melty and...yum! We ate it as we walked some more. Eventually, we found our way back the the ship and boarded.

Hardly anyone was to be found on the decks of the ship since it was still cold ad rainy. We went back to our stateroom, and while Sherry Ann unpacked her clothes, I took a bit of a nap. I felt much better afterward. It was almost 17:00, time to depart, so we decided we would go to the top Forward deck ad watch the process of leaving port. So we went and got a hot chocolate to take the chill off. It was good, but not quite like the gooey chocolate we had with the churros in Barcelona. It was basically cream with a powder mix. The lady also offered a cookie, so Sherry Ann asked for a chocolate chip and I got the oatmeal raisin cookie. We went up top and sipped our hot chocolate as we left the port of Sète.

Tonight was smart chic night on board...that means we had to dress up a little bit for dinner and wandering the ship. So, we went and got ready, then headed for dinner. We were seated with 5 other people this time...2 Brits, 2 Canadians, and another American from Missouri. We had a nice conversation over dinner. We both had chilled pear and honey soup for starters. We weren’t too sure about a cold soup, but it was really good. Sherry Ann had shrimp scampi for her main course, while I had lamb chops. I’ve never really been a fan of lamb, but this was really good. For dessert, Sherry Ann had a panda cotta with strawberry soup...without salt (family joke). After dinner, we went to the Ocearview bar and ordered a couple of drinks...raspberry fizz. It’s difficult to say which I prefer...the raspberry or the pomegranate mojito. Then we each got a frozen drink and headed back to our stateroom to use the restroom and then head to the 21:30 show in the grand theater.