Advertisement
The last time I wrote about an authentic, unspoiled town in France, it doubled in size in 3 years and went from having only 3 places to stay listed on Trip Advisor, to 103! I am sure it had nothing to do with me, but all the same I'm just a little concerned that Sete and Molitg-les-Bains will go the same way if I don't keep them a secret.
We would never have known that the little coastal town of Sete existed if BenoƮt hadn't recommended it as a a good place to stop for lunch. I don't think the locals don't mind having tourists, but it's not a town set up for them. It's main industry is fish and shellfish, thanks to the canals that feed from the Mediterranean sea to a huge inland body of water called the Thau Lagoon. The oyster and mussel beds there supply the restaurants in the town, and the fresh fish and lobster caught at sea is auctioned off each day to the fishmongers and restauranteurs. What Isabel and I liked most, apart from the food, were the gorgeous views from along the canals up the winding streets to the top of Mont
St Clair, which is the only mountain for miles along the flat coast of Languedoc Roussillon.
Chez Francois was a packed little restaurant right on the canal, and we may not have chosen it if it wasn't that Benoit had insisted it was wonderful. An ice-packed counter containing oysters, mussels, sea snails, prawns and lobster was set up right where everyone walked past, and the staff picked the seafood directly from here when filling restaurant orders. The food was really magnificent, and we ordered our food to come in succession so that we could share. First came incredibly fresh grilled fish, filleted for us at the table, and we followed that with fresh lobster and linguini. After a stroll up to the little shops on the hill, an ice-cream was in order to cool us down.
We decided that after that lunch, we would just buy cheese and bread and other bits and pieces for dinner, so we stopped at a supermarket a little further along the coast to stock up. Isabel found a bin of Birkenstocks just in the middle of all the other supermarket gear - so weird, and so cheap! We did go a little
silly on fruit and our favourite chocolate biscuits, but I still wondered at the checkout just what it is about supermarkets around the world that whenever you go in for just a few things, you don't come out having spent less than $60.
Soon we were heading inland at Perpignan, and the road narrowed to one lane as we got closer to Le Canigou, an imposing mountain which towers above everything in the valley below. We turned off before Prades and then began the quite scary drive up the opposite hill to Molitg-les-Bains. Honestly, I chose this town because the hotel was cheap, had a great pool and there was not much else to do. The aim was to have a really good rest, and perhaps a spa treatment or two! Maybe the hotel is cheaper because people are too scared to drive up the road to it. I began to bip the horn at every blind corner, as the road has only really got room for one and a half cars, and a low stone wall on the cliff side didn't inspire confidence. Luckily we didn't encounter another car before we pulled of into the long driveway of
The Grand Hotel. Both Isabel and I had the same thought at the same time. It looked exactly like the Grand Budapest Hotel (from the movie). The view as we approached was just breathtaking. There was water running everywhere and the sound got louder and louder as we approached a gushing waterfall way down below.
I'd been led to believe through Trip Advisor reviews that it was a slightly run-down Belle Epoque-type hotel, with surly unhelpful staff, and that's why the prices were so amazingly cheap, but when we were shown to our room (which cost only a fraction more than our dive of a hotel in Lyon), we could not believe our luck. Yes, the guy on reception was a bit curt, but he was pleasant enough, and he showed us up the wide stairs past a grand piano to our suite on the next floor. I was speechless. It was huge, with an entry hall, separate dressing room/walk-in wardrobe, desk, bookshelves, sitting area and the most enormous, recently renovated Art Deco bathroom. The French doors out to the balcony overlooking a fantastic garden, that we later christened "The Deck of Stars", were open, and I will always
remember the sound of the fountains and the colour of the sky as we sat out that night and ate our supermarket dinner while the tiny fairy lights embedded in the deck twinkled below us.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0344s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb