Photo : Christian Ferrer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sète
Sète stretches between the Mediterranean and the Étang de Thau, backed by Mont Saint-Clair. The port was founded under Louis XIV: work began in 1666 with Pierre-Paul Riquet, creator of the Canal du Midi, on a site chosen by the engineer Clerville for Colbert, and the town was officially founded in 1673. Linked to the Canal du Midi by the Étang de Thau, it is nicknamed the Little Venice of Languedoc for its canals.
There you find the Mont Saint-Clair lighthouse, the Molière theatre and the Cimetière Marin, where Paul Valéry lies. Georges Brassens, Jean Vilar and Manitas de Plata are among its famous sons. The fishing port and maritime activities long made the town prosperous; it now has some forty thousand inhabitants.
