France Guide
Languedoc
Sète
Some 28km southeast of Montpellier, twenty minutes away by train, SÈTE has been an important port for three hundred years. The upper part of the town straddles the slopes of the Mont St-Clair, which overlooks the vast Bassin de Thau, a breeding ground of mussels and oysters, while the lower part is intersected by waterways lined with tall terraces and seafood restaurants. It has a lively workaday bustle in addition to its tourist activity, at its height during the summer joutes nautiques
Joutes nautiques
Water-jousting is a venerable coastal tradition which pits boat-borne jousting teams against each other in an effort to unseat their opponents. Two sleek boats, each manned by eight oarsmen and bearing a lance-carrying jouster, charge at each other on a near head-on course. As the boats approach, the jousters attempt to strike their adversary from his mount. There are about a dozen sociétés des joutes in Sète itself, and you can see them in action all through the summer.
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