Day 64: Aigues Mortes to Sete

October 12, 2024

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We were really happy with our spot outside Aigues Mortes, which again offered a ground floor entrance , so the bikes could be unloaded and loaded right there, plus power at both sides of the bed. These are almost all our rather humble requirements to be happy in a room. But oh, a first, this had a bathtub of full North American length and almost the right width. That meant I could get in and out without 15 minutes of planning and gymnastics. The only glitch was the lack of a plug. This was remedied by consulting reception, who said they confiscated all the plugs because so many get stolen. So anyway, I signed one out!

All this happiness ended, though, around 1 a.m. when a giant tour bus pulled in front of our door. A huge gaggle of people poured out, and they were chattering like parrots. And like parrots, they didn't stop. Finally Dodie had to open the door and shout at them to shut up. That had little effect.

We were saying that we in turn should make a bunch of noise in the morning, when they would be trying to sleep. That didn't work, because they were up the same time as us, and outside chattering again. I considered going to ream them out, but decided it would not be worth it. During the day, I took a similar approach with drivers that honked at us for being in the narrow lanes that they decided to use as race tracks. Why did I let all these folks get away with their crimes? Losing my mojo?

We set off on the Aigues Mortes to Sete canal, something that would figure importantly in our routing later in the day as well. We soon could see one of the towers of Aigues Mortes, and then we were right there.

The canal, with one tower of Aigues Mortes

Aigues Mortes is one of the few walled/fortified cities with the walls completely intact. It's really great to look at, except that everybody parks their cars along the outside.

Today also, there is a festival going on, which includes all that fun fair junk also parked along the wall.

One of the festive activities was going to be a bull fight. A portable bull ring had been installed. The photo is taken from inside.

There are ten gates to the city, so we had a choice of how to get in. Because the whole thing is quite small, any gate would probably do for getting to the centre.

Once inside, we could look out a portal, and see how to fire on the enemy (This could work on enemy tour busses!)

Or we can photogenically look out a gate.

Inside the walls, we also have darn cars clogging up the photos.

We passed through to the central square, Place St Louis. It was Louis, the French king (Louis IX) that started the construction of the Aigues Mortes fortifications, and he used the place to launch his crusade in 1248. He intended to conquer Egypt and take over Jerusalem, both then controlled by the Muslim Ayyubid Dynasty. Despite the initial success of capturing Damietta on the Nile, the Crusader army was, in 1250 CE, routed at Mansourah in a repetition of the events of the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221 CE). Louis was captured and then ransomed but remained determined to fulfil his Crusader vows, launching the Eighth Crusade in 1270 CE. These crusades were fairly despicable, but perhaps pale in comparison to the Fourth Crusade, in which they got distracted and sacked Constantinople, slaughtering huge numbers there. Just like with Napoleon, the French paradoxically venerate these foreign adventures.

The crusaders are called heros and the crusades are called glorious in the plaque below. This monument was installed in 1848 - when clearly they still thought all this was great.

Eglise Notre-Dame des Sablons, in St Louis square. It was closed, but we learned from tripadvisor that it was destroyed in the wars of religion, and the stained glass later replaced with modern stuff, that the reviewer called horrible.

There were lots of restaurants in Aigues Mortes, allowing me to check the price of Gardianne stew. Here below its €17.90 - more than in Saintes Maries. But a higher price is yet to come in the next town. (This is just stew, eh. But I should be happy - look, a veggie burger is €25.90. That's almost 40 Canadian dollars!)

We like souvenir shops, like the one below, on the square.

And these flaky light pastries called Jesuits

Back outside the wall, these folks on the trailer were celebrating some aspect of the festival.

Also beyond the walls, a hotel celebrating the crusades with its name.

The town is still very nice - so we could buy this place? If you zoom, you see the its being sold by the real estate agent Mistral. Mistral is the seasonal wind that drives people crazy by never stopping.

The nearby salt flat, the Salins, produce lots of sea salt.

We actually have some of this salt brand at home. Maybe we bought it here.

The flamingos of course love the salt flats. We saw thousands of them during the day.

Info panels describe the birds and plants of this unique shallow salt flat area.

We followed the canal again, toward Le Grau du Roi.

And many flamingos. These ones answered a question we had asked ourselves - can they swim? Yes. These were bobbing up and down on the waves.

This is Breast Cancer month. We had to scatter marchers on the path, carrying pink balloons.

The bull ring in Grau du Roi. In all towns they seem to have similar bull statues in front.

Grau du Roi has a Quai area which is very picturesque. You can point and shoot anywhere for a nice photo.

This is the spot for those plats du jour.

More great scenes:

A statue in honour of the women of the Camargue

Now we came to the beginning of a long stretch of beach accesses. After La Grand Motte, they are numbered, and we saw numbers up to or beyond 100!

This panel is more interesting. There is a sea turtle research and rescue place here. There are three types of turtles in the Med, all endangered. The Loggerhead is the most plentiful.

A good reminder of where we are, in relation to the whole Mediterranean.

This is the link to that rescue organization.

Grand Motte has a unique white concrete architectural style, that we had always noticed but never thought it might have a special back story.

The back story:

The Grand Motte boardwalk is lined with restaurants. It looked like a nice place to eat.

Carrying on along the boardwalk, we find some of the concrete shapes are inspired by General de Gaulle's nose!

Now we really entered the area of those numbered beaches.

Cycling along this area, we were overtaken by a British couple. Unusually, we did not get their names or their overall plan, but they were heading the same way as us, while only wanting to reach Frontignan today. We cycled together for a bit, making a nice yellow troupe, I thought.

The Brits, like everyone else, were way faster than us, so they eventually disappeared up ahead. However over an hour later we came upon them again. They had gotten lost. In fact, the way was still very convoluted and it took Dodie and her GPS to find a passerelle and the way forward for us all.

After that, they were on their way again. Other things to see in this photo: the great bike path, and the ubiquitous flamingos.

This kind of castle structure is a museum. We have not researched its background.

Around this point we had a decision to make. Accessed from the Maguelonne cathedral, there is a rather strange continuation of the canal. It's strange, because the canal runs through water. There is water left and right, and water in the middle, but a strip of dry land you can cycle on. And this way is 20 km shorter than the "official" EV 8 alternative.

We have stood at this point three times in the past. The first time we went way down what we thought was the canal, but it was only a long spit, that petered out and stopped. We had to backtrack a long way, ended up sleeping on the beach, and waking to the sounds of flamingos. That made a great memory, but it's not one we would deliberately relive. The next time, I think, the path was closed due to high winds or waves or something. I can't recall what we did then, but the well developed EV8 alternative was not there. And another time, we made it through the canal!

This time, we had been dealing with high winds all day, and we guessed the canal was not the way to try. So we took EV 8. That is, the red line below, as opposed to the thin white line!

This is what the canal route looks like, from the bridge at the south end.

We carried on with EV 8, still getting to see lots of flamingos.

The high winds may have discouraged us, but they brought out lots of wind surfers!

This photo does not show the return of our yellow Brit friends, but only another yellow cyclist!

Our hotel in Sete is the Ibis Budget, one we may shy away from as ultra basic. But we find (this one anyway) does have good bike storage, an elevator, lots of electrical outlets, good wifi, and just enough space. Some more classical French hotels do not actually come up to that standard.

Sitting in the camera, looking for a place to hang out, were these three birds or groups. We were hoping the Black Headed gulls were another type, but oh well.

Black Headed Gull. The French call it Laughing Gull.

Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 3,294 km (2,046 miles)

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