Adonia cruise Part 7 - Sete and Carcassonne

Yet another glorious day as we arrived in Sete around 9am. On first impressions it was not that exciting but the surrounding area was very nice indeed. Caryll and I were on an excursion to Carcassonne, somewhere I had long wished to visit. It was a 2 hour drive through vineyards (the area is Languedoc & Roussillon) of muscat and fitou grapes to the walled medieval city.

Here we had a walking tour of around one and a half hours through the narrow cobbled winding streets lined with ancient stone and timbered houses, past the castle and to the Cathedral. Inside this magnificent Gothic and 19^th century building we were treated to a short concert of plainsong by four Russian men – such as sung in Orthodox Russian churches – it was magical. They certainly knew something about acoustics when they built these churches! Outside swallows swooped in the hot sunshine and butterflies and moths floated past – as well as a HUGE flying beetle of some sort!  We then had about an hour of free time.

Caryll and I bought a couple of salad rolls and sat around a fountain in one of the old squares. It was perfect. On arrival back at Sete the ship was delayed in sailing for about half an hour while a passenger was offloaded into an ambulance, after which we sailed into a calm, blue sea. As the cruise berth is right beside a residential street, people were out on their balconies waving at us as we departed.