南仏セートには、美しい風景と豊かな文化がある。

Column|2025.7.24

Text_ Toshinori Okada
Photo_Toshinori Okada


Sète in southern France blends natural beauty with rich culture.

There is a town in the south of France called Sète, some three and a half hours by TGV from Paris’s Gare de Lyon. Step off the train and you’re greeted by the southern sun.
Even the air here feels different from Paris—clearer, tinged with blue, almost crystalline. Above all, there is a striking sense of openness.
Canals and harbors surround the town, like a Bernard Buffet painting come to life. Blue sky, blue sea, and relaxed smiles. It’s a world apart from Paris, where furrowed brows rush past. I was smitten.
Sète is the birthplace of the poet Paul Valéry. His most celebrated work, Le Cimetière marin, is set in the cemetery atop Mont Saint-Clair. From there, the Mediterranean stretches below—a backdrop for his reflections on sea, light, death, and eternity. The poem’s line, “The wind is rising—let us live,” inspired both the title and theme of Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises.

Nearby stands the Musée Paul Valéry, which houses his manuscripts and works of 19th- and 20th-century art—an intimate window into the mind of a great poet. In the old town, sun-washed homes line canals where fishing boats drift by. Markets and cafés bustle with locals, offering oysters, mussels, and the local specialty—tielle sétoise, an octopus stew—best enjoyed with regional wine. Though popular with visitors, Sète keeps its everyday rhythm and lived-in charm.
Agnès Varda, known for Cléo from 5 to 7, spent her early years in Sète and called it her “spiritual home.” The town’s people and landscapes appear frequently in her films and photography. As you wander the town, you’ll find streets bearing her name, attesting to the affection locals have for her.
Scenic beauty and deep culture coexist here. France now has one more town I long to return to.

フランスのベニスともいわれるセート。

ポール・ヴァレリーのミュージアムがある。

丘にある墓地で絵を描く人。

夜、この空の色がたまらない。