Sun in Sète!

It rained in the early morning of Thursday March 31 but had stopped as we headed to the train station in Barcelona.  Our fast train left at 9:10 a.m. and arrived in Sète about 12:25 p.m.  It was a crowded train, but people were still masked.  The sun was out when we arrived and it was a beautiful day in Sète with a high of 17C.

A bit of a blur in the countryside outside of Barcelona (taken from the train).

Everything was green en route

View of the Pyrenees 

The Sète train station

My cousins (Karen originally from Toronto and her artist husband Daniel) live in the former summer home of Daniel's parents.  The building dates back 150 years.  The family purchased the home in the 1960s.  It is located on the hill in Sète, a short drive from the main town.


The port
The wonderful terrace at the house
Another view- we are staying in the room on the right

Front section is the main bedroom

Karen had prepared a wonderful lunch- a fish stew-like specialty with rice, red wine, followed by a green salad and fresh strawberries for dessert.

Daniel and Karen serving lunch

Alano made espressos for all using our Nanopresso and coffee from  El Magnifico, Barcelona

Inside of main building

The property has a spectacular garden.

Beautiful irises in the garden

Springtime in Sète- wildflowers in the garden


Looking back at the house

Karen and Daniel took us to visit the Centre Regional d'Art Contemporain (CRAC).

Outside of CRAC-  Alexandra Bircken, Slip of the Tongue, 2020  

We went to see the two exhibits presently at CRAC.

Poster for exhibits

The first exhibit was by Alexandra Bircken (b. Cologne 1967) entitled: A- Z.   She is based in Berlin and Munich and creates assemblages featuring everyday materials like wood, knitted fragments and twigs.  Her work has strong reference to traditional craft practices and to the natural world, from which she sources her materials.  Very strong pieces-- a very comprehensive exhibit.
Uknit Bonn

Birch Field, 2011

Demolition ball/Cassius, 2011

Deflated Figures, 2021


Pferdchen, 2008

The second exhibit was by Bianca Bondi entitled: Objects as actants.  Bondi (b. 1986  Johannesburg, South Africa) lives and works in Paris.   She explores the relationship we have with our environment, calling our attention to the fragility of the ecosystem of which we are a part.  She experiments with merging organic and synthetic materials.  Many of the mixed media items have been subject to oxidation and crystallization processes.  





Entre le vide et l'événement pur/coupe d'haleine, chevaux d'ange. 2022


After visiting the gallery,  we drove to another part of the port for a walk.

Many lovely views of the port


Another view of the boats

We walked along the shore to an outdoor cafè where we had coffee/tea/drinks.

Shoreline with fort in distance that is now a theatre

Rocky shore


The cafè we stopped at.  A bit windy but lovely sun.

After our drinks we walked on the jetty.

Lots of boats

More...

We walked to the plaque commemorating the famous Exodus boat that left Sète in 1947 for Palestine.


There was also a plaque commemorating the 70th anniversary of Exodus in 2017. 

We arrived back at the house around 6:30.  It was lovely in the sun- looking out at the sea.

View from my cousins

Daniel lit a fire which warmed up the place nicely.

Fireplace

Karen had a commemorative book of the Exodus journey from Sète.

Commemorative book 2017

We had a lovely dinner of lentil/parsnip soup, asparagus, the Spanish ham we hadn't finished, and a cheese plate.  White wine with dinner and sage tea afterwards.

Just before we had dinner 

It was a very relaxing day and so nice to see the sun and family.

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