Cap d'Agde and the largest naturist village in Europe

We arrived here last Saturday via Sete, a port on the south coast famous for the seafood, and enjoyed a wonderful plate of oysters and langoustines while watching the ferries come and go. We turned up in Cap d’Agde at teatime, not a good time to arrive, with every other holidaymaker trying to book into the village at the same time in pouring rain and a howling gale. Apparently the wind is the infamous French Mistral which blows down from the mountains. It had been alright in Sete, but suddenly the weather turned. Couple that with typical French inefficiency at the reception area and you can imagine how depressing it became! The Naturist Village here is the largest in Europe and is infamous for attracting, shall we say, the more exotic and maybe bizarre side of naturism. The village certainly caters for everyone, with a mix of apartments, chalets and pitches for tourers next to the amazing beach. The village is enormous with plenty to entertain including boutiques, supermarkets, restaurants of all types, oyster bars (some with pools and all showing the football), hairdressers, nightclubs and the odd ‘specialist’ club just in case you are into that sort of thing! Some of the people here delight in dressing to shock and we have certainly seen a few sights! But in the main it is a holiday resort offering the best beaches on the Mediterranean, within 30 minutes walk of the Marina town of Cap d’Agde. We have spent a lot of time relaxing around our van, setting up the awning, taking it down again when the wind got up, and then putting it up again two nights ago when the weather finally settled down into the consistent hot sunny days we have been waiting for. On Tuesday we walked into the town and had a lovely time exploring the local farmer’s market, eating a panache of sea snails for lunch (honestly, they were delicious!), and admiring the many yachts and cruisers in the bay, some clearly owned by millionaire types! Mind you, Roma, our boat we sold to finance this trip, would not have looked out of place there. We have been on the beach although I am not too keen on sand in the towels, and watched a number of World Cup matches with a carafe of rose amongst a mixture of nationalities. And we are through – unlike the French – we were so relieved. More of the same until Sunday morning, when we will shut up shop here and head for a visit to the walled city of Carcassone before moving west to our next campsite of choice, Chateau Giton which is south-east of Bordeaux. We are still finding it quite difficult to get on line, and we do not know what facilities the next site will have, so bear with us and we will be back in touch as soon as possible. We will keep the flag flying for the boys!