Lessons I learned from 5 days in Sète France

After a wonderful 35 days in Carqueiranne it was time for me to move on to my next destination. I had 5 days that I needed to cover before moving into a longer-term rental in the Dordogne that would see me through until January. As I contemplated where I wanted to spend those 5 days, I knew I wanted to continue to stay on the Mediterranean and I knew that I wanted to explore a little bit of the coastline toward Spain.

When I sat down to look at it I was down to two options, Sète or Collioure. Collioure was a village on the sea with about 2,500 people very near the border with Spain. Sète is a city of approximately 45,000, it is a port city and was apparently known as the Venice of France because of all the canals that run through the city.

After a bit of internet research, I really could have gone either way, so I looked at rentals for the week and let that make my decision for me. I chose a lovely rental right at the end of a Quai in Sète on the 5th floor with a big balcony overlooking the water.

As Paolo and I drove out of Carqueiranne I knew that I was sad to leave but it seemed like Paolo was too. As I had loaded up the car, he started to act up a bit, pulling things out of suitcases. It was clear that he was perfectly happy staying where we were, he was just making friends at the park and enjoying our daily explorations.

Frankly, I was too. I just felt a great deal of peace in Carqueiranne, a feeling of being settled that I had not felt in a while. But we had exploring to do, so we were off on a 3 ½ hour drive around the mediterranean coast to Sète.

When we exited the autoroute to make our way into Sète I began to feel my energy change, just this subtle feeling that something was off. I just noticed it but was not concerned at this point with my focus on navigating the several roundabouts and a few turns we entered Sète.

I found the office where I needed to pick up the keys to my unit, but the immediate problem was that there was no parking near the office. We drove around and finally found a spot about 8 blocks away from where we needed to be.

We parked on a busy street, paid the parking and with all my valuables in my backpack on my back and Paolo on his leash we walked back to the office. I had read online that Sète is known for its street graffiti art which I admit looked very cool online but for me the area that I was walking in just ended up looking dirty. There were also a lot of people just hanging out in the street. As I walked to pick up the key I found myself just wanting to get the key, get back to my car and get to the unit. I knew that I felt a dis-ease where I was.

Thankfully we were able to navigate to pick up the keys easily enough and made our way to the building where we would be staying. It had secure, gated parking but even so after living in cities much of my life I knew not to leave belongings in the car, so Paolo and I began the several trips from the car up to the apartment.

This is the harsh reality of being nomadic, lots of lugging suitcases from a car to a short-term rental and back to the car again. I have to admit that the last few months have taught me that while I definitely love the freedom of movement, I much prefer to do it while having a nest that will continue to be the home of all of my things, so I am not carrying everything with me all the time.

view of the sunny sky in Sète

The apartment was lovely and had a nice size balcony but at that moment much of my lovely sea view was of a big cruise ship which was not what I was hoping for.

It was interesting to notice how I felt in Sète, while Paolo and I went out and walked around the area that my building was in, I never felt a desire to go much further. The natural curiosity that I had to walk around Carqueiranne was gone. I wanted to hunker down and go inside.

On that Monday I drove to a nearby supermarket only to hit it while the construction site next door had lunch. Being in a supermarket with a bunch of construction workers was not helping to make me feel any more comfortable being in this place.

I got what I needed for the week and returned to the apartment. I decided that rather than focusing on what I didn’t like I started to focus on what I did. I was really enjoying the apartment, sitting outside on the balcony in the morning with my coffee. On our second day the cruise ships had cleared out and I did end up with a lovely view of the harbor and the Mediterranean for the rest of the week.

During this week I set about some of the administrative tasks that I needed to complete, setting up the office for my business in France, selecting an accountant and tax advocate, etc.

At the end of those 5 days Sète had taught me a great deal. I had learned that I don’t want to be in a place that feels industrial to me, I don’t want to be in a place that loses that French sense of rhythm to the day, I don’t want to be in a place where I don’t feel truly settled and I don’t want to be in a place where I don’t feel this natural curiosity to go out and explore.

I find myself contemplating these questions a lot these days, “how do you choose a place to live? and what truly makes a place feel like home?”

It is interesting because I could list out several things like does it have a supermarket, a bank, a pharmacy, etc. but at the end of the day there are lots of places that have those things that I don’t think I would want to live so a list of those things doesn’t feel like the best way to choose a place. So far both in Carqueiranne and in Sète I had an immediate feeling of either feeling at peace and settled or not. I feel like it is this feeling that I am seeking.

It is not that I don’t want to consider the conveniences, but I do know that I need to consider so much more. This next place that I am moving to is near to some people that I have come to know, and I have been connected to a few community groups in that area as well but will having a social support network available make a difference if I still feel unsettled. I don’t know, stay tuned for that part of the journey.

The final bit of background that I want you to know about this search is that about 6 months ago I had an Astro cartography reading, this is where your astrological chart can be relocated and moved ahead to this time in my life to look at the places that would feel the best to you. This is a process that was used by kings and queens in ancient history. I have no idea if it is accurate or would work for me, but I was willing to listen and hold open this as a possibility to help guide me. That reading had three suggestions in it for me and while I found the process to be fascinating, I also know better than to give it any power over my own intuition. I would not make a decision from this, but I would utilize it to help me narrow down the options and see if there was anything to it.

As it turns out, so far of the three places that I have been to, the one that was suggested in that reading turns out to be the place that I have felt the best.

I have not yet been to the other two places that were suggested in that reading but I am currently planning a long weekend trip to one of them. More to come on that exploration in coming blogs.

My five days in Séte taught me a lot about what I don’t want which absolutely helps me to begin to understand what I do and for that I will be grateful for the experience.

I hope that you will enjoy coming along with me on this exploration as I play Goldilocks in France.

Here are a few questions for you to take to your favorite journal, walk in nature or morning shower.

  • What makes a place feel like home?
  • What do you think makes you feel good in a certain place?
  • Do you feel your best where you are right now?
  • How would you approach finding an ideal place to live where you would feel the best?

I blog because I love the process of questioning my life, questioning my beliefs and questioning the stories that I tell myself. If you want to question yourself, then subscribing to my email list will ensure you have an opportunity to do that. blog about once a month so you will not receive a ton of emails from me, only what I hope to be the best questions that we can ask ourselves to move our life toward our dreams each day.

In love,
Renée

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