Cassis

Cassis on the Mediterranean Coast, Southern France, Tuesday 8th Oct

After our excitement in the Alps, it is somewhat of a relief to be back down at sea level, or to be more exact, to be right by the sea in the resort town of Cassis. For Maggie it is the first time she has seen the Mediterranean and she can now testify that it really IS as blue as it appears in the photos.

Cassis is a breathtaking location, with a lovely, sheltered port, lighthouse, ancient clifftop ruins and very steep streets. Unlike most French towns it does not close down as soon as the sun sets, and we were able to find a huge number of beachfront eateries for our dinner last night. A large sailing ship, looking like Captain Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl, moored in the harbour and made a magnificent silhouette against the setting sun. We sat on the pier watching the skies slowly darken while the thinnest possible crescent moon slowly sank to the horizon. It was a memory we will long treasure.

During the daytime Cassis is something of a tourist Mecca with the inevitable clusters of waddling tourists regularly being disgorged from their waiting buses for their obligatory 45 min boat cruise. With their matching name tags and all wearing white baseball caps they reminded me of the penguin parade at Philip Island. At the front of each flock is their flag waving tour guide. Fortunately, the crush of tourists are all back on their buses by midafternoon to be whisked off to their next stop on their "all of Europe in 10 days" tour packages. That type of travel is obviously booming, but for the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would ever settle for that type of artificial experience.

Maggie and I are now going to spend the next 2 or 3 days here exploring the local walking paths and beaches. The weather is superb with blue skies overhead and temperatures in the mid 20s. We still have not seen any wind since we arrived in France 5 weeks ago.

Today looks like a mirror image of the previous ones. By next week we will begin making our way back towards Paris and the inevitable end of our adventure. We will both come back a little poorer but with a brimming storehouse of incredible memories.

Our accommodation is at the Villa W, Cassisもっと詳しく