Cassis on the Med Coast

Cassis and Sainte Maxime on the Mediterranean coast

We left Cassis today, we so enjoyed this little town, it sits between Marseille and Toulon on the Mediterranean Coast of France. We came by it by accident as we planned to stop off in Aix En Provence but all the hotels were fully booked so we had to continue on, Trev said lets go to Marseille so we did but let me tell you, don’t bother, from what we saw of it, it’s a really big city and dirty and as far as I’m concerned not worth the stop. Anyway we continued onto Cassis, this is a super little town right on the water with boats everywhere, lots of restaurants and cute little shops and plenty of hotels, 2 star are just fine.

We got to catch up on our jogging and some great hiking, we also decided to take a boat tour for 2 hours along the coast which was well worth it and really beautiful, it’s getting a bit chilly here but the sun was out and we were happy to get out on the water. It was only 18euro each for two hours on the boat so not too bad, well worth the trip.

The hotel we stayed at was called Le Provencial, it was a great find, only 60euro a night and it was right in town, got to park the bike out front, very safe. It was nicely decorated in the typical Provence colors of yellows and blues, highly recommend it. Met quite a few people here who were fascinated by us and our travels, one guy we met has been out for 5 years himself on his bicycle from Brazil, he said maybe it’s time to go home to work now!! He told us about his day cycling up this area called Le Cretes which is really steep and a great view when you get up there, he said it could possibly be the best view he has seen yet and we really must go before we leave. I thought how great, even after 5 years he is still really appreciating every moment and when you spoke with him you could see that he really was.

So anyway we left Cassis and we did take the route he suggested and he was right it really was beautiful and a spectacular view, very windy up there and a windy scary road but very cool. We carried onto Sainte Maxime where we are staying for 3 nights, it’s a bit quieter than Cassis but still really great, Trev took a dip in the ocean but I’m afraid it’s just too cold for me, the water is a beautiful blue color though and so clear, it looks really inviting but the air temp is only 15 deg in the eve, chilly.

We went out to dinner in the town to a yummy restaurant, it was decorated so fun with apple green table cloths and purple and hot pink cushions, the candles on the tables were made of greaseproof paper stapled around a glass dish with a t-lite in it, then they had used a black crayon and had written “Be Happy” on them among other sayings in French, what with the ambiance and the music it was a great find, there are so many it’s hard to choose but this one had a guy playing the guitar and singing Bob Dylan songs so we picked it. Turned out to be a great evening of lovely music and good food.

We are hanging out here for 3 days, probably take a boat trip across to St.Tropez for the day and then backto Toulon to the Super tramp Concert!