Day 12

Trets– Cassis–Trets  08/08/17 (9am/7pm)

 

It felt weird to wake up in an unknown house however, we slept quite comfortably… as opposed to our infltable camping mattresses. Our aim today was to visit Cassis. As suggested by E. (Marie´s friend) there are great walking paths and beaches on the “Calanques de Cassis“, and it is a good way to spend the day. A quick shower and breakfast, beach towels and in no time we were on the road road again!!!

Another day on holidays, another summer day, another hot day!!!

Mountain view near Trets. Beautiful!!

Our road ride got us a little lost for a while. I didn´t take my tank bag where I kept my maps so we were riding by GPS… Conclusion,  we got lost and we spent most of the morning trying to find Cassis. I  did the mistake of entering the A8 and we were riding  back and forwards confused, to end up in Marseille accidently. I didn´t take any pictures as we didn´t want to lose time however I found Marseille ugly, dirty and  a bit of a dodgy city, people also drive madly (like in most cities I guess). We were pretty much lost in the city centre, not knowing where to turn or where to go, until finally and after asking a few people, a local guy on a scooter (250cc at least) was kind enough to show us the right way. ( He also was mad on the road making it difficult for us to follow him). Uff, once out of chaotic Marseille  we were back to the nice and scenic country side roads. We arrived in Cassis around 12pm, later than we wanted… of course, before anything, we were hungry already, so meal first.

Cassis is situated in the Mediterranean Coast, East of Marseille in the Cote-de-Azur department. It is a very picturesque town by the sea, famous for the outstanding “Calanques de Cassis” (Cassis cliffs), port and beaches making it a very touristic town.

The port, the fortress and the cliff

Cassis and the beautiful sea front.

The fortress of Cassis (which we didn´t visit) and the port where you can do boat trips

 

We walked a bit near the port just admiring the town and taking pictures here and there when we found a company that offer boat trips around the famous “Calanques”. Instead of walking as suggested by E. we decided to book a boat trip as it could be interesting and maybe we would have time to enjoy the beach after.

The boat trip and the “Calanques de Cassis”!!!!

This is the Calanques de Cassis

Quite affordable and a great experience that´s what I can say; there are several boats operating in Cassis so the waiting time isn´t long even if it is a quite popular attraction there. The trip lasts for about an hour  and a half  but it is well worth it. There´s a touring guide that also comments on the Calanques all the time. ( If you understand french you might find it amusing too). We took loads of pictures and it was hard to decide which ones to upload but here are a few:

NOTE: Click on the pictures for a better viewing, it is really worth!!!

 

Leaving the Port of Cassis

Leaving the Port to see the colossal Calanques De Cassis

 

Leaving Cassis by boat:

 

 

Leaving Cassis

Leaving Cassis

 

The Calanques de Cassis:

 

Approaching the Calanques

Ancient constructions

 

The amazing rock formation of the Calanques

Rock in detail

Look at the little cave and how clean the water is…

Impressive Cliffs

Here and there, people everywhere enjoying the great Calanques

A rock in the middle of the sea, one of many!!

Little bays and beaches in the Calanques:

 

I felt so jealous about the people on that beach… paradisiac!!

One of many Yatches, If you look closely on the right side you can also see people swimming and snorkeling

Leaving this bay in between the Calanques

 

Kayaking along the Calanques

She posed for the pic… or maybe to get aware of the boat passing by

A lot of sea activities are possible here, and it seems safe

Climbing, Jumping and diving into the water

 

 

Little boat

Trying to show how clean the water is but the picture doesn´t make justice

 

Way back to Cassis:

 

The Colossal cliff, just East of Cassis

returning to Cassis ( at the far end)

 

I could have uploaded a few more but I believe the pictures above give a pretty good idea about the “Calanques”. It is an amazing spot and much better in person. There are many little bays with little beaches and ports. It is all populated with people on the water swimming, bathing and doing all sorts of activities, either on the water or simply sunbathing in their boats, however it isn´t crowded, which is good. Definitely Cassis is a good place for holidays… maybe someday in the future!!!

It was still early so we had time for a sunbath and a swim on the beach. The sea in Cassis was a bit more wavy and not as hot as in Saint-Maxime, but with 22 degrees in the water it is still awesome.

It was hot and there was I somewhere in the water… swimming, diving or just relaxing and floating…

By 6pm we were leaving Cassis to get back in Trets ( this time we didn´t get lost). My other half wanted to get back to catch up with her friend. We had dinner and a few drinks at E. and bedtime was calling us. (P.S. if you read this, many thanks for the hospitality E.). The following morning we would be leaving Trets to get back to Saint-Andre-Les Alpes and enjoy our last two days on holidays before the road ride back to London.

Cassis… What an amazing place!!!

Day 11

Saint Andre Les Alps– Saint Maxime–Trets 07/08-17 (9 am 7 pm)

 

It was early, hot and sticky as we emerged from the tent and our neighbor, a nice 80 year  old man from Germany who did not speak a word in English, simply approached us smiling with a kettle saying “cafe? Cafe?”. He was the sweetest guy we met. Using smoke signs and lost words here and there to communicate we understood he was spending a couple weeks in Saint Andre just to do paragliding  ( very famous activity in the area). Also the couple staying in front of us ( which we had met on our previous stay) invited us for a barbecue event they were planning at the camp site. Very nice the community at Les Isles, however we politely declined as we had different plans…

We planned a nice day on the famous beaches around Saint Tropez and a visit to an old friend of Marie that happened to be living close to Marseille, in Trets. After having coffee with our friendly German neighbor, we took a shower and jumped on the bikes towards Saint Tropez. this time the camping site Les isles would be our base, so we did not have to lose time with the tent and to set up the luggage on and off the bikes.

The bridge on the N202  exiting St. Andre Les Alps and the outstanding Lake Castilon.

We rode southbound on the nice N202 and then by Saint Julien en Verdon we turned right, into the D955 along the lake and passing the EDF power station to Castellane again. ( At this stage, I was already pretty familiar with this route)… We passed a few towns along the curvy, scenic and extremely well maintained mountain roads. We were going down the Alps to the Mediterranean sea. 

On the road to the Mediterranean sea

The terrain is a bit more sandy and less dense in vegetation

Unfortunately it was possible to see signs of devastation. There had been some bad wild fires in the south region a couple weeks before our trip, we passed really scorched areas where the fire passed by burning everything around leaving that burnt wood odor in the air, not a very pleasant scenario to see.

Devastation after the wild fires in South France 2017

As I rely more on  maps over the bike tank than GPS systems it was very easy to reach the coast, took us about two hours to arrive in Saint Maxime. I wanted to go to Saint Troppez which is not far but the horrendous traffic plus the heat beat us, so we decided to stay at Saint Maxime. There are series of beaches along the coast. On the billboards was saying the water temperature (26 degrees) which was perfect and also a notice warning that medusas populate the sea. After speaking with a life guard he said that it is normal and they be a bit dangerous because some people may develop allergies, luckily on that day there were no reports of medusas on this part of the sea.

We were hungry so we had a nice salad and sandwich at a beach snack bar. It´s understandable why this area is so famous and busy during the summer. It is hot, very pretty, the clean sandy beaches very inviting and the Mediterranean sea simply great and warm… could not wait to jump into the water.

 St. Maxime beach

It felt great, I spent ages diving, swimming or simply floating on the sea feeling that light waving on my body and just letting myself relax… at that stage I thought that life could not be better so I made sure I really enjoyed it.

At Saint Maxime beach

 

 

Beach time

Beach time

Beach time

No doubt it is a wealthy region, judging by the villas on the road side and cars around, and especially by the numerous massive yachts around the coast( probably belonging to famous people and possibly corrupt politicians).

St. Tropez view from St. Maxime.

We left Saint Maxime around 5 pm to meet Marie´s friend in the little village of Trets which was about an hour and a half away from us, close to Marseille. We did a bit of mountain road and motorway until we arrived, however my other half´s friend house was not easy to reach as it is in the mountain and the access not the best… very tiny road, steep, full of gravel and dusty, not a good environment for two sport bikes, however, we arrived without issues. She lived in a big old  house with massive bedrooms, two floors, swimming pool and a big garden. We ended up having dinner outside, talking and listening to Marie´s friend suggestions for the following day over a bottle of wine.

View from Marie´s friend house while having a great dinner at the end of the day

South France is great!!!! Life is good!!!!