Cassis

Grammy and I had a long day of travel to head from Blois to Cassis and we arrived 8 hours later. Cassis was just beautiful. Pebbly beaches, azure colored water, and beautiful limestone mountains in the backdrop. We stayed at a lovely little hotel minutes from the beach and had a really relaxing couple of days.

Our hotel had a friendly woman working at the front desk, (contrary to the reviews online) who was quick to offer assistance and helpful tips. Upon arriving in the town I set off in search of a beauty salon to make an appointment. I found one close by but it was closed. Another young woman walked up and through broken English I deciphered that she had an appointment 5 minutes from then. Through broken French I explained to her that I wanted to make an appointment but my French was so so. The esthetician walked up to the spa 5 minutes later.

Conversation was as follows:

Mean esthetician: Hello do you have the 5 o’clock appointment?
Nice young French woman: Yes I have one right now and she (pointing to me) would like to make one.
Mean esthetician: (Okay so I am guessing she asked what I wanted done but she said it so fast I had no idea what she was saying)
Nice young French woman (to esthetician): She only speaks English.
Mean esthetician (in French to nice young French woman): What is she doing in France if she doesn’t speak French?
Then the nice woman looked at me with a really apologetic look as she knew I knew enough French to comprehend that I had just been insulted.

Thus I did not make an appointment there! This really personifies how easy it is to travel in a country where you can speak the language. Traveling in Ireland was so easy because the people all spoke English and were super helpful, but traveling in France has been a bit of a headache. Maybe I am just tired of traveling, maybe it is that I feel like I left a piece of myself in Ireland, I don’t know but the non-helpful French people have seemed to outweigh the helpful ones. But I digress.

One of the days in Cassis Grammy went on a boat ride to view the calanques and I hiked to them. The calanques are between Cassis and Marseille and are rocky inlets flanked by limestone cliffs that are just beautiful! My hike was lovely and hot as hades. The limestone mountains get really warm from the sun and it reflects right into your face, not to mention slippery! It was a beautiful hike thought and nice to get out of the city for a bit. Interesting fact: The limestone from those cliffs is what was used to form the base of the statue of liberty.

Grammy and I did a fair amount of lounging on the pebbly beach while enjoying pear sorbet, it was quite relaxing. There I was, slathered in SPF 50, sun hat on while 90 year old leathered tanned topless French woman sunbathed next to me. Oh yeah I stood out! My SPF 50 and I are okay with that. They have a great market that we enjoyed perusing as well. I swam in the Mediterranean which was brrrrr cold! We punctuated our evenings with sipping on aperitifs at the cafes and watching the sun set beyond the mountains.

One evening we chose an out of the way pizza place that was up an alley that made the most fantastic pizza. It was made by a Tunisian man who spoke minimal English but we managed to communicate via my minimal French. Next to us sat two sailors that we enjoying swapping stories with. They both lived on sailboats alone and just sailed to wherever they felt like. One of them had been sailing for 3 years. I asked him about what they do for food and he said he fished. Well you know what my next question is right? Of course I asked him if he found plastic in their stomachs. He said not too much but he did see a lot of dead sea turtles with pieces of plastic in their mouths. He also said a lot of small islands do not have a trash disposal system so they just throw their trash in the ocean. When he returns from the Caribbean on a certain route he stated that there was a lot of trash to be found on this route. I was amazed. I thought it was primarily just in the States but this is happening everywhere.

It was really a rich experience to find out about their lives. I could see how appealing it would be, as well as unbelievably lonely. I guess that appeals to me, stretch yourself to your limit, go so far outside of your comfort zone, and see if you can find comfort there. For when it is just you, a sail boat, and the ocean, you do not have many options.

At the end of the meal the Tunisian pizza maker came up to us and said something in really fast French. I just smiled and nodded which is my usual go to action when I have no idea what is being offered. Next thing I knew I received an after dinner drink of fig liqueur. This was clear, and almost 100 proof. It was quite a shock to the system but an interesting way to end the evening.

It was the perfect break between cities to spend 3 nights in Cassis; very relaxing and enjoyable.

Next it was time to head to Provence!