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#104 - It’s Why We Want to Live in France


We left Valbonne by 7AM, so all was quiet.......it was Sunday and no local cafe was open yet for a coffee. We hopped on the A8 and stopped at what we would fondly refer to at home as a turnpike rest stop, which is rarely appealing, and usually features McDonalds with burnt coffee. But not in France. 


Yes, it was a rest stop; yes it was McDonalds, but here the coffee is made to order (duex cafe creme, madamoiselle) on a fancy machine by a real barrista, and yes, you can have a croissant with that. That’s reason number 1.

The harbor in Cassis

 We made great time to Cassis, a small seaside village and the home of kir, where Steve dropped me off near the harbor so I could buy tickets for our calanques cruise while he parked in another Rick Steves recommended parking lot nearby. So first, what is a calanques? The literal translation is creek. How do you cruise to creeks from the sea? Well, actually these are more like fingers of water created by the melting of the last ice age...today’s Mediterranean fjiords. 

 They are like hidden inlets between 500 foot cliffs with secret beaches and great moorings for sailboats. And everyone who visits Cassis takes a boat ride to visit these.  You can visit three calanques in 45 minutes or six or eight or even nine. And you probably guessed,if you know me or read our blogs, that I love a good boat ride and easily went for the two full hour nine calanques ticket. 




The weather was magnificent, sunny and warm, and we had the front bow seats for the best view. There were no waves and the sea, when shallow, was aquamarine. That’s reason number 2. 


We found a sunny spot by the sea for a lunch of tartares, strolled the town and sat for a while on the rocks above the beach while the French laid out on their towels, in bikinis, on rocky sand, suntanning like it was 1970. And there wasn’t a face wrinkle in sight. That’s reason number 3. And I don’t need more than three reasons to want to live in France. 

 We headed to Aix en Provence, our base for the next four nights, arriving at Maison du Collectioneur without a wrong turn. Lucille checked us in to our tres provencal room with the trumpet chandelier, the 12 foot ceilings and the bathroom door that disappears into the wall. 

A quick refreshing shower, made even better by the amazing soaps, shampoos and body oils, and we were out on the town to discover a bit of Aix (pronounced X).   I am not sure what I expected Aix to be like other than the photos I had seen of the famous Cours de Mirabeau, but it is not what I expected. First, the Cours is only about four blocks long and on one side the old very large plane trees that gave the promenade its signature look, are gone and replaced with new small ones. 


   



 

I apologize ahead for so few photos today as our phones are dying and our adapter isn’t working in our hotel room plugs so we can’t charge up. I’m tempted to make up for the lack of visuals with pithy observations of the French (to be titled ‘Why does everyone look French when you are in France?’) but I think I will save that for another day when there is nothing else to write. 



For now, au bientot!            

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