La Cadière d'Azur

I have always wanted to visit Provence, but with our work schedule, Chuck and I decided we didn't have time to research where to go, where to stay and all the other details.  Then out of the blue a friend offered us her house in La Cadière on the Côte d'Azur, which is the far end of Provence on the Mediterranean Sea.  All we had to do was book seats on the TGV and rent a car in Marseille.  Not hard at all to do, so for five days starting July 10, off we went.

The train trip on the TGV was easy and delightful.  France is a country of farms.  Not long after you leave Paris you see cultivated land in every direction.  Oh, yes, there are collections of trees dotting the landscape, but largely it is farm country.  Here's a few views I caught from the train window.

Sunflower fields in southern France

Fields in southern France

Crossing the Rhône near Lyon

The train travelled through Lyon to Marseille, where we had lunch and then picked up a rental car.  Not the Peugot 308 (a fairly small car) we requested but were forced to upgrade to a behemoth Peugot 3008, which I dubbed La Bête (The Beast).  It made traveling on small winding country roads a challenge for our whole trip.  Chuck complained the whole time, not without reason as even turning corners with it was a challenge!

La Cadière d'Azur is actually a small town near the coast, but the house we stayed in was out in the country surrounded by other houses.   It was astonishingly lovely and I found myself just staring out the doors and windows of the house to look to the sea as well as just down the hill to the next house.  I also liked the variety of lavender plants growing all around the house.

Out to the sea (and the swimming pool) 

The neighbor's house

Two kinds of lavender in the garden

Of course we didn't just hang out at the house, although we ate our breakfast and some days lunch  before heading out.  Here's Chuck in the living room finishing a meal.

We first resolved to go to the beach, but the closest beach in Les Lesques was so crowded on a Sunday that we couldn't find a place to park.  We ended up in another nearby town La Ciotat, found a place to park La Bête and headed to the beach just to stick our feet in the water and walk around.  We did wander about and also had a bit of lunch.

We resolved to spend the next day at the beach.  However, the next day, it was very windy and rather chilly.  So we went to see the town of la Cadière and the surrounding area.  La Cadière is part of the wine region known as Bandol, which is unknown in the US as it's relatively small.  It makes wines that are tasty but mild with a flinty finish.  To our surprise, the rosé of the region is really good, not fruity and sweet but dry and light.  The photos below show the countryside with vineyards we saw (including royal Hawaiian palm tree that are everywhere).

Bandol vineyards

The town of La Cadière sits on a high bluff.  It's tiny, old and very picturesque.  After wandering along the main street (where I bought some lavender eau de toilette), we decided to come back at dinner time to one of the restaurants, called La Chaise Blue (and we had a wonderful meal).

Chuck on the main street

The other direction on the main street

Looking across the valley

The valley from La Cadière

As the photos show, the valley is a stunning place, filled with vineyards.  From La Cadière, we went across the valley and up to this peak, called La Castellet.   It is a medieval walled town, now very much a tourist haven with lots of little shops.

Le Castellet

The windy weather continued throughout the rest of our stay.  We discovered that it is called the Mistral and occurs in summers.  The winds got quite fierce, and we found that even at the house we stayed it, it was rather windy for swimming.  We made another attempt to go to the beach, but the water had turned cold (due to the Mistral) and the wind kicked up a lot of sand that was not really fun to face.

But inspite of the Mistral, we headed to Cassis, another small town a bit west of La Cadière.  Cassis stretches out across a hillside right above the water.

End of the harbor at Cassis

Around town

It's stunning but more importantly Cassis has a set of "calanques," akin to fjords, but of limestone.  I had heard they were worth a visit, so we parked La Bête, and headed to the harbor to get seats on a tour boat out to the calanques.

Marina in Cassis

View of Cassis from the water

Because it was so windy, there was a chance no boat would go out, but we had a delicious fish lunch and then got tickets for a boat with about 75 people on it.  As the photos show, it was a lovely day and a great trip.

Local beach

A calanque

Calanque up close

More calanques

Us on the boat

On our last evening, we decided to have dinner in Bandol, the town for which the region is named.  The harbor has a rather honky-tonk tourist feel, but it has a lovely marina and town center.  We also found a Moroccan restaurant that served authentic cuisine.

Marina

Town center across from city hall

All good things must end and on the last day, we returned our car to Marseille to get the train from the station.  Marseilles is not my favorite city, but here's a view of the city taken from the steps at the train station.

View of Marseille with Notre Dame de la Garde in view

A trip we enjoyed all the more for being so unexpected!