Calanques and Cassis

Although my life would be considered by many to be an extended vacation, work and the stress of my upcoming visa renewal have been weighing on me lately. Fortunately, my and D’s vacation to visit his family in Marseille couldn’t have come at a better time.

We arrived on Saturday and on Sunday met up with two of my Parisian au pair friends who are traveling around before returning to their homes in Germany. They wanted to visit the calanques, so we picked them up in the early afternoon and took off.

The intent had been to meet up with D’s brother and his girlfriend somewhere in the calanques, but the map he’d sent us showed a hike that was going to take at least an hour and a half. After being advised several times to just go back to Sugiton, we ended up following the path anyways until we ended up… nowhere. No beach, no brother, no nothing. The view was incredible, of course, but the calanques are very rocky, and it’s hard to appreciate any kind of natural beauty when you’re staring at your feet to make sure you don’t trip or slip.

After a couple exhausting exhilarating hours, we got back to the car and made our way to the little seaside town of Cassis (did you know that in French that means blackcurrant, like the fruit?). We were finally on a beach! And there were palm trees! Never mind that the water was bone-chillingly cold.

We found a restaurant for dinner and relaxed until the breeze became too chilly to stay seated and outside. The way the marina and fort light up at night was absolutely magical, though, so I had to stop my friends and snap a few photos on our way back up to the car. We dropped the girls off at their hostel and declared it was “not goodbye, just see you later”. Perhaps there will be a trip or two to Germany in the not-so-distant future?

À bientôt!