05.15.07
Heading South Part IV: Cassis & the Mediterranean
My mom always half-jokingly says that Cassis is her favorite city in France, even though she has never been. When I lived in Aix-en-Provence it was a frequent day trip on a weekend, no matter the weather, and so I must have shown her dozens of my pictures since then. A small, colorful fishing village nestled between dramatic white cliffs and an aqua-blue bay, Cassis is the kind of small Mediterranean village you imagine.
Up on one of the surrounding cliffs stand the ruins of a 14th-century château-fort, and on the other side of the beach, a beautiful white lighthouse of much more recent vintage. The natural beauty is enough to convince me why humans have lived in this area for over 25,000 years.
Because of the long May 1st weekend, which is considered the first weekend of nice-weather travel (akin to the American Memorial Day weekend, I suppose), the crowds of tourists was unusually large when we passed through that Sunday. Nonetheless, we managed to find a place in the sand to picnic by the water and then enjoyed drinks on a café terrace followed by take-out ice cream. A perfect afternoon!
Grace said,
May 15, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Aw! I wish I were there. I’m glad that you didn’t have has as much rain as we did when we were there. It is much prettier when there aren’t waterfalls coming down the street.
Jeff said,
May 15, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Rachel,
I love the pics! What a fun week it was
For some reason, don’t I look sort of “special” eating that ice cream cone? That’s probably a bad thing to say, but hey, I think I do.
Thanks for hosting us!
See you soon!
-jeff
megan said,
May 16, 2007 at 4:55 am
I prefer La Ciotat actually. But they are both nice.