Cassis

What a difference a day makes!! Whatever was happening in Marseille, it was gorgeous in Cassis. We awoke to bright sunshine and blue sky.

Cassis was absolutely the most charming little fishing village you could ever imagine. The pilot guide said that it was a favorite for many of the famous French artists. Even Virginia Wolfe, the famously depressed author, found solace here.

The town was picture book perfect – exactly what you would expect on the Mediterranean in the south of France. The pilot guide said that the town was bustling in the summer with every square inch of the small beach covered with blankets and oiled bodies. In November, no oiled bodies, but the cafés were bustling.

We docked across from the town.

I cannot get enough of the architecture. It looks like every French painting of the Mediterranean that I have ever seen. There are certain things that you have seen all your life in books, paintings, movies, but you never realised were real.

Examples from my life – the thatched roofed cottages with stucco and timber in Denmark that looked like they came straight out of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale (they did), Cowboys and Indians (I was 16 before I realized they were real), New York City the first time I visited it – Brownstones, Central Park Reservoir, Washington Square Park, Rockefeller Center skating rink - so many images you saw so often in movies but never really believed existed. My Danish sister Birgit’s big moment was seeing our country mailboxes – she called them ‘Donald Duck mailboxes’ because they were in Donald Duck comic books, but she never knew they really existed!


That is what is so amazing and satisfying about travel – to see all these things that are both familiar and exotic!

A street we passed through searching for …. what else …. Internet!!
(Known as Wii Fii – pronounced in France as Wee Fee)

The town at dusk.

The harbor was full of quaint fishing boats, and these were all working boats. We saw them as we came in the night before and we saw them going in and out in the morning.


The cafés along the waterfront featured seafood, all of it freshly caught that morning. When we ordered oysters, the gills were still fluttering. I must admit – maybe a little too fresh for me.

The harbor was surrounded by cafés and as we wandered around Scott was especially intrigued by the people we saw eating sea urchins. We came to this café which had a seafood platter that included all of the most interesting little sea critters. Scott decided this was worth splurging on. It had a wide array of local sea life. He is consulting with the proprietress as to the freshness!

Stone crab, mussels, oysters, shrimp, bulots (snail-like creatures, but not escargot), and sea urchins! Yum?

We compromised. I got the best of the crab and in return I let him have the sea urchins!

Shrimp is always served with the head on to show that it is fresh. No one would think of eating a headless shrimp. Who knows how old it was?

This is the edible part of sea urchins. Little tiny slivers of flesh, surprising sweet and delicate.

While we were in Cassis they had some kind of car rally. All I know is that they were vintage Citrons.

More old cars – this generated a lot of interest from others. To me – big deal, old cars…

(Sorry Kevin, it's how I feel!)

I took this picture for Robyn. She has a friend that likes the Michelon Man. This one’s for you Robyn!! (Who knows who Paul Ricard is? Obviously not as well known as the Mich-Man!)

The view of the fabulous cliffs from the beach at Cassis.

The beach that is, according to the pilot guide, covered with oiled bodies in the summer. Scott has been searching for the famous nude beaches of the French Riviera – here’s one! It appears to be completely denuded.

The beach at dusk.

Scott contemplating the ‘Nude Beach’. Do you think maybe you scared them off, Scott?

And the highlight of every stay – the Supermarche’! We provisioned well as this time we really were heading for the island.

This cliff is a very distinctive landmark of Cassis.

Leaving Cassis.