Sanary

We didn’t go too far. Just down the coast from Cassis was Sanary. The German couple suggested it was a nice place to go if you wanted to do a little shopping.

Lighthouse at the entrance to the Sanary harbor.

Coming in to Sanary. The big homes are said to be the homes of the “Marseille Mafia”, as featured in the film ‘The French Connection”.

Sanary was very similar to Cassis, but a bit bigger. Bigger, but not big enough to spoil the ambiance. It had the same well kept fishing dinghies and the harbor was surrounded by small cafés.

And as our friends had told us, many more shops. But it was not commercial; they were all very unique little boutique shops.

The bakeries had exquisite little cakes.

And big cakes!

Scott tried to talk me into buying one. Anyone who knows Scott knows that he does not eat sweets, so I would have been on my own if I had chosen one. It didn’t seem prudent at the time, but after the fact, I wish that I had. Where will I ever see anything like this again? If I could do it over, I would choose the one on the right, loaded with fruit like Carmen Miranda’s hat!! Or the chocolate log in the middle. Or the cherry tart to the left. Oh such sweet regrets!

Rows of boats from a sailing club.

The streets were lined with Palms.

All French towns have regular days for the farmer’s market. It is generally one day a week and it varies from town to town. We stayed in Sanary for 3 days and they had the market twice while we were there. The produce looked as if it were arranged by a professional stylist for a food magazine.

Bulk spices. Scott bought some peppercorns and a Provencal mix.

Cheeses.

This was the wrapping from a sausage vendor at the market. We bought a couple different sausages, something that looked like a jelly roll with sausage and cheese rolled up inside puff pastry, and some ‘mousse canard’ (duck pate’). The proprietor was appreciating Scott’s appreciation of his products and kept throwing in additional items, including a loaf of crusty rustic bread.

We also picked up some perfect strawberries, fully red and shiny – again like a prop for a food magazine, a pound of shrimp, and some regional wine to round it out.

After leaving the market we left Sanary for our next destination – the Hyeres Islands. Hyeres is a well know destination in the South of France. Just off the coast of Hyeres is a group of 3 Islands, one of which is a protected nature preserve.

As we sailed towards the largest of the islands, le Porquerolles, we enjoyed our purchases from the market. The strawberries were the sweetest that I have ever tasted, as sweet as wild strawberries, but bigger. The shrimp, the sausage, cheese, even the ‘mousse canard’ on the fresh bread was a treat. A gourmet meal enjoyed on a bright sunlit day under sail, with a little of the region’s well known rose’ wine to wash it down - it really doesn’t get any better than this.