We left Annecy on another pretty morning on our way to Provence. It's a long drive down (about 4 hours) and the landscape changed dramatically on the way. The rolling French farmland, dotted with cows and sheep, gave way to rolling hills of limestone and scrubby pine and olive trees. The olive trees were full of olives, as the harvest will begin at the end of the month and continue throughout October. Farmhouses became traditional Provencal buildings of yellow and orange stucco with tile roofs. The ground was rocky and we saw more and more vineyards.
Garmin had us turn off the highway onto a country road. The trees arched over the road in many places forming a green tunnel. The roads were narrow (very!) and winding. We were just about to curse Garmin for taking us into neverland again when the road broke out of the trees on a cliffside. Up ahead of us, on the cliff, was a medieval village made entirely of limestone and carved directly into the cliffs. It was astonishing. This was Baux de Province, the town our hotel was located in. A little further down the road, we found our hotel- a beautiful stucco and tile series of buildings set in an olive grove. Amazing!
We went back to the medieval town after settling in and wandered around the narrow streets and shops. It would be easy to imagine that nothing had changed there is thousands of years. Just beautiful.
The next day, we went to Cassis, a port town on the Mediterranean. Hundreds of sailboats in the port and restaurants and cafés all along the edges. We had lunch in one of the port restaurants- Moules and Frites (mussels and French fries). Songs should be written about this meal. Entire sonnets could be devoted to it. I truly think it should be included in the French national anthem. I had to stop myself from drinking the sauce straight out of the mussel pot.
We took the coast road from there to Marseille. Where cassis had hundreds of ships in port, Marseille had thousands. It was more than a little intimidating. At the end of the day, we had dinner in a port restaurant and had our first try at bouillabaisse. Pictures attached. While it was impressive and delicious, I actually preferred the lowly mussel dish we had in Cassis.
Market day in Cassis
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