Jay Jay, our good friend and super nature guide during our holiday to Mexico last February, is spending the summer on the Cote d’Azur. So when Marie suggested a weekend in the Var, to introduce him to the “real Provence”, we jumped at the opportunity. It’s a part of Provence we are not very familiar with, so we were quite happy to join.
We headed off Friday afternoon, down the A8, to the small Provencal village of Castellet. It’s located in the foothills just up from Bandol, a busy seaside resort which is also famous for its Rose wines. Marie had booked a lovely little Bed and Breakfast for us, at a very reasonable price indeed (accommodation prices in this part of France can be ridiculous during the summer). The village itself is very charming indeed, and most certainly Provencal – no wonder they shot most of Marcel Pagnol’s “La Femme du Boulanger” at this place (Marcel Pagnol is a writer and movie director, loved for his Provencal wit). The views overlooking the Bandol vineyards are fantastic as well, especially during the setting sun…
For dinner, we decided to follow our BnB hosts’ recommendation, and were most certainly not disappointed. The food was local, fresh and very tasty indeed; and quite reasonably priced to boot. And the service was impeccable. A real gem of a place. So impressed were we with the gastronomy of Castellet, that we decided to have a crepe at another restaurant after dinner! (apparently there are a lot of Bretons who run creperies in the Bandol area, for some reason).
After a good night’s sleep, and a delicious breakfast (and a bit of local poetry; seems that an old guy – the BnB lady’s dad perhaps – has, or at least thinks he has, that Pagnol touch) we headed out for more exploration of the streets of Castellet. It’s actually a pretty touristy place, with a lot of shops. But the shops are quite original actually, selling some funny Provencal memorabilia, great pastries (at a place aptly named “La Femme du Boulanger”!) among other things. The coolest shop we found was a place specializing in Absinth and Pastis, though. After half an hour of “degustation” and lectures about how to drink Absinth and Pastis, we left the places, a few bottles richer and quite a few euros cheaper…
Our next stop was lunch at La Ciotta (actually, based on the recommendation of the guy who served us at the restaurant the night before), a port next to Bandol. It was quite a nice place, located in a very picturesque little bay outside the city. The food was simple, but pretty good.
Our stomachs filled, we made our way towards our next stop on the circuit – the Calanques. The calanques are a collection of dramatic bays/coves located between Cassis and Marseille. The idea was to do a bit of hiking along one of them, but unfortunately the footpaths which follows the calanques was basically closed due to forest fire warnings. But we did get to check out Port-Miou, which is the 1st Calanque after Cassis. It’s a kind of fjord, which is used as a marina these days. We did have quick walk around there, taking in the beautiful views over the Med’.
We then made our way to a beach we’d been recommended, located east of Cassis. Actually the beach is quite rocky, in many ways similar to a calanque, and due to the very big waves indeed (and rocky terrain), it wasn’t perfect for swimming. But me and JayJay gave it a go anyway, and had a very good time indeed, in spite of the rather chilly water (17 degrees apparently – the Mistral has been stirring up some cold water it seems!). Not the kind of beach action we had counted on for the weekend, but at least we managed to avoid the usual Cote d’Azur crowds ;-)
After our swim, it was dinner-time. We decided to stop by at one of the coastal resorts between Cassis and Hyeres (where we were staying the night) – and eventually ended up in Saint-Sanary sur Mer (we initially stopped in Bandol, but decided to move on since the seafront wasn’t very inspiring…). Sanary is a pretty picturesque little port/seaside resort, even if it is very touristy. There were even a few authentic-looking fishing boats in the harbour (not just yachts like in a lot of ports on the Riviera). We struggled seriously to find a decent restaurant – actually failed miserably. Getting a table with outside seating was a challenge, so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that the one place where we did get a table was a real dive. (especially poor Marie’s Aioli). And the service was miserable as well – even by the not-always-lofty standards of “mass tourism Riviera”. We put it down to the fact that it was a Corsican restaurant (Corsicans have a bit of a reputation for not being the friendliest people).
We arrived rather late in Hyeres, and basically went to sleep straight away. The next morning, we got up early to catch the boat to Port-Cros, were we were planning to spend Sunday. Port-Cros is one of the Iles d’Hyeres (the other ones being Porquerolles and Levant) – with the particularity that it’s a kind of natural reserve. Hence it’s a brilliant place, apparently, for snorkelling, diving and hiking. So pretty much the perfect place to visit with Jay Jay, then.
Unfortunately, our plans to go diving were spoilt by the weather – the Mistral was blowing up seriously again, meaning bad visibility. What’s worse, most hiking paths were also closed due to the risk of forest fires. But not to worry, the coastal path following the Northern shoreline was open. The hike was a very pleasant one, with great views over the sea and the rugged coastline. Port-Cros is actually really very natural, since very little construction has been allowed outside the port area (which isn’t exactly bristling with services either – there is a hotel, a couple of restaurant, a couple of bars and a dive shop – that’s about it). Apparently it’s one of the best places in France to appreciate the Mediterrean flora and fauna as it was before most of the coastline was taken over by massive hotels and apartment blocks…
The beaches at Port-Cros are also fantastic. The first one we stopped as, Port Palud, is known for its “underwater path”. It’s a serious of buoys heading out to some rocks a couple of hundred meters from the beach, with some underwater signs and explanations about the underwater flora and fauna. Me and JayJay actually tried to complete it, since we had brought our snorkelling gear, in spite of the rather poor visibility. We quite quickly aborted our activity though, due to some rather nasty medusas which stung us both… We tried again at the next beach we stopped as, further along the coastline, and were not disappointed. We had fantastic visibility (around 50 meters I would say), and were treated to some fantastic underwater scenery. There was a fair bit of underwater fauna as well to check out.
We had to get out of the water quite quickly, unfortunately, to catch the ferry back to the mainland. Me and JayJay wowed to be back for diving one day – hopefully we can find a suitable timeslot soon. After making it back to Hyeres, it was time to drive back to Nice. We did stop by to show the Massif d’Esterel to JayJay, though, before stopping at Mougins for a last dinner. We went to a place Marie had been to a few weeks earlier and really liked, called L’Amandier. A very good choice indeed – the perfect way, pretty much, to finish off a great weekend. Good food, kind of haut-cuisine, but at a reasonable price tag – a hard combination to beat, especially at Mougins (a village known for it’s gastronomy and fancy restaurants).
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