A couple of surprising sites of interest in Frejus

Today, as the weather was kind of crap, we decided to go to Ikea. After all, it's been a while, and we were looking at buying a couple of things for the kitchen. So off we headed, for Toulon, where the closest Ikea is located (so far, there are plenty of rumours about one appearing shortly on the Cote d'Azur. No thanks - one visit every 3 years or so is more than enough for me!)

Our trip to Ikea turned out somewhat unfruitful. The drawers we bought were of the wrong size, and the dining table we bought was the wrong colour. Well, at least we had some "delicious" Ikea food! (Swedish meatballs, yoppii!)

On the way back to Cagnes, we decided to visit a couple of odd-ball attractions we'd read about in Frejus, which was on the way back home. The first one of these was the Pagoda of Frejus - which is part of a surprisingly large Vietnamese Buddhist temple complex. Kind of surprising to find the oldest pagoda in France (dating back to 1917) in a place called Frejus (a town not known for its open-minded spirit - their mayor is a member of the Front National). It was built by Vietnamese soldiers who fought for France in World War I. Anyway, a very surprising and interesting place to visit!

The second "odd-ball attraction" we wanted to visit was a mosque  - the Missiri Mosque. It's a rather curious attraction, located outside the town centre, and kind of hard to find... (one cannot wonder whether the local municipality, due to its political leaning, would rather people didn't find it!). It's a sort of miniature replica of the Great Mosque at Djenne, in Mali, almost more reminiscent of a military fort than a place of prayer. Unfortunately, it's inaccessible due to it being fenced in. But certainly an interesting and surprising roadside attraction!

And then back to Cagnes, for an evening of Ikea furniture assembly!