Aug 3- St Tropez- Marseille

Wow!  I sure could get up to this view every morning!  Our bed and breakfast has a beautiful yard! Rémi and I went for a run along the Littoral this morning. We walked about 2km to the start and off we went running.  The Littoral is a nice trail that follows the Mediterranean Sea. It varies from sand, rocks, roads, and pathways. Sometimes there are stairs or what looks like tons of coconut husks. You pass beaches and rocky shores seeing huge yachts along the way.  On our way back, we stopped at a beach and went in for a quick dip.

We made it back to the bed and breakfast and jumped in the pool. Who wouldn’t love to live this life?!?

It’s already time to leave St. Tropez. We’ve done what we came to do!  We decided to drive along the coastal highway instead of the regular highway. Lots of quaint little towns with a gazillion roundabouts. My gosh the French love roundabouts!  It’s a little ridiculous...

We came upon a beautiful beach where we spent some time swimming. THIS is what I expected... white sandy beach, water so clear you can see the bottom even when you are in deep water.  Water that looks turquoise.  Warm water that you don’t feel like your toes will fall off.  In other words, paradise!  We swam for a while, dried ourselves in the sun (sun protection of course).  Afterwards, we had lunch. We had sole- interesting experience 😂. The waitress had to help take the bones out... learned something new!


After lunch, we stayed on the coastal road for a while but got tired of the roundabouts and the 50/70 speed limit. We moved on to the highway.  Got lost- what else is new?  Google maps- you suck.  Went through some sort of tunnel for what seemed like a long time- had to come back through same tunnel- costing us 4€ twice for nothing. Thanks Google.  Finally arrived at our hotel. Tomorrow, no alarm clock. We will get up when we get up. We are planning a short hike to see the “Calanques”. Some hiking, some swimming.  I would also like to see the Basilique Notre Dame de Gardes. We will see.

Marseille doesn’t sound like a very safe place.  I've been warned by three different people at different times that it’s dangerous here. One person asked if I had a bulletproof vest. The other told me not to look like a tourist!  If they hear us speak, they will surely know we don’t belong!  We shall be careful and do our best not to look like tourists! 😂

Aug 2nd- Mont Sainte-Victoire & St Tropez

We got up early this morning to go hike a mountain and miss some of the heat. What good that did! A 35 minute drive turned into a 2 hour drive.  Google maps can be pretty useless around here. It first brought us to the wrong side of the mountain- sheer rock wall!  It then brought us to the other side in tiny farm dirt road... we asked 3 people where the damn trail started... eventually found it at 9:30a already like 25 degrees.

The hike was up pretty steep trails, eventually turning into switch backs. Eventually, you end up at a beautiful little chapel that used to be a monastery. The French sure know how to restore old buildings!  Way to go!  I wish I could’ve captured the whole thing- the very scary stairs the monks would’ve taken... it’s captured in my mind...

After the pretty chapel, the trail continued to get to the summit where a giant cross was put up. There is also a little cabin where a couple of watchmen sit. What they are watching I have no idea.  This last little bit up was pretty scary. The rock here is nothing like the Alps.  It’s more like marble- very slippery...almost like walking on ice.  We got up in a little over 1.5 hours.  We made our way down much faster as we ran a lot of the way down. Walking is almost impossible it was so steep.  We enjoyed our hike even with that heat!

After our hike, we drove to St Tropez. Little winding roads and switchbacks up a mountain with scary moments- meeting transports in corners =almost shit in pants moments.   We easily found our  bed and breakfast, got changed into our swimsuits and walked about 200m to the beach for a swim in the Mediterranean sea. Ahhh!  The water was just perfect!  It wasn’t what I had imagined though. Last time I saw this beautiful sea, the water was shades of green and blue. Not here. There are buoy lines because humongous yachts are everywhere!  When I say humongous, I mean million dollar boats... like we see on tv- one boat would feed a whole country... incredible...

We walked a ways to the marina where we watched as each yacht entered to park for the night. It was like an airport. Controllers on radios, little red boats controlling who comes in when, lines of yachts waiting for their turns. This was quite impressive!

Côte dAzur is quite different than the other parts we visited. As much as I love the ocean, I think I prefer the mountains.  Tomorrow, we plan on running along the littoral for a while with perhaps a swim midway.  Time for bed!

Aug. 1st- Gard, Gordes, Aix

We got up this morning, still disappointed with le Pont d’Avignon and so we decided to go to Pont Du Gard- an ancient aqueduct built by the romans. It’s quite the beauty!  We had fun taking pictures from every angle!  We have lots to go through and delete I’m sure!

After this impromptu outing, we made our way to Gordes- another quaint medieval village.  Interesting to see how different they all are one from the other!  This one is built on rock- the view from the top is like a patchwork of fields and forests.  Another interesting thing is that the new part of the village is built to look like the old part- same rocks and walls.

In Provence, you always hear the cicadas. They seem to be everywhere!  As we were walking down the street, I could hear one at about eye level so I stopped to try and find it. Low and behold, there it was in all its glory!  I went to point out how long its wings were when it decided I was too close and it flew off, scaring me half to death!  I screamed and dropped/threw my phone!  Now I know not to get so close! 

We spent some time here, just enjoying the tiny streets then continued on our journey to Aix en Provence.  Our hotel is about 40 minutes from the hustle and bustle of town center. Nice walk.  This city is all about the arts and shopping- 2 things that don’t really interest us that much.  We really are here to ascend Mont Sainte-Victoire tomorrow morning.

We will have an early bedtime so we can get up extra early so we can hopefully get out before the heat.

July 31 - Carcassonne, Minerve, Avigon

Today was a busy day.  We opted not to run even if we had planned it.  We started off with a visit to the castle in the Cité de Carcassonne.  We had missed it yesterday so we decided to do it before leaving.  It sure was worth going through!

In this self guided tour, you went into the castle and ramparts.  I wish there would've have been better explanations of things, and that perhaps a room or two would've have been "decorated" like it would've been in those days.  It would have also been nice to see the dungeon...oh well - it was still fascinating.

After this activity, we hopped in the car and off we went to Minerve - another medieval village -this one much smaller.  Boy oh boy! This was worth the detour!  Very different from Carcassonne -it's in a "hole" - in the river bed - where 50 million years ago, this area would've been a sea.  The rocks are all eaten by the water - it's very neat to see.  If we would've been patient, we probably could've found some fossils in the rock walls.  We made our way down to the bottom -the river bed.  After a short walk, we arrived to what they called "natural bridge".  We would call it a natural tunnel... it was a cavernous space carved out by water over millions of years.  It went through and through the mountain.  There was 2 of them.  Very cool.

We had ice cream (of course) and left to drive to Avignon to see the famous bridge and "palais des papes".

After a 2 hour drive or so, we arrived.  We checked in our hotel -which has a parking -yahoo!  What a relief! Parking here in France seems to be prime space!

We walked over to the town center where we took the tour of the "Palais des papes".  WOW!!  I'd
have to say this is one of the best tours of anything I've ever had a tour of!  Spectacular!  You get an iPad that explains things, then you have interactive aspects as well -sort of like virtual reality -you would move the iPad around and see how it would've probably looked like when it was built.

As beautiful as this place is, it's sort of disgusts me that in those days, (and today), people starve everywhere and we build these ridiculous buildings in the name of God... really?  Nuts!  9 popes have lived here - the first one built this ridiculously large palace.  The second pope didn't think it was large enough so he had no parts added on, and the 3 and the fourth pope... you get the picture... Craziness!  They did the renovations beautifully.  I wonder how much that cost...

After this fabulous tour, Rémi was starving so we had dinner.  Finally something I enjoyed!  I had chicken with potatoes and vegetables.  Nothing fancy - just delicious!

We came here to see the "pont d'Avigon".  What a disappointment!   They charge people to walk on
the bridge!  I'm not paying to walk on a bridge.  I don't care how famous it is! Oh well, we saw it from the ground and that's good enough.  I wasn't anything special really...a bridge they never completed...  The one we saw in Minerve earlier today was much more impressive...

That's concludes today.  What will tomorrow bring?

July 30 - Arles to Carmagues to Sète to Carcassonne

We left Arles to make our way to our next destination- a few planned stops along the way.

Our first stop was at a nature reserve where it was possible to see a variety of birds, including pink flamingos.  What a disappointment. We walked and walked, seeing lots and lots of dragonflies, to end up at a blind full of spider webs.  Not an interesting bird in sight!  We could see about a km away a white dot- probably a swan. We also saw 2 mallards. Really?  So we walked back. I did get to see an owl eye to eye- so not a complete loss I guess...



We continued to our next stop: Sète. It’s like the Venise of France!

 Beautiful place. We made our way up Mont St. Claire. We had to go up a long, steep hill and probably 300+stairs. From the top, the view was magnificent!  The Mediterranean sea never disappoints!  We had ice cream and started making our way back down. I counted 350 steps (came up a different way so not sure of step count), down a big ass hill and made it in one piece.  Off we went to get to our destination: Cascassonne- a medieval city.

After going in circles for 30 minutes, we found a parking spot. Do you see a theme with driving here? 🙄. Our hotel is just outside of the walled city.  From the third floor you can see the whole thing. Wow!  It’s just like on television!  Hard to believe that almost 1000 years ago people lived there- a very different life!  I would like to know how much of the place is actually “real”... like Machu Piccu, there was massive renovations done to this place... it’s still extremely cool to see.

We spent a few hours walking around inside the walls.  The Basilica is stunning. How such beauty exists is beyond my understanding. Rémi had cassoulet for dinner. It’s beans with pork and sausage. I had chicken. There was no butter for the bread (who eats bread without butter?) and no vinegar - they didn’t know what white vinegar was... what? Let’s just say I am not made for French gastronomie 😂

Tomorrow morning, we plan on doing a short run and visit the actual castle which we missed today.

July 29th - Arles

July 29th- This morning, we take the train to Marseille where our holiday will begin. The train station has proven to be as stressful as airports for me. I think it’s the fear of missing my ride... not sure. Anyway, we get to the train- we know we are on car 13... but can’t see any numbers anywhere. Walk all the way down with 50lbs or so on our backs to having to walk all the way back to the other end. What a great start... not.

The train ride was pretty boring and uneventful. There is not much to see: trees, trees, more trees... so nap it was!

Just a sample -it's much worse than this.

Once we arrived in Marseille, it was odd to hear on the speakers that there are active pick pockets in the station. Great- good to know I guess. We walked to the car rental place and off we went. My first impression of Marseille and the south of France is that it’s dirty and gross.  There are ugly graffiti everywhere, the place looks very rough.   I‘m glad we are not staying here.  Our first destination is Arles.

We drive our Renault Captur down the highway to Arles. Interesting enough, the speed limit changes very often for no apparent reason.  I enjoy the 130 limit though!  We get to Arles and drive around in circles for 1.5 hours. It’s a fricken nightmare. The streets are ridiculously narrow, I can’t tell if we are allowed on said streets or not, half of them are closed, others you can’t tell until you get to the end and then half to back out... omg I am not enjoying this so far.

We find a parking garage and decide to walk to our hotel. Much better!  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around this very old village. Here you can see Roman ruins- built 100 years b.c.  hard to believe that these buildings (amphitheater and coliseum) were built more than 2000 years ago!  There are also beautiful medieval churches- they truly are unbelievably beautiful!  We walked through the crypto portique; an underground crypt built by the romans.  Very interesting.

It was then time for dinner. I had fish and chips (not great) and Rémi had lasagna- edible but not great either.  I will have a hard time finding things I like. When you look at a menu and you don’t know what anything is... not great.

On our way back to the hotel, we witnessed a shouting/pushing match between a man and a woman over dogs off leash. We didn’t get involved as others did.  The man was yelling at the woman to get control of her dogs- she wouldn’t, got in his face, he shoved her hard to the ground.  Lots of action in Arles!

We are now relaxing, waiting to go to bed... in our medieval looking hotel.

Geneva -July 28

Our trekking adventure is done and Remi and I are embarking on an adventure of our own.  We have made it to Geneva where we spent the day.  We arrived at the airport with the rest of the group. Off they went to catch their flights to whatever destination they were going to. Jodi, Derek, Rémi and I made our way to the train station.  J and D had purchased their tickets online- paid 25€+8$ fee   We paid 6Swiss Francs.  They got screwed big time.  We get on the train, a 7 minute ride. I say out loud”why the tickets if nobody checks them?”  Someone responded that you should actually not pay to take this train. It’s actually free.  What??? What a scam!! You would think the woman who took our money would’ve told us?  So, if you ever come to Geneva, the train between the airport and the city is FREE. Go to a machine and push the button for a free ticket. 😤☠️

Lake Geneva seems to play an important part for this charming city. We made our way to the lake in the rain. Today is the annual swim across the lake.  We arrived in time to hear some music and see an 85 year old woman reach the beach. Wow!  I sure hope I can do things like that when I ‘m 85! After watching the last swimmers, we made our way to the streets.

It’s Sunday so everything is closed. The streets are deserted but the cafés are full of people. I got myself a croissant for breakfast - it was sooo yummy!  Finally some food I can enjoy (the Nutella sandwiches I’ve been eating for the past 2 weeks... yuck)!

Geneva seems to be a very diverse community.  There is people from everywhere. Makes me feel like in Ottawa. It’s very different than where we are arriving from where it was predominantly caucasians... which felt kind of odd.

After we filled our belly, we returned to the lake and spent some time looking at the birds and ducks. We saw coots, mergansers, swans, grebes, mallards, various types of gulls,  greylags, sparrows and a few other ducks that I don’t know what they were.


We then made our way back towards the hotel for lunch. We had Swiss pizza- it was pretty good- and continued on to the hotel to see if we could get to our room.  Luckily, our room was ready! I was planning on having an hour long nap... Both Rémi and I had a 2 hour nap!  It felt amazing to sleep in a bed!!!  I don’t think I could spend another night in a  Tent...

After our fabulous nap, it was time for a run.  We got ready and headed out not knowing how far we would go. During our run, we came across a large group of Hispanics clapping, curious, we approached to see what the commotion was about. Ends up they were performing baptism in the lake!  What a special moment!  We ended up doing 5k which felt great!  Different movements than going up and down mountains... it was flat ground... ahhh flat space...never felt so good!

I guess that pretty much sums up our day.  Had dinner at McDonald’s, found a beautiful cathedral, packed our bags and went to bed.

This is supposedly the #1 thing to see. ?!?