Mini Blog: Up Hill, Down Dale.

This is a mini blog, because there is no Wi Fi at the site, and it costs a lot to use this cyber cafe. Well, I'm not sure if it was being overrun by ants, or waiting for the bus in 30 degree heat, but we decided to move on from Sanary. A new friend on the site, who, insanely, liked biking about in the hills in the heat, said "Don't go to Presqu'il de Giens, it's too flat and windy". Sitting baking in the heat, I thought, sounds lovely! So we went. Indeed, it was flat as we drove along. We passed salt marshes full of flamingoes. It was lovely. But, wouldn't you know it, the minute we passed the campsite gates, hills appeared, and our pitch was at the top of a hill that even Tony found steep!

However, the pitch itself was nice, and we walked down to the beach. But this was so narrow and so crowded that it wasn't that great. However, I had a lovely long walk by the sea. That night, though, there was a beautiful moon shining on the water, and we sat there in the dark looking at it. I'd say it was worth the effort just for that evening.

The next day we set off for Cavalaire. The road was beautiful, but not good for driving. The Cote d'Azur has that lovely drop to the sea, which is so pretty, but driving along the twisty, hilly roads in the van is not too great. Now for a very French moment! At one point, the road was blocked off for the weekly market, and we had to go crawling down a steep, narrow road, take a very tight turn, and then back up again. Incredible!

We are now settled in a site in Cavalaire, which hopefully will be the subject of the next blog. We are having a very nice time.

Sanary sur Mer

I have been thinking that the mediterranean climate at this time of year is perfect; pleasantly warm and sunny and not too hot. However, today was hot - 30 degrees and too hot to do a lot of walking about. We took the bus into Sanary sur Mer and sat in the shade by the harbour watching the people and the boats.
We made the short journey of about 50 miles from Aix en Province last Wednesday but couldn't get into our intended campsite. It was full. The season obviously goes on much longer down here, and today we have watched them turning campervans away from the site we are on. We are in a place called Six Fours Les Plages which is next to Sanary sur Mer and we have been taking the bus each day into Sanary; just a ten minute ride away.

Sanary is a beautiful little fishing village but obviously now catering for the tourists. There are still fishing boats at the harbour and each boat has its own stall to sell their catch. We have not been in there early enough to watch, but they are there in the afternoon mending their nets. The harbour is lovely with lots of colourful boats and the quayside is dominated by a lovely church.
We had a little adventure on Friday. We took two local buses which go around the houses to get to La Seyne. When we had to make the connection to the second local bus, I asked the driver to tell me the stop. She said it was her first day on this route and didn't know. Then she gave us the wrong advice and insisted we get off there and we did even though I knew she was wrong! She was only one stop out and we soon walked to the correct stop for the connection. When we arrived at La Seyne we took a small ferry boat across the harbour into Toulon. It was a lovely little trip and a great way to arrive in Toulon. The French mediterranean fleet is based in Toulon and there were quite a few warships anchored in the bay and in the port as well as naval personnel walking around the town. It really felt like I was in Barrow! You can see the similarity in the picture.
The Rough Guide to France really slates Toulon but unjustly so. It was heavily bombed during the war but there are lots of beautiful little streets and small squares with their obligatory Provencal fountain. Some parts seem a little run down, but it is a port city and it had that feel. Less touristy than other places - more down to earth.
One of my passions is French rugby and the Top 14. Ever since Philppe St. Andre left Sale and took half of our team with him, I have followed the progress of Toulon. On TV the Stade Mayol seems to have a wonderful atmosphere. The Stade is next to the harbour and Chris was surprised when I said that I wanted to see it. Nothing was happening there, of course, but a gate was open and I sneaked up the steps to take a look. The stands rise steeply from the pitch and the ground is surrounded by apartment blocks and other buildings that give it the feeling of a cauldron. It would be great to be there on a match day. I am just sorry that I didn't take a photograph for the blog.
We took the cowardly way back home from Toulon. Rather than the boat and two changes on local country buses, we went to La Gare Routiere and took the big bus straight back to Sanary sur Mer with only one stop on the way.
We have to move on from here and we will probably go east along the coast to Cavalaire sur Mer. We are out of food so we have to find a supermarche first.
Just one more thing - my Kindle is brilliant. Each morning I switch it on and within two minutes, as soon as the 3G kicks in, there is today's Guardian. Wonderful!

Camping under the Motorway

Well, after a four day drive we are now in Aix en Provence. This campsite is so very strange! First of all, it's almost under the motorway. You can stand under the motorway bridge and nearly touch the campsite wall. When you get inside, it's like another world. It's full of trees, and a small river runs through the middle of the site. But it's only a small plot of land, and it's like a warren, with nooks and crannies which serve as camping pitches. If you arrive late, you never know where you might end up. The facilites are clean, but out of the ark. It's all very quaint.

Our part of the site is very interesting in a mad sort of way. In the far, rather dark and strange corner are two very friendly retired teachers from England who keep their caravan here permanently. They like wandering about in their red dressing gowns, and buying ripe figs. The man opposite is very eccentric. He spends a lot of time under his classic sports car, drinks beer for breakfast, and speaks to no-one. He harrumphs now and then when things are not going his way. As you can see, we don't need to go out for entertainment.

But of course, we do go out. Aix is such a pretty town. Our favourite part is the daily food market, where we have a favourite cafe.

Today, however, we went to a different one, as the British couple had recommended the special French breakfast there. The waiter just kept coming out with drinks, croissants, bread, fromage frais, and fruit salad. Oh and little dishes of jam. It was a novel experience, and we really enjoyed taking our time over it.











Afterwards, we went to the art gallery, as there was an exhibition on, which sounded really good. However, it was a bit uninspiring, although there were a few nice paintings, especially those by Cezanne, who lived here. A lot of men in Aix seem to be pretending to be Cezanne, sporting his trademark hat and beard. Maybe there's a look alike competition going on.

We have really enjoyed our few days here. We have a shady pitch, and Tony is enjoying getting his Guardian every

day on his Kindle. For those of you who know the swimsuit saga, he has actually bought a pair of French regulation, tight swimming trunks, so he has been able to go for a swim! As usual, I am enjoying my books and messing about with my photos.

However, we are moving on tomorrow to Sanary sur Mer. The next blog will hopefully be from there, and it will be Tony's turn to write it.
Bye for now!



Sorry I didn't manage to get any pics of Cezanne impostors.

Return to Provence

It is Monday August Bank Holiday and here in Manchester it is perhaps 15 degrees ( that's being generous) and, of course, raining. Luckily, we are off early on Wednesday morning for La Belle France and some warmer weather. Today we are loading up the van and we can't wait to get away again. Here is the cunning plan.

This trip will be a mixture of old and new. We will return to some favourite haunts and, for the new, we will explore the mediterranean coast around Toulon. We are not stopping in London on the way down this time, but going straight to Folkestone for the tunnel. Although the crossing is not untill 18.20, we will set off as soon as we can and hopefully get an earlier crossing. That usually happens. Then we will stay the night at La Bien Assise at Guines near Calais. They have wifi in the campsite bar there and we might be persuaded to have a drink. The next morning we will be at the Auchan Supermarche in Calais when it opens at 8.30am for cheap diesel and the odd bottle of wine. Then it is onto autoroute 26 heading for Chalons-en-Champagne where we will spend Thursday night. The next day we will drive as a far as Tournus, just north of Lyon, and rest for the night, before another day's drive to Aix-en-Provence. After four days driving from Manchester we will stay here for three or four nights. We have used the site a few times before and we like it. There is a bus stop just outside for a 10 minute ride in to the city. Aix is a beautiful place and we enjoy sitting in the cafes next to the market and watching life go by.

From Aix it is just a 50 mile drive to Toulon. We are heading for a place called Sanary sur Mer just west of Toulon. This will be new to us, but it sounds good. It describes itself as a small fishing port, but obviously now it is very touristy and commercial. I think we will stop here about a week or so, before heading east along the coast to Cavalaire sur Mer. If we find anything interesting on the way we will stop. Hyeres looks interesting and we may well go there. It is just east of Toulon where the airport for Toulon is located. I don't think we will go further east along the coast than Cavalaire; it depends on the time.

On the return we hope to visit Uzes again. This is a really beautiful town west of Avignon towards the mountains.

Then, finally I hope to spend a week in my favourite village of Beaumes de Venise (just north of Carpentras). The grape harvest should be in full swing and I will, of course, help out by drinking some they made earlier. It would be churlish not to. Then it will be a three day drive back to Calais. By this time in October, campsites will be shutting up for winter and we will have to find alternatives.

Hope you follow us again this time and the blogs will become more interesting when we get underway and Chris starts writing them.

Pictures: Our old van in the campsite at Beaumes, Aix en Provence, and the market at Beaumes de Venise.

Of old people and Tarte Flambee.

Well, this is it. The last town on our tour of Germany and France. We have really enjoyed our trip. We have seen such lovely places, and met so many kind and friendly people. However, it will be good to get home, too. I really miss everyone there, especially this year, with our power problems. The reason we have battery power now is because Tony asked a British man to top up the laptop. It's a good job he's got the cheek of the devil.

The village of Molsheim was nice, but I am not going to describe yet another pretty little place. I think my most humourous memory of the place will be when a Dutch lady asked Tony if he was a war veteran! I shouldn't laugh, as I was once asked if I was evacuated in the war! We must look very old!

Another nice memory will be the Tarte Flambee picnic. It sounds racy, but it was a lot more prosaic than that. The tarte is a speciality of Alsace, and we campers (in shorts and crocs), all sat eating it outside the "library" (and the loos). The tarte was bit like pizza gone wrong. It was tasty, and cream-based, but not quite as good as pizza. We washed it down with beer and coke, and it was a nice occasion. I wonder why Tony's blogs are learned and historical, and mine are usually about food. There's a message in there somewhere!



We finally decided to stop off at Nancy on the way to Calais, and that's where we are now. We went into town earlier, and I have to say I was impressed by Stanislaus Square. It's as good as anything in Paris, and better than Berlin. I think it's my fave place this trip. We ate our sandwiches in a lovely park (more food), and the sun kept coming out, so it was a great day out.

On Friday we will set off for Calais, with an overnight stop on the way. Then it's the wine buying session, before arriving in Dover on Sunday.

We have struggled with this blog a bit, and I hope you haven't all been bored to tears. We will let you know when the next one will be, when we go travelling again. Thanks for reading!

P.S. Thanks to Dolan Tours.com for this trip. When he was not taking shortcuts, or ignoring maps, the tour guide was very good!

Strasbourg

I am glad we went to Strasbourg because it turned out to be a gem. It really is a beautiful city, and if the cynical Rough Guide to France says that then it must be true. It has a bit of everything - old half-timbered, medieval buildings which are so predominant in Alsace, and in contrast it has the very modern architecture of the European Parliament and institutions. Both are impressive.

The cathedral, which is dedicated to Our Lady - Notre Dame de Strasbourg, must be one of the loveliest cathedrals in France. Its single and very ornate spire dominates the city. It rises straight up out of the medieval buildings which crowd round its feet.

The old city, which is quite compact, sits on an island formed by the River Ill and various canals. There is water everywhere. We took a lovely boat trip along various water courses to see the sights of the city. This included the old section full of medieval houses called La Petite France. The boat then took us out to the buildings of the European institutions - the Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament.



We had visited both of these areas the day before, just wandering through them quite slowly as we like to do. We had taken the tram out to the European Parliament for the city has an impressive tram system. The campsite was about 3km south of the city centre and we used the tram each day to get in and out.

We enjoyed just wandering around the city, stopping often, as we do, for coffee and icecream. To cap it all, I could get a Guardian each day.

We are now in Molsheim, a beautiful wine town about 25 km west of Strasbourg towards the Vosges Mountains. We are having a quiet, relaxing few days here really doing nothing. We read and walk into town for coffee. Sadly, we have just about run out of books. We need a Kindle each! We have to make up our minds in the next couple of days whether we should stop in Nancy on the way back and visit its famous square, or just stay here and go directly to Calais at the end of the week. It's a hard life.

Alsace.

Alsace is a part of France that is new to us and it is very pretty. It is also very Germanic, which is not surprising, as it borders Germany. Alsace has been fought over and swapped between France and Germany for hundreds of years. In Colmar, just 30 miles from the border, you could hear plenty of German being spoken as well as French. The German might not actually have beenGerman at all, but "Elsassisch" or Alsatian, which apparently comes from a high German dialect and is still spoken by the locals. We are on the "route du vin" which follows lots of small wine towns and villages along the eastern side of the Vosges mountains from Colmar to Strasbourg.
We have been very lucky to get places at the campsites at Colmar and Obernai during the busy holiday period. The site at Colmar was particularly nice as we had a view of the river. One evening we watched a heron catch a huge fish. On two evenings a stork flew in and came quite close to the van. It was fairly calm in the face of all the tourists taking pictures of it. There are a lot of storks here. They nest on chimney pots and spires in the towns.
The humans were interesting too. One evening six men paddled up in rubber dinghies. They wore baggy old clothes and berets. They got out, put up a tarpauline over a rope and settled in for the night, before setting off again the next day. It was like a scene from a gentle retro French film.
We really loved Colmar. You would think that by now we would be sick of medieval half-timbered buildings, but Colmar was exceptionally beautiful. By the canal the former homes of fishermen have been restored in bright colours. It was such a nice surprise when we came upon it. It's a tourist trap, but very picturesque.
We joined the locals in the market again, and bought fresh pasta and salad for tea, which was a treat, as cooking with the grill in the hot van has been a bit overwhelming.
One of the highlights of Colmar was the art gallery, where we saw the Issenheim Altarpiece. This is apparently quite famous. Anyway, it was very powerful in its depiction of the crucifixion. It was painted in the 15th century, but it looked quite modern in its realism.

Obernai.
When we moved to Obernai, I thought it would be very similar to Colmar, and it is. However, its charm lies in the fact that it is smaller annd quieter than the other towns. As we walked into town, we saw children on an old fashioned carousel. Then, when we came around the corner, we saw the old market place, which was beautiful in the sunshine. Yesterday we enjoyed walking around the town, and today we strolled around the ramparts which still surround the town. This little place remained unscathed by two world wars, which accounts for its authenticity and beauty.
We are hoping to post a last blog from Strasbourg, before we head for home. But this depends on the latop battery life. Love to all, family and friends.