Mt Faron

At long last we have found out where the cable car leaves from to go up to the top of Mont Faron.   The children picked a brochure up from the office at the campsite.  So simple. It contained information about Mont Faron and the cable car.    Why did we not think of doing this!    Problem solving is best left to children, sometimes.   

We, of course, have been talking about the cable car for years, and wondering, and looking at a mountain, which we thought was Mont Faron, and talking about the wonderful views to be gained from the top.  But Mont Faron is directly behind the centre of Toulon, and the cable car is located at the top of a small hill behind the Railway Station.    And Mont Faron is also a decidedly smaller mountain than the one we were looking at.

So on a morning that looked like it could be decidedly wet, we decided to venture forth to look at Mont Faron.   Not even the flashes of lightening could deter us from our proposed outing.    'What if the cable car was hit by lightening?'    Luckily we got lost in the back streets of Toulon, so by the time we found the cable car, the thunder storm had moved on to other parts of the countryside.

We waited nervously beside the cable car.   

But the views from the top were worth it.   There is a road up to the top, but it looked very steep and twisty and we all agreed the cable car was a preferable option.

Lunch in the playground.   A little tatty.

Patrick looked delightful in his sunhat!

A beautiful collection of cycad trees.   Well I think that is what they are.   They look fairly prehistoric.

So what is there to see up at the top of Mont Faron.    Other than the views of Toulon, the sea and the surrounding hills, there are two restaurants, plenty of walks, a zoo which specialises in breeding wild animals, and a fortress.    I sat and looked at the views.   Patrick, Donna and Lucy went to look at the zoo, which they said was very good for viewing the wild animals and their babies.    Although they said that the enclosures were very small.     Walter spent time in the fortress, which contained plenty of history from Napoleon times to WW2.    During WW2 the area was the scene of a very fierce battle.

So a return up to Mont Faron will be a definite must for the future, in order to see everything that we missed this visit.