We decided to go for a drive along the coast, in order to see close up, the coastline that we normally view from afar, either from the motorway or from the train.
A beautiful sunny day, which is not unusual down here, I know.
After driving on twisty roads, through endless housing and commerical developments, which appear to be the outer suburbs of Toulon, but still with their original place names, we arrived at our first stop, somewhere between Sanary-Sur-Mer and Bandol.
Bandol is very upmarket, almost a larger version of St Tropez without the pretensions. It is certainly a place to come back to, in order to browse in the endless array of beach side shops, and to explore the village. That is if one can find a car park, which is the reason why there are no photographs, as we could not stop. The photographs taken from the car window turned out blurry.
Then onto our next stop, La Ciotat, always seen in the distance from the motorway, but never visited. Easy to find a carpark here. And so much quieter. The harbour full of yachts and power boats. Endless masts.
And even the shops were quiet. Along the beach front there were cafes and restaurants, all temporary, although not many customers. The staff had to cross the road to bring the food and drinks to the customers, as the buildings were on the other side of the road. Must be difficult during August, when no doubt the road in the middle is very busy.
One of the beaches at La Ciotat, with only a few people. Topless for females seem to be the norm here. The ship yards can be seen in the background, with two enormous hills behind them. These ship yards really stand out when viewed from the motorway, and from a distance they look unsightly, but of course crucial to the economy of the area. They build and refit ships, especially large yachts.
It is also possible to hop on a ferry here, which takes people around the coast, to other small towns. We intend to do this on our next visit, probably next year.
We ate a sandwich at a small beach cafe, a summer time establishment, but obviously very popular, and certainly our baguettes with fillings were well made and good to eat. Walter sitting in anticipation of his French style hamburger in a baguette, which included a few chips as well.
Some of the smaller boats, all lined up, in this small sheltered harbour.
These two cranes, on a building site, really stood out against the bright blue sky.
Then we turned around and came back via the motorway, which did not take very long at all. Just before Toulon, we decided to take a smaller road which ran behind Mt Faron. Much more scenic.
We stopped at our favourite shopping centre, Geant, in order to buy some groceries. But not this very large fish, with a mouth large enough to bite a limb off. We left it on the fish counter. Very scary.
And back at the campsite, we finished the day off, with a meal at the restaurant for dinner, cassoulet du pecheur, which I think literally means a 'fisherman's stew' but I could be wrong. Pecheur means 'fisherman' and we were sure we were not going to eat a man. Anyway, it turned out to be a piece of fish, some mussels and a few prawns cooked in a herby stock. A sort of bouillabaisse, but not so fishy! It was delicious.
But the day did not end there. We thought a walk around the campsite was a good idea, but got distracted by talking to other campers, so after a cup of tea, a glass of wine, and
coffee at two different campsites, we crawled into bed, happy and contented, and slept well.
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