Grimaud is a medieval hill top village, with narrow cobbled streets, a Romanesque church and the ruins of an 11th century castle at the top. It is also unspoilt and quaint and out of season, very quiet. We almost had the village to ourselves.
We visited the village in 2012, and always said we would come back again, which we finally did, after seven years.
It is also a very easy village to drive to, too. No winding around narrow roads to get there. No traffic. Just turn left at the first roundabout on the D98, before the hypermarkets and busy roads that signal the beginning of the madness that leads to St Tropez.
It is then a matter of driving through the narrow streets of Cogolin, which is a little down trodden considering the area that it is in, then onto the road that leads up to Grimaud. There is also free car parking at the top, with plenty of parks. Plus free public toilets that are clean. It gets better.
My apologies to all members of the family that have missed out on going to this delightful village.
A view up to the Marie, the town hall.
A delightful square.
Walter standing under a pruned p tree. The market square. In a couple of months the plane trees will cover the whole area in shade.
The very dark Romanesque Church of Saint-Michel. No windows. Too dark for me. We did not linger long.
Deserted narrow cobblestoned streets. All the buildings were beautifully renovated and maintained.
Another narrow street. We walked up this one to get to the castle ruins.
The arch that went nowhere.
The building over the arch. I love the blue shutters.
A perfect setting for a cup of early morning coffee.
Some pretty sculptures at the bottom of the castle ruin.
A view up towards the ruined ramparts.
I could not resist taking a photograph of this prickly pear, with red poppies growing at the bottom of it.
The prickly pear is just beginning to flower. After wards the large red fruit will appear.
After a wet spring the red poppies are looking their best.
Now I think the view in this photograph is over the plains towards St Maxime and St Tropez. The Masif des Maures mountains surround three sides of the village. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of urban sprawl up the side of some of the hills.
Apparently after the French Revolution the castle was no longer lived in, and the stone was sold off. Luckily the castle then became a national heritage site before all the stones had gone.
One of the towers standing tall and straight.
A view down to the village below.
The old well.
We stopped at a cafe/creperie for lunch; salads again, mine was Salade Nicoise which had a topping of tinned tuna and anchovies, and Walter had Salade Normandie which had a topping of smoked ham. Both very simple but quite tasty. I washed my salad down with a glass of red house wine and Walter a non alcoholic beer. All very civilised. and totally relaxing.
I took a photo of Walter, which showed the cafe, and buildings behind it, but could not include it. Terrible photograph of Walter. He would not have been happy to see that photograph in this blog.
On the way home we stopped at a boulangerie to get a baguette for tea plus some small cakes.
The addiction to cakes in the afternoon is becoming a problem. A delicious problem, I might add.
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