It’s a crisp, cool morning as we pull into the port. We’re not actually docked in Toulon – that is a 30 minute boat ride away, but in La Seyne-sur-Mer, we guess because of port space, but we’re not sure. It doesn’t matter to us, our plans are to drive to Aix in Provence and then to the coast, so we’re good. The car we have booked at Avis is a mile and 3/4 walk, all the way through the town. We use it as our morning gym and head out as soon as the ship is cleared.
It’s another easy walk, just long. But we make it with no problems and arrive at Avis before our appointed 9am reservation. No English spoken here – and the guy is having a hard time figuring out how to input our address into their system. Sort of funny that he wouldn’t have had a US customer before, and he has to call someone to help him. We’re finally all logged in, and into our car we go. No instructions, no gas or diesel – we’ll just have to figure it out. We can do that!
Out into the traffic we go – we’ve programmed in the main street of Aix en Provence, so we’re just following Alice – and thank heavens for Alice – there are tons of turns and round-a-bouts and twists getting to the A50! We’d never have found the way out on our own – even with the awesome signage. We’re finally on the autostrada (well, autoroute because we are in France after all!), and headed up into the hills – where suddenly the beautiful day turns hazy and foggy. Darn.
We arrive in Aix without incident (plus the car has GPS, so we have 2 guides that either compete or match…hmmm….), although the Cours Mirabeau (the main street we were aiming for) is closed for a market today. Good and bad! Market? Cool. Closed? Bad – where should we go? I had spied a parking garage on the way in, so we round-a-bout our way back to the entrance and head down into the cavernous garage. We find a space with the green light (gotta love the technology – you know what aisle to turn down, and what aisles are full) and take a picture of the space number just so we’ll remember where we are!
We find the elevator which delivers us into the middle of a shopping plaza (where we take another picture to make sure we know which elevator to take – there are multiple options) and then aim toward the Cours Mirabeau, reputed to be one of the most beautiful streets in all of Europe.
Well, all we can say it may be the most beautiful street, when it is a warm, sunny spring day and there is no market in the middle of it. the buildings are grand, but in the stark cloudy weather, with the trees all pruned back, not so beautiful to us.
The market in the middle of the street doesn’t help the ambience much either. And disappointingly, it’s a flea market, not a produce or food market. Oh well – at least we made it here – we had planned this on another trip, but the port got cancelled, so…..
We’re cold, and sort of bummed, so we strike out onto the side streets and find a nice warm little café for cappuccino and wifi. We warm up there, use the facilities, then head back to the car to go to Cassis on the coast.
We do find the car, without the photographic help actually! We’re right by the exit so we are up and out of town in a flash. Well, flash being relative because there are all sorts of diversions and then I got turned around and we made a wrong turn, and well, you can imagine from there. But we do finally make it back to the autoroute and on our way back down to the coast for Cassis.
I had also read about the Calanques, which are limestone formations on the coast. It sounded like we could drive through them and I thought this would be cool. But, neither GPS can find this area, so we just head to Cassis. Which turns out to be the wise move – Cassis is a beautiful little seaside town. We find parking pretty easily and walk through the twisty little streets to a plaza in the middle of town with excellent views up the hills to a fort or castle.
Along the way looking at the street signage…
…funny!
We like this place. It’s sweet and little, and we probably like it a lot now because it is winter and not crowded. We would probably hate it in the summer when it is crowded with tourists and beach-goers, as it is referenced in the guide materials as the “famous” coastal resort town!
It is getting on around noon, so we decide it is time to eat. We’re looking for light because we have Le Bistro tonight, so we peruse the menus, which actually are advertising 1 Kg Moules Frites for 9E. Not bad! But more than what Ed wants to eat. The first place we come across is traditional (stuffy) French, but does have a charcuterie platter that would work. The next place, right next door, called Le Perroquet, is more of a bar (sort of a dive, if all be told) and looks more like us. The menu is similar with the same charcuterie – so we dive in (LOL). We’re the first and only customers, but the bartender doesn’t seem to mind, so order our beer and wine (Cassis – the region’s famous white wine, which is excellent, btw) and snack on our peanuts while waiting for food. 
The platter comes, and it is perfect, just enough food to keep us going until dinner – and not so much that we are stuffed.
Sated, we head back to the car. As we are walking there, we see a couple of booths advertising boat trips to the Calanques. Aha! So, when they say coastal, they mean coastal! Guess that’s why we couldn’t find it in the GPS.
Ok – so no need to look for that stop anymore. Instead we head back toward La Seyne, with a stop in Sanary-Sur-Mer, an old fishing port with the likes of Jacques Cousteau as a former resident.
We take the back roads by the coast to get to Sanary – instead of the Autoroute – a nicer, more scenic drive through farmland, little towns and along the water.
More diversions here, but we finally arrive at the seaport and find parking right by the harbor. We’ve been very lucky with the parking today! This is an adorable little French seaside town. The boats are as advertised – old, original little fishing vessels that are still used today (although most look more like museum exhibits – they are so perfect).
It’s quite nice in the sun, so we stroll down the promenade next the marina, checking out the dolphin statue and all the stalls for the fishing boats to sell their catch when they arrive back in port.
We stop at Le Galion for a beverage – not as reasonably priced as in Cassis, but then again, we’re right on the water here…and it’s quite crowded at the café with locals, so it doesn’t seem to be a tourist trap.
It’s time for us to head back. Even thought the maps say we’re only 15 minutes for La Seyne, we need to be safe rather than sorry, and we do have that long walk back to the ship ahead of us. So, we leave our sunny table, and we stroll back to the car, snapping pictures along the way.
We make it back to Avis without an issue. Drop the car and walk back to the ship in plenty of time for all aboard. Great towns, great day!
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