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The cliffs of Giens
One of the many fantastic views on our 4 hour hike around Giens. La Ciotat - Giens - Ile de Porquerolles - St Tropez - St Aygulf
It was a beautiful day in the med, so I decided to go to the beach to have my morning tea while James went off on a run. We couldn’t stay at this place another night so we decided to go into La Ciotat to see if we could find out where is good to go along the coast. We had a run in with the French ladies at reception because they didn’t know that we had stayed the night and couldn’t find James’s ID that he had handed over to some man the night before. After a lot of confusion, and the lady almost mad at us that she couldn’t find the ID, they finally figured out who the man was and went to his caravan to retrieve the ID. Of course, the whole time these conversations are going on in French, so I have no idea whats going on, but James seemed to understand ok.
After a little chat with the tourism office, we decided to hunt down an internet café to figure out a campsite for the rest of the weekend.
A Gourmet meal with our new Dining Set
Don't we look cute with our new furniture! I had found a nice region that I thought would be nice to stay, but it turned out the campsite was full. We called a half dozen more and they seemed to be too busy or were not answering their phones. So what was our solution….just drive to Giens…show up and hope that someone can give us a campsite…or we would sleep on the road. No big deal right!
La Ciotat was where I had my first fresh French baguette, pretty much my highlight of the day! We had seen everyone carrying around baguettes everywhere and at all times of the day. I decided that I needed to try this out. We found a little bakery and we discover that there are many different kinds….now I have to pick one…I just wanted whatever everyone else had! So I pick one out and the lady hands it to me…the bread is still warm…mmmm sounds good eh. Well let me tell you that it tastes even better! Oh soo good. We ate it all on the way back to Ernie…well I think I ate most of it!
Back on the road to a region of the Cote D’Azur called Giens
Goofing around in a Fortress
On the Island of Ile de Porquerolles. The continuation of action shots! by Hyeres. It’s a peninsula that has beach on either side with marshy bit in the middle with flamingos. We found signs to one of the campsites that we couldn’t get a hold of so we drove down to check it out. Turns out they had room for us….and it turned out to be our dream campsite. The highlights….toilet seats (but you still have to bring your own tp), a pool, beach access….and a sand volleyball court! Well you can imagine how excited James and I were! So we found a nice site and decided to stay a few nights.
We went for a nice walk to check out the beach….beautiful water, but still a little rocky sandy. We met a nice couple from the UK that was set up right beside us, and they had been camping in the region for years. So after dinner we went and had a few drinks with them and they gave us some good ideas of what to do and what to see.
The next morning we decided to check out the walking paths around the peninsula (came highly recommended from Stuart and Linda, the UK couple). So off on
James by a Windmill
On the peak of Ile de Porquerolles. our merry way we went, with one bottle of water, expecting to go on a few hour walk. Well, we got ourselves onto some crazy paths, very beautiful once you got to the lookouts over the cliffs and down to the sea, but almost grouse grindish! We found a couple of cool little beaches, and great turquoise blue water everywhere. What turned out to be a nice 2 hour walk, ended up being a good 4 hour hike! Very well worth it, but by the end we were so hot and dehydrated. It was hot out!
After some lunch and a swim in our pool, we went into the Port D’Hyeres to find an internet signal. Beautiful little port with tons of little cafes and restaurants, and lots of gelato! We even managed to buy our first piece of furniture to add to Ernie! Two beautiful green fold up chairs, and a solid laminate wood table. Sounds pretty fancy eh! We cooked a gourmet meal that night of gnocci with smoked salmon in a nice cream sauce, and of course a bottle of wine and a baguette! All prepared by my own gourmet chef Mr. James Peters! (Yet another
Beautiful Bay and Beach
One of the amazing views onto a beach on the Ile of Porquerolles. reason I brought him along ) Then we dined like kings and queens on our new outdoor dining room set! Doesn’t it sound like gourmet camping!
The next day we were off for a kite surfing lesson. James was pretty excited about this because he flies kites, and has wanted to learn kite surfing for a long time. But me…well I can wakeboard, but I’ve only tried to fly James’s 4 string kite once, and I didn’t do very well with it. So I was a little nervous about that. We got a ride down to the instructors with 3 Swiss guys, and there are already 2 other guys there, so I’m the only girl. We get all suited up in some wet suits, and bring all the gear down to 2 zodiacs. There are 2 instructors, and luckily one young guy, Maxim, spoke English pretty well.
So we get down to the beach and unroll these kites, and Maxim takes James and I aside to teach us. James knows all about these kites and I have no idea! So we get the kite in the air and Maxim says to me (you have to imagine this in a French accent…cause it’s just funnier)….Mel…come over here…you try the kite. Ok…so I’m a bit nervous. He just attaches this kite to me and I’m supposed to fly it…..he says ok…try to keep in middle…right and left, right and left. Ok….so what do I do….it crashes into the sea right away. He goes….oooohhhh Mel….ok we try again!
We get it up again….he explains to me again how the system works again…ok I think I understand. He tells me, ok you go put your feet in the sea, and if it pulls you down, you just fall (remember the French accent!). I think I flew the kite for a good 30 secs, and down it went into the sea pulling me down with it with a face plant! I’m used to the face plants from wakeboarding, waterskiing, and old times of diving, so I get up and now determined to get a hold of this flying thing.
After a few more kite crashes I eventually get the hang of the kite and I managed to keep it up in the air a lot longer than a minute. I actually had that thing going pretty well, and it was dragging me all over the beach! Totally fun after getting the hang of it. Meanwhile…James is the expert flyer with the big kite down the beach. It wasn’t a very windy day, which was fine with me, but it wasn’t strong enough for doing actual surfing. So instead we got to do a bit of wakeboarding behind a zodiac. James was doing some jumping…showing off , and I was practicing my switch with some more face plants! All in all, a great day! It was really fun to be on a wakeboard again…can’t wait till for the Friggy Diggy in August! We went back to our campsite, relaxed and ended the day with some more 1-on-1 beach v-ball. A pretty perfect day!
After a great recommendation from Maxim, we decided to take a ferry to the Ile of Porquerolles off the south coast of the peninsula. We rented mountain bikes for the afternoon and cycled a good part of the island. We first ended up on a beach (Notre Dame Plague), where we went for a beautiful swim in the turquoise blue water…I love it! We were smart and made some sandwiches for a nice lunch and some sun tanning time. We then rode south on the island to a lighthouse, then to a windmill, and onto a small châteaux fortress. There were some amazing views of the bay from there. Of course when we get back to the village, because it was such a hot day, we needed our gelato fix! On the ferry back to the mainland there was a guy in a jet ski that was racing with the ferry to jump the wakes! Very entertaining to watch.
From Giens we then drove to St. Tropez, where James had to get some work done on the internet. So I basically walked around the port of St. Tropez, window shopping. Very expensive place with all brand name shops and huge yachts in the port. Cool little alleys full of shops and restaurants…but you definitely need money to stay and shop here. Our campsite for the night was about 30 min east in Saint Aygulf just off the Frejus beach. We arrived late at the campsite, again, so once we checked in we cook dinner and for the first time pulled out the awning on Ernie. Then we dined under the awning with our new dining set for a nice meal! Campsite was nice, very close to a beautiful beach, but again, no toilet seats!
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Ying Ying
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Awesome trip so far...
Hey Mel and James! Sounds like you guys are having an awesome trip so far, and you've been so good at updating your blog! Totally puts me to shame. :(