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Published: February 20th 2018
We were finally ready to move again, but this time as a sailboat! After a wonderful send off from our new friends, Marita and Erik, we headed out the channel (a very shallow one at that) into the harbor and into the Mediterranean to see if we remember how to sail. It turned out to be a lovely day for our first time out in a long time with the sails up. We decided to not go too far and anchored out at the archipelago of Ile Frioul which is located near the coastal city of Marseille. This archipelago has been owned by the city of Marseille since 1971.
With its closeness to Marseille it is a very popular day trip away made easy with numerous daily ferry trips to the island. Our first day out from Port Napoleon was a Friday so the anchorage was already getting a little “busy” when we got there. Later in the day we found out that it really was empty when we arrived as many more boats packed into the anchorage by the end of the day! When we first anchored we figured we had plenty of swing room around us, but later
that day we had neighbors that we could have handed our grey poupon mustard to if they needed it without getting wet!! With it being the start of the weekend, we decided that we should stay put for a few days as figured it would be crowded at all the anchorages in the area and that there were some great places to explore on the island here.
This group of islands is part of the Parc National des Calanques which was created in 2012. Calanques are narrow inlets surrounded by steep walled limestone. These narrow openings to the sea surround these islands providing wonderful places for anchorages as well providing beach areas, another draw to these islands. The island has more than 300 endemic specimens of plants growing here in the arid microclimate which are able to handle the salty air. Many you need to look for as they are low growing plants with roots that can take hold in the cracks in the limestone, but when you see a spot of color it stands out on the arid ground.
We went ashore and found that when you walked through a break in the rocks, the other side
of the island had the Port village which was built in 1974 complete with numerous restaurants, shops and holiday lodging for the high tourist season. There are approximately 200 people living on the island year round but as the mainland city of Marseille is only a 20 minute ferry ride away many work, go to school and obtain health care on the mainland. We understand that when a park is developed they do not push the people that are living there out, but work around them and let them stay in their residence.
There is also a military presence on the island which has a long history here. There is a very small island part way between Marseilles and Isle Frioul where the Chateau d’If was built in 1529 for protection of the harbor. It was transformed into a prison in 1580 and remained that way with the last prisoners being Germans during WWI.
There are ruins from fortifications that were built in the 19
th C. to protect this part of the coastline, but during WWII German forces occupied the
islands from October 1943 to August 1944. They began the construction of the "Sudwall", a line of fortifications of
Finally Got Time To Go to Town
had a chance to see the Hotel de Ville Herethe Mediterranean coast on the model of the Atlantic Wall as well as used some of the previous fortifications as a base to build watchtowers, bunkers and other military installations. The battleship Nevada attacked in August 1944 and the destruction caused can be still seen on the island, but it did force the Germans to surrender to the Allies in August of 1944 at this location.
There are numerous trails all over the island leading to the various ruined military installations which are interesting, but they also give you a wonderful view of the various inlets around the island with numerous anchored boats and small beaches that vacationers make good use of.
With staying at this same location we were able to take quite a few hikes around the island giving us a great vantage point overseeing this wonderful area. Our stop at Ile Frioul was an excellent one for our first foray out in the Mediterranean and back to our sailing life on board.
Our next stop was to another island, Ile Porquerolles. The village was established here in 1820, but in 1912 Francois Fournier purchased the whole island as a wedding gift for his wife.
An Evening Out With Friends for Dinner
now that the work is done & getting ready to leave He planted 500 acres of vineyards which lead to the wine produced being one of the first to be classified as vin des Cotes de Provence. In 1871 France bought 80% of the island to become part of the Port Cros Parc National as well as a nature conservation area. It is nice to see that many of these islands are being preserved for all to enjoy.
We anchored out in the bay here rather than going into the marina, so a short dinghy ride took us into the village to do some exploration. There are plenty of hiking and biking trails around the island – we didn’t bring our bikes in on the dinghy so had a pleasant walk instead. The nature conservation area is filled with specimens of plants from various parts of the world, all able to survive in this arid micro-climate. An enjoyable place to spend some time if you make it to this island.
Leaving the next morning we decided to head to Cavaliare, which is close enough to St. Tropez to get there by bus. We have heard that it is very difficult to get into the marina at St. Tropez not
The Marina at Port Napoleon is Popular
and many leave their boats here between seasons only due to space problems, but even if you could get in; the price is quite high in keeping with being in the French Riviera and an address of St. Tropez!
Cavaliare had been an old fishing town, but with the destruction from WWII, it now is a town of apartment buildings and numerous shops. The one thing that they try to promote here though is that they are located on the French Riviera (Cote d’Azur) and have beautiful beaches with the same sun and sea of the more exclusive (and expensive) St. Tropez. Fortunately for us it had room in the marina, plenty of shops for provisioning and as we had heard a good bus system to get to a few of the towns on the Riviera. The weather was sunny, but the winds were very strong (and as always out of the wrong direction!) A good place to stop for a few days.
We heard that it was market day in the nearby town of St. Maxime so headed over there by bus. We found that this market did have a few of the typical food offerings, but it was much more about clothing, pocketbooks, shoes,
and household items. These offerings were of a little higher caliber than we are used to seeing in many of the markets where you go to get a “deal” - the offerings here were with much higher price tags, but the vendors were still doing well. We almost felt that we were under dressed for being at the market – quite a change from other markets that we have been to.
There were signs about town stating that there was an exhibition of Salvador Dali’s work located in the Hotel Chateau Leon Gaumont, located high on a hill above the town. We figured, why not climb up to it and check it out. We had a nice hike up to this spectacular hotel that had once been the home of Leon Gaumont, a pioneer in the film industry. It was built in 1883, but Gaumont made numerous modifications to the home making it a place he did some of his filming. It has beautiful grounds which we enjoyed, but missed out on the fabulous views of St. Maxime as the exhibit was closed for the day and as we didn’t have reservations there we didn’t get to go to
the higher levels to get a peek at the views. It didn’t matter as we got to see more of the town and even had a chance to see an old laundry washing area, similar to ones we have seen in other villages throughout France. It was a pleasant day outing and we were very glad that we were visiting by sea by the looks of the waves out in the gulf.
St. Tropez was next on our list and the bus delivered us there early in the morning so we would have a full day of exploring to see how the other half lives. Sure glad we didn’t even try to get in to the marina by sea – there are a couple of marinas here, but even the one that is for the “smaller boats” had plenty of big ones there and it appeared to be very full. We walked by the numerous “big boys” and saw that they were really packed in. One actually was trying to leave and it was quite a job with crews on the neighboring yachts having to adjust the fenders so they could pass each other. Fortunately there is also marina
staff in inflatable’s to help direct the yachts out of their positions. Quite a production to see!
The market in St. Tropez was upscale as expected with designer clothes and purses – nothing that I needed so on to exploring the historic parts of the town. Located on a hill high above the town is the Citadel. A protective wall was first built around the town in the 15
th C. for protection from invasion as well as to be sure the inhabitants knew that the King had authority over them. A small fort was added in 1589 on a hill, but it was destroyed a few years later in 1595. This location was very strategic; therefore in the 17
th C. further defensive structures were built here. There is a hexagonal tower still here that had been built in 1607 protecting an interior courtyard with the addition of a drawbridge and moat. Modifications were made over the years as needed for things such as gunpowder storage and entries for vehicles. During WWI the town of St. Tropez became a detention camp for German prisoners, and then in 1942 the Citadel was occupied by Italians before the Germans took it over.
As with St. Maxime, St. Tropez was liberated by the Allies in August 1944. No matter where we go we are reminded by the extensive area that was impacted by WWII, and also can understand the appreciation many voice to us for the assistance provided by the Allies.
The views from the Citadel were magnificent as we could see the whole of the Gulf with St. Maxime located directly across from where we were and the mountains in the background. This is definitely a beautiful area of the country and can understand the draw to it. From what we were seeing in the Gulf the waves were pretty nasty and the only ones out on the water were a few of the more powerful motor yachts. We even saw a large motor yacht pulling their “dinghy” (aka support vessel) behind which was longer than our sailboat! Definitely out of our league here as far as yachts go. It is fun to walk the quay and see the variety of yachts, but we are still happy with our Tsamaya!
The next day was our last in Cavaliare so we used it for those more mundane jobs of shopping and
doing laundry. That evening we took a nice walk along the beach front to watch the sun setting. This was a good base to be at for a few days while the wind was kicking up. Tomorrow it is reported to calm down so we will be moving on again.
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