Cassis, Pont du Gard, Uzes

Only a few km (10) from Marseille are these beautiful wildnerness areas in the Calanques. Calanques ("Ka-lonk) are fjords in the Mediterranean, between Marseilles and Cassis. 

It was amazing that such a wild place was so close to Marseille, the 2nd largest city in France. 

A small, sort of run-down, empty beach "town".

View between two Calanques.

It was like another world down there.

The Rosemary was in bloom everywhere. 

Some other stuff was in bloom too.

Had to take some rosemary for the ride. 

Our next stop after Marseille was Cassis ("Cah-See"). A beautiful little town on the sea, about 30 min from Marseille. THey say it's the "poor man's Riviera". We felt very fortunate to be spending time there. Our hotel in Cassis - we had two rooms with adjoining balconies that overlooked the sea. That night we had wine and cheese overlooking the sea.

The view from our terrace at night.

The cove across the road from our hotel. 

Cap Canaille, the 2nd highest cliff in Europe is in the background.

A beautiful villa on the cove by our hotel. 

It looked like it was empty but getting ready for summer inhabitants.

The old village of Cassis, as we walked to it from our hotel.

There were terrible storms all over France but we got lucky and had great weather. 

The only effects of the storms we felt were some big rogue waves. 

Some fishing boats in Cassis harbor.

Reflections of plane trees...

Our hotel - in the summer I imagine they serve a lot of Pastis on this deck.

Almond trees were in bloom! Shortly after taking this photo we were chased off the property by a woman yelling at us. We think she was worried we'd trample her grape vines. 

We didn't stick around to find out for sure. 

There were still some old dried up almonds left on the trees from last season. 

Making our way on a little hike among the Calanques. 

Ale taking a break, listening to Nils freaking out about the heights.
"Ale! Don't get so close to the edge like that!!!"

I always thought Nils' eyes were the same color as the Mediterranean Sea. 

What do you think?

A cove in one of the Calanques.

After our hike.

View from our hotel. I love those pines. 

One of the beaches on the other side of Cassis.

I thought the types of dogs this fisherman had were very European. Back home you'd see a lab. 

The ocean wasn't that cold! 

About the same as the Maine Atlantic in the middle of the summer!

Nils always finds the best stones and even some fossils. 

Dave enjoying a lovely breakfast outside our hotel. 

Some more rosemary blooming on our deck. 

We took a drive down the coast a bit to the top of Cap Canaille
to take in the views from 1,200 feet over the sea ...

...and the views were pretty darn good.

Dave checking out the map on top of Cap Canaille.

Pretty cool ride for a camper, owned by a retired couple. 

We stopped to have lunch in this really cute town called Grans. 

There, like so many towns in Southern France, people drink Pastis and
rose wine in the middle of the day, even on weekdays. 

The whole town was in a circle. 

A poster in the center of town. Loose translation: 

"We are not under the orders of Sarkozy. Let us act with the Left Front!"

Drive from Grans to Pont du Gard. I can't get over how cool these tree-lined roads are. 

We arrived at Pont du Gard - i had to post all the info I found on Wikipedia:

It has long been thought that the Pont du Gard was built by Augustus' son-in-law and aide, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, around the year 16 BC. Newer excavations, however, suggest the construction may have taken place in the middle of the first century A.D; consequently, opinion is now somewhat divided on the matter. Designed to carry the water across the small Gardon river valley, it was part of a nearly 50 km (31 mi) aqueduct that brought water from the Fontaines d'Eure springs near Uzès to the Castellum in the Roman city of Nemausus (Nîmes).^[1]The full aqueduct had a gradient of 34 cm/km (1/3000), descending only 17 m vertically in its entire length and delivering 20,000 cubic meters (5 million gallons) of water daily.

It was constructed entirely without the use of mortar. The aqueduct's stones – some of which weigh up to 6 tons – were precisely cut to fit perfectly together eliminating the need for mortar. The masonry was lifted into place by block and tackle with a massive human-powered treadmill providing the power for the winch. A complex scaffold was erected to support the aqueduct as it was being built. The face of the aqueduct still bears the mark of its construction, in the form of protruding scaffolding supports and ridges on the piers which supported the semicircular wooden frames on which the arches were constructed. Various inscriptions are found across the surface, containing instructions used in construction. For example, "FRS II" (frons sinistra II, Latin for "left face 2"), phallic symbols (intended to ward off bad luck), and graffiti left by builders throughout the ages.

The upper levels of the bridge are slightly curved in the upstream directions, a fact long attributed to the engineers wanting to strengthen it against the flow of water, like a dam wall. However, a microtopographic survey carried out in 1989 showed that the bend is caused by the daily expansion and contraction of stones under the heat of the sun, by about 5 millimetres. Over the centuries, this process has produced the deformation witnessed now.

It is believed to have taken about three years to build, employing between 800 and 1,000 workers.

Shadows...

Dave and his friend Mickael, who is from outside or Marseille. 

He was in the area visiting his family who live near Avignon. 

More shadows...

Self-portrait.

Dave and Mickael doing their part to help support the aqueduct.

We then made our way to a little town we read about called Uzes. 

We stayed in a wonderful beautiful B&B in Uzes. This was the center courtyard of the home, 

which was originally built for a nobleman.  

Walking along the streets. 

Inside the courtyard of the B&B.

The main square in Uzes. There were lots of people hacning out drinking wine or coffee, chatting, etc. 

It seemed like we were the only Americans or English-speakers there. 

All of the streets had really streets with pretty stone drainage details.

A beautiful church in the town center.

Storks on top of one of the churches in town. 

It looked like they were keeping guard over the city.

More plane trees

We had a spectacular meal at a restaurant called Le Bec Au Vin. It was truly delicious, the owner was our waiter, and he was so kind, helpful, informative and modest. The meal was also incredibly reasonably priced. Not much more than a pasta dinner in Luxembourg.

The garden behind the B&B. My dream space. 

Dave looking from the dining room to the garden. 

I'm in the reflection, with the umbrella.

Dave with our bountiful and beautiful breakfast. 

More images of the garden - my shangri-la.

A swallow's nest in the hallway outside of our bedroom door. 

The swimming pool in the garden.

Our bedroom. The ceilings were over 15 feet tall, and the stones in the floor were about 2' long. 

The old well in the house courtyard.

Dave making friends with the inn keepers' dog. 

The owners just let him roam around the streets freely.

More garden images.

I had been hoping to see some citrus trees. There is actually a lemon festival in a town on the coast, not that far from Cassis. This was the first lemon tree on the trip. Ahhhh, it made me so happy to see it. 

Walking around Uzes. We read that the market there was one of the best in the region. 

Notice the drainage. 

Ranunculus flowers in the market. My favorite flowers! We also bought olive oil, kiwis (still can't figure out if there were in season - they were from France but it seemed so early for something like a kiwi to grow, not that i'm a kiwi expert), eggs, sausages, salad greens, and these beautiful pink onions. 

But my favorite purchase was the Ranculus. 

And 12 days later they are still going strong!