Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Cassis

May 20th

Chris, Mom, and I took the bus from Castellane (just down the street from us) over to Cassis. The ride only took about 4o minutes, and it was a beautiful drive. The bus went up into the mountains and then through the mountain tops over to Cassis. Chris was wise in sitting to the inside of the bus, because looking out the window and down at the edge of the mountain would have really bothered him.

The bus dropped us off a bit oustide of the main part of town, so we walked towards the port (or at least what we thought was the direction of the port) and wound up in the town center. We stopped into a shop so that Mom could buy a hat, then we walked through the open air market admiring the Provencal goodies. We had heard that the raisin bread is the best at the market, but we got there too late. We bought some dried figs and apricots, and then walked over to the port for lunch. For lunch, we had pizzas while watching people walk on the port.

The three of us went over to the beach and Chris & I touched the water. It was pretty cold to me, but a lot of people were out swimming. We went into the office of tourism and got a map of the area and plotted out what we wanted to do for the afternoon. There was a tourist train at the port, and we hopped on. It took us over to Port Miou, let us out for 10 min, then went back to the port. It was worth the ride because the scenery was beautiful! Chris and I had been to Port Miou when we took the Calanques tour boat.

Back at the port, we decided to walk to one of the 12 local vineyards to do some wine tasting. We walked the hill up to Clos Sainte Magdeleine. With the wineries, you are suppose to call ahead and make a reservation. We decided that we would just take our chances upon arrival.

When we got to the door to the winery, there was a couple waiting there. They spoke English and said that they had rang the doorbell and was waiting to see if they could get in. A lady appeared at the door and said that all of us could come in for a tour and tasting for 13 euros a piece. It turned out to be a very sweet deal!

The couple with us on the tour was from South Africa. The woman spoke English and French, and the guy only spoke English. Chris and the lady would translate for the rest of us on the tour. We walked over the vines and the view was amazing. I would love to live there and tend to the grapes, with the mountains on one side, and the sea on the other. We walked over to the cliff and looked down where people were swimming and one guy was holding a huge octopus.

The lady led us inside and downstairs to the cellar to do the tasting. Cassis is known for white wines. I'm not a big fan of whites, but the Cassis wine we tasted at this winery was the best white I have ever had. Even their Rose was delicous! Chris did an excellent job with translating and going back and forth between French and English. Mom was pretty impressed.

After the tasting, we paid the bill and found out that each of us got a free bottle of our choice to take home! So we chose 2 bottles of white and 1 bottle of Rose to take with us.

We didn't have time to explore any other wineries, but the one was perfect.

We went back to the port and decided it was time for gouter (snack). There was a cafe serving crepes, so we stopped there. Mom had a banana and chocolate crepe, I had banana and Nutella crepe, and Chris had creme de marron (chestnut cream). They were delicous!

We shopped around for a while and then headed back to the bus stop. It was a nice ride back to Marseille. Cassis is now one of my favorite places to visit along the sea.

CLICK HERE for pictures of the day

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