On Tuesday morning, everything is closed in Bonnieux so we decided to make this our day to go to Cassis. Cassis is a small port town on the Mediterranean just 20km or so from Marseille and is know for its Calenques, cliffs that go into the sea. We were up early for us – 8 AM – and on the road just shy of 9 AM. Shannon drove so I could navigate, it was going to be some map reading and hoping since we had not gotten on the internet for several days to look up actual directions.
It was a fairly uneventful drive, we didn’t probably go the most efficient way, but the signs on the autoroutes (interstates) here are very confusing. So, we followed what I thought was the right way and eventually we did make it, but I know someone who lived here would not have gone the way we did!
It was just as beautiful as expected, but first things first we had to pee! In france it is a bit different than in the US – you don’t really wander into the first shop or even café/restaurant you see and use the bathroom, it is just not really accepted. In the countryside around Bonnieux I have asked a restaurant proprietor to use the toilettes, but in the cities not so much. So, we had to find the public toilettes, and fast! They were by the beach and it cost .50 cents each to go in, so now we had to dig through our purses and try to find the 50 cent piece when all we wanted was to go NOW!
Next up, lunch and we found a busy restaurant with outdoor seating in the shade. It was a great choice and the plat du jour was moules frites – yeah – I love it here! We had a nice relaxing lunch and Shan and I shared a good half bottle of white wine called 4 Vents from the Cote du Luberon – it was quite tasty! We went from there to have a boat ride to the calenques and chose the shortest of the trips, 45 min to three calenques. It was a lovely trip and we got to see plenty of nude sunbathers on the cliffs next to the sea – Rocket and Mighty Hunter would have loved this part!
We took the scenic route back through the southern Luberon and then through the canyon from Loumarin to Bonnieux and found our Michelin Star restaurant on the top of the hill at Bonnieux. We stopped and made reservations for Thursday night… It is my treat to Shan and Sandy, well really my boss Andy’s treat as my gift for my 10 year milestone with my company, to go for a Michelin dinner while here and this place is just gorgeous at the very top of the village and with amazing gardens – I hope the weather cooperates. It has sort of been weird weather, a day of rain and wind, then a day of sun and now (Wed) back to rain and wind.
I took a quick peruse of town and what restaurants were open for Tues night and made a reservation for Le Tinel – a strong recommendation from the Wood family – and it was a fabulous dinner! I think this was my favorite so far on the trip, although it is hard to decide since the dinner at La Fournil was so good as well. We all had very good food and some nice conversation with the owner Nicholas (I think, the girls got his name while I was out taking sunset pictures and they haven’t always “understood” peoples names very clearly), who had spent a couple of years in the US and was also just very charming and not bad to look at either!
A good day, but too much time spent in the car for our taste, today (wed) we planned to do a hike, but will see with the weather, then just short car trips to some of the neighboring villages all within 30 or so minutes. I’m currently sitting at Henri’s patisserie having my tea and pain au chocolat – forgot to take a picture but I will before we leave. I have to go to the café for more tea to get this actually posted on the internet, but oh well I kind of enjoy it!
