Provence, Day 1: Calanques and Cassis

Girls trip in Provence where we hiked the limestone cliffs of the Calanques, took a boat ride, drank some spritzes, and walked around the beautiful town of Cassis.

We had a lot to do in a little amount of time. We had heard the Camargue was amazing (hello, fleur de sel), seen the beautiful Gorges du Verdon, and then we heard about the Calanques de Cassis. We didn't have time to do it all, but when I saw the pictures of the Calanques and it meant hiking off some of the rose, we were sold!

Day 1 was supposed to include exploring Cassis, hiking the Calanques, and go to tasting rooms (I really wanted to go to Domaine Tempier). We ended up spending a lot more time hiking than what we originally thought, but with these views, I didn't miss the wine (that much!)

We left our hotel, Domaine de Fontenille and decided to head to Lauris and see the 'market' to get breakfast. The 'market' was a lot smaller than I thought and had virtually no food for picnics, so we immediately hopped back in the car and headed down to Cassis. The drive was absolutely beautiful. When we arrived to Cassis, we were immediately struck by two things: 1.) How cute this town was and how we wish were staying in the town for a couple of days and 2.) how hard it was to find parking.

We decided to go have breakfast, go to the Visitors Center in Cassis, and map out our day. When we finally saw a sign for parking that said 100 available spaces, we took a direct left. We found out why all the spaces were empty, it was up a gigantic hill and that in itself was a hike. We strolled down to the harbor and had coffee. There were so many cute cafes and unfortunately for us, we chose the worst one. They gave us the wrong items, were rude, and overcharged for items that we didn't order. Seeing that they pretended to not speak English, it was a little hard to reason with them. Feeling defeated, we paid the bill and went to the Visitors Center, which is located right in the harbor.

At the Visitors Center, donned in our best yoga pants, we asked about hiking the Calanques. He provided us with a map and pointed out two parking lots. When we asked where we should park, he said (in classic non-American customer service), he told us that "either lot was fine". FALSE. He also said that the trail was clearly marked. FALSE again.

We trekked up the hill to the parking lot, hopped in the car, and saw one of the parking lots he mentioned. We saw people with backpacks that look like they were about to do a hike, so let's stop here. As soon as we got out of the car and I looked where the people in backpacks were walking, I immediately knew that it didn't match the map. "The trail would be clearly marked". Erm, ok, we see nothing. And this is a national park. We follow the people. We walk up hills, past houses, and eventually 2.5 miles later, we end up at the OTHER parking lot. "Either lot is fine" So where the nice man told us hiking two of the Calanques would take 90 minutes, we already spent an hour hiking to a parking lot.

At this point, we still didn't see a trail marker. We just kind of stalked and followed other walkers and did our best to navigate looking at the beautiful harbor below. We knew we needed to get to the other side, the question was how.

We somehow found ourselves at a trailhead. Then we noticed a small sticker, no larger than a business card, that is a trailmarking. It looked like graffiti more than a trail marker, but alas, there was some sort of symbol to follow. We were laughing hysterically as the sun beat down, because we had heard that this was 'the most beautiful hike' and so far we had seen a parking lot, some houses, and a John Deere tractor.

That all changed when we hiked up some really steep and rocky limestone rocks traversing across the cliffs. We got to the first Calanque and the water was the bright turquoise of everyone's vacation dreams. There were many tourists on the beach sunbathing and having picnics. We were ill prepared and didn't have food or swimsuits, lol, but to be honest, the weather was warm, but it was early May and that water was going to be freezing! We continued to two more Calanques, each view more beautiful than the next. Whenever I am stressed, I have a few happy places I like to think about-- usually it's Patagonia on the glaciers, Hamilton Island in Australia, and now the Calanques.

This was a strenuous hike and I was deeply jealous of the retirees and their walking sticks. As we started to run low on water and my pale skin was getting fried in the Provencal sun, we decided to head back.

The hike took a lot longer than we thought, so we missed lunch time at all the restaurants. All they would serve is a cocktail or dessert. So, Aperol Spritzes for lunch, then. Perfect. During "lunch", we eyed some boats that give a seaside view of the Calanques. We decided to see it from the Sea and it was definitely worth it. It gave a completely different perspective than the hike and we got to see rock climbers actually daring enough to climb the sheer limestone rock faces.

We got back to Cassis and had another Spritz, people watching and talking about how wonderful life is. Admiring the French and their wonderful life, we knew that unfortunately our time in Cassis was done as we had 8:30 reservations back in the Luberon Valley. We didn't make it to any of the domaines or tasting rooms, but I was ok with that.

I hiked along some of the most beautiful seaside cliffs with my best friend. I was sunburned and tired, hungry from virtually no food, but my heart was so happy. It was an amazing day.

If I could do it over again:

Spend 1+ nights in Cassis. I saw this hotel and I'm already dreaming about staying here: Hotel Les Blanches Rouges
Bring lunch, water, swimsuit, more sunscreen, and a towel to relax on the Calanques
Park in either lot for Calanques de Cassis BUT don't follow random people, stick to the map!
Have lunch or dinner at one of the beautiful cafes looking out on the marina
Go to Domaine Tempier and drink some Bandol