Pic Spocket

After my big Saturday car ride in the Camargue area, I decided to take it easy the following day. I decided to go to Cassis, just east from Marseilles less than an hour ride from my hotel.

I know Cassis from previous trips. It is right by the sea and it is famous for its cliffs, nearby calanques and for its very cute little port.

I first wandered around quite a while to find some parking. I found one right by this little beach “La plage du Bestouan”, which is a little bit outside downtown, almost hidden. I think the beach over there is much nicer than the one downtown.

Then I headed downtown in the old port. This area is quite nice.

The port is full of small restaurants and bars. I stopped for lunch in one of these.

The area between Cassis and Marseilles is very well known for its “Calanques”. This coast line is mostly a very high and abrupt cliff of several hundred meters in height. A “Calanque” is a kind of inlet in that wall of rock. It can be described as a deep valley with steep sides partly submerged by the sea.

Some of these Calanques are actually very hard to reach even by foot. I did hike to the Calanques area last January (see original post). The best and easiest way to access them though is by boat, which I never did before. So I looked for one of the many guided boat tour available and took the bigger one (8 Calanques). I sat up front, thinking I would see better…. What I got is a partial shower of sea water due to the large waves.

Calanque of Oule (also referred as ‘Cathedral of Oule), Calanque of Devenson

Calanque of l’Oeil de verre (glass eye), Calanque of Sugiton (2)

Then I came back in Cassis as the sun was setting, offering a warm light to snap a few more pictures before heading back to the hotel.

Larger images and more pictures in sub-albums linked below.

Cassis	Calanques by boat

More to come…