05/09/2012, Port Bandol
Marseille looks its best from the sea. As we sailed out of the Iles de Frouil for Cassis, the water (some 100 metres deep in spots) was a beautiful blue and and the buildings, cliffs and hills of Marseille were a beautiful white with a little green vegetation here and there. The gold Mary and child on top of Notre Dame de la Garde on the hill gaze out at the seafarer, protecting the people of Marseille.
Another fast sail to Cassis and fortunately we had rung ahead and booked, as the small marina was packed. The boats on either side of us were charter yachts crewed by Russians. Life only gets better in Russia. While the weekend saw the defeat of Sarkozy and the election of Hollande, Tuesday is VE Day and a public holiday in France, so we arrived to quite a festive atmosphere.
Cassis was a Roman settlement though there is little archeological evidence to be found. There are apparently underwater caves from when they were land caves and the sea was over 100 metres further out, that contain 20,000 year old rock art, but they are not on display. The town of only 8000 people is a maze of pretty cobbled stoned streets, treed parks and fountains, and high quality shops and restaurants. Local dignatories and old soldiers gathered in one of the squares for a commemorative ceremony for VE Day, with lots of references to the Resistance and the Liberation, and the playing of the stirring Marseillaise.
For the first time American accents were noticeable. One of the industries of Cassis is the quarrying of lime and stone and the base of the Statue of Liberty is from Cassis. The nearby calanques or inlets are accessible by a little train and are worth the trip. They are picturesque moorings for yet more yachts.
And to finish a lovely visit we ate at the Fleurs de Thym, another some-time-Michelin-mentioned restaurant. Three delicious courses for E34 a head. With the other three memorable restaurants in Villefranche, Canet and Cap D'Agde, we have had some excellent food. Before we went to the restaurant, we decided to try some pastis, having enjoyed the Manzana we tried in Catalan. Pastis is the local licorice flavoured anise aperitif, and we did like it though we did notice our unbreakable boat glasses went cloudy - permanently! Imagine what the aperitif that it replaced, Absinthe, would have done.
The famous local poet Frederic Mistral has the last say on Cassis. In his poem "Calendal" about a poor Cassis anchovy fisherman he says "Those who have seen Paris but not Cassis, have seen nothing".
| Touring France |
05/09/2012, Marseilles, France
Across the water from our berth on the Ilse du Frioul were the lights of the grand City of Marseille. As the local ferry provided a regular service (15 min) directly to the Port of Marseille, we wasted no time to absorb as much history that the City had to offer.
From the ferry we were able to see the two islands that make Ilse du Frioul. The two larger islands are joined by a causeway and have recently been bought from the military by the Municipality de Marseille. The yacht marina is the first stage of a large leisure complex planned over the next few years. The cliffs above our marina were littered with fortification relics of a bygone era.
Between the Ilse du Frioul marina and the Port of Marseille was a small island, known as, Chateau d'If . It was originally fortified in 1516, then used as a prison and also used as the setting for the novel, Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
The entry to the Port of Marseille takes your breath away, as the size of the port, the buildings that line the harbour, the massive Cathedral and the fortification at the entrance, immediately give a sense of the enormous wealth that came to the City Marseille in the 1880's.
As we only had a day to see it all, our best option was to do 'Le Grand Tour' from a seat on the double decker tourist bus. We also enjoyed giving our feet a rest and having an audio tape explaining the sites during the tour (in English thankfully).
Marseille dates back to 600 BC. The Greeks arrived first, then the Romans arrived in 49 BC. In 1229 the City rebelled against the monastic rule and the bishop was removed. The merchants took power and the Republic of Marseille was born. In 1481 Marseille and Provence were attached to the Kingdom of France. In 1660 Louis XIV visited Marseille and ordered the extension of the City, the construction of a new arsenal and two forts and once it was made a free port the city began to prosper. Disaster struck in 1720 when half the population died of the great plague, and then in 1792 the people of Marseillese marched to Paris singing 'la Marseillaise'... the beginning of the French national anthem.
In the 1830's, Marseille once again became a flourishing Mediterranean port and between 1848-70 it became the 'Gateway to the Orient'. The city expanded and a new trading port was built and monuments / cathedrals were erected. The Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway line was completed and the Suez canal opened. Marseille was prospering with the enormous wealth that flowed in and out of the City. However, during the 1940s Marseille once again saw destruction and decline. During the 1960's the City saw a massive arrival of settlers from it's colonies in North Africa and many blocks of flats were built to house the new arrivals. Around 1995 money went into planning projects that undertook huge urban renewal work in Marseille, including the TGV that links Marseille and Paris with a 3 hour train trip.
The scale of these projects is enormous, and are in complete contrast to the small cobble stone streets of old Panier District located near the port.
During the day we noticed a huge presence of police in Marseille and the reason why became clear after we came out of the restaurant where we had dinner. Cars were sounding their horns, red flares were firing, crowds were gathering holding placards and youth were doing wheelies on their much loved motor bikes. We were a touch perplexed to find oursleves in the middle of the announcement of the outcomes of the French Presedential election! The crowd was obviously pleased that Francois Hollande had won from Nicholas Sarkozy 51.62% to 48.38%.... however I was not!
| Touring France |
05/08/2012, Port Cassis
The sail from Port Gardian was actually motor sailing as the breeze was less than 5 knots but again this was delightful as we saw lots of sea life including sailfish and dolphins. The gulls are huge and when they assemble in one area it indicates that baitfish are present in some numbers. It is not long after that the pelagics such as dorado and tuna come in to feed.
Sailing past the immense delta of the Rhone River was also interesting as it is vast and the colour of the water and presence of floating branches etc. declare it is the outlet of a significant river.
As we approached the Gulf of Fos we had several ships to avoid. The AIS (Automatic Identification System) shows each ship on our chart plotter, it's position, course and speed as well as its size, port of registration and where it is bound. This information is really helpful for safety as it takes all the hard work out of navigating for collision avoidance. We also crossed our first traffic separation zone and took an early course change to demonstrate to the pilot of a massive roll-on-roll-off cargo ship that we would not be a problem for them.
We anchored (another first for Trilogy and our formidable Rocna 40kg anchor) in a small cove in the Gulf well protected from the south, and noticed that the water temperature had risen from around 13 degrees to 19. The proximity of a large power station was probably a coincidence.
The cove was also reputed to be a naturist camping ground but tragickly the weather was a bit cold for such activities.
The next day (4th of May) we set sail for a small island off Marseille named Frioul in lovely conditions and anchored in a very narrow cove (Havre de Morgiret). This was quite deep and we decided to relocate to the Port of Frioul on the other side of the island.
The Capitainerie was very courteous and we decided to stay for a few days to explore Marseille as there was a reliable ferry service roughly every hour.
We also encountered our first mechanical problem when the generator (an Onan 7kVa model) shut itself down showing a cooling water alarm. After several hours of checking all that we could without invalidating the warranty we have decided that it needs a seawater impeller so we will have to wait until we are near to an Onan mechanic.
| Touring France |
05/06/2012, Provence, France
Our next stop after Port Camargue and the Languedoc region was Port Gardian. We had an excellent and fast sail, getting into the marina at 2pm after only 4 hours on the move. Port Gardian was another surprise.
Firstly the marina was very small and our first effort to tie up at the Captainerie's wharf was rejected as we were too long. We were told to go to a particular berth, where we discovered we were also a tad wide. Fortunately the berth pylons were covered in rubber, as we were exactly the same width as the pen.
The second surprise was that the town of Port Gardian was Saintes Maries de la Mer, recorded in ancient times as having had an oppidum to Ra, the Egyptian sun god. The main feature of the town is the church from the 9th to the 12th century, with an altar from the 4th century. As the town had experienced attacks by Saracens and Vikings, the fortified look of the church is understandable. It is a very high fortification, topped by several even taller bell towers. As the pilot guide said, it is very conspicuous. Pilgrims visit the church to worship at the relics of two Marys, one believed to be the mother of James and John, the other the Virgin Mary's sister. The relics (a few bones) were unearthed from their graves in the 1400s and placed in the crypt. The story of how the Marys got there is even more fascinating. Apparently many of Jesus's friends, including Lazarus and Mary Magdalene and the two Marys and their black servant Sarah, were expelled from Jerusalem and drifted to Saintes Maries de la Mer in a boat. When the two Marys died they were buried there, as was Sarah. There are statues to the three, and each year the Marys are paraded through the town escorted by the gardians - the local farmers who ride white horses and raise black fighting bulls - who ride with the Marys into the sea. The third festival, which we were a little too early for, is when the gypsies or gitans gather to celebrate their patron saint Sarah, who is also escorted round the town by the gardians and dancing gypsies. There is a bull fighting (or should I say teasing) arena on the waterfront. The Camarguais taunt bulls rather than kill them.
The third surprise was discovering that Vincent Van Gogh visited Saintes Maries in 1888, coming down from Arles for his health. He did a number of beautiful paintings and drawings of the church, the white washed thatch houses and the streets, and the brightly coloured fishing boats on the beach. None of these scenes has changed since then.
And the concluding highlight was to see a flock of flamingoes on the etang next to the marina the morning before we left.
| Touring France |
05/01/2012, Port Carmague, France
Trilogy's maiden voyage departed Canet-en-Rousillon on 21 April.
We've now been cruising for 10 days along the south coast of France, stopping at Gruissan, Cap d'Agde, Sete and Port Camargue. The crew have noticed these coastal towns (except for Sete) with their extensive marinas have a similar look. Our Pilot book explained that around 1960 the French Government decided to create holiday towns along this coastal region (Spanish border to eastern side of Marseille). Prior to these towns being created, very little was known about this part of the French coastline (known as Languedoc-Roussillon), even to the Francophiles!
However, all this changed when construction was completed of five purpose built tourist cities with huge marinas. Each one, a perfect distance for a day's sail. For the yachtsman, there is now good shelter within short distances along what was once a desolate and dangerous coast. I can't help thinking that the many Jeanneaus and Beneteaus berthed in the marinas, would have helped the French Govt to finance the chain of new nautical towns. As we depart this region, Trilogy has spent nights in four of the five purpose built marinas, with the crew venturing inland to explore the history rich towns lying in the hinterland, however we were slightly disappointed to miss seeing the pink flamingos nesting in the marsh lands behind Camargue.
Port Carmargue happens to be the biggest marina in the World, 5,000 berths in total!!!!!
Our day in Port Carmargue was the first day of spring, May Day. In addition to stunning Spring weather, were enjoyed the company of fun loving French sailors, who were enjoying a May Day Race. They offered us a drink of grapefruit/rose cocktail before we retired to the cockpit of Trilogy, for a magnificent seafood platter.
| Cruising, French Med |
04/30/2012, Sete, France
We set out from Cap D'Agde for Camarge on Friday 27 April but the weather gods decreed that we really meant for Sete to be our next port of call and what a pleasant surprise Sete has been.
Sete does not feature prominently in the tourist guides but in a way that is what makes it so authentic as it is a working harbour and the main connection between the Mediterranean and the Midi Canal.
The Midi Canal was constructed between 1666 and 1681 by approximately 12,000 labourers including 1,000 women and it runs for 240 km between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean to bypass the pesky Spaniards and Barbary pirates who were taking a toll on French shipping in the 17th century. It was the most significant infrastructure project in Europe of that era and has become a favourite for canal barges in modern times.
We approached Sete from the east due to the heavy swell that made the western entrance a bit challenging and once inside the breakwater the harbour opens up to show its industrial heart. Large tanks for oil bunkering are evident as are the huge fishing trawlers and ferries that ply between France and Morocco.
We eventually found a berth at the local yacht club after exploring the various docks and canal entry ways all of which looked unfriendly to pleasure craft like Trilogy. Three locals from the Captainerie guided us in to the berth where we tied up stern to and lowered the dinghy onto the pontoon, so we could get on an off Trilogy, and the formalities were exchanged. This inevitably involves exchanging our original yacht registration certificate for an access key which ensures they get the key returned.
On Saturday we took the opportunity of having the dinghy on the dock to stencil the name on and also to fit the stern light on to the davit so that it can be seen when the dinghy is hoisted.
Sunday was spent exploring Sete and marveling at the several canals that give Sete a likeness to Venice. We also climbed an enormous mountain, Mont Saint Clair, which sits 192m above Sete and provides a panoramic view of this delightful town of about 45,000 souls and its setting (sorry) adjacent to an enormous lake, Bassin de Thau, where delicious oysters and mussels are harvested.
The main street runs along the canal where the enormous fishing trawlers tie up to the dock and various water craft ply the canals including rowing skiffs. Apparently water jousting is still quite a popular sport and it has roots going back to 2300 BC. It involves two rowed craft with small platforms above the stern where combatants use jousting lances to upend their opponent into the canal. They carry a small shield for defence.
Our berth at the yacht club was accessed via the sea wall and as the swell was running fairly high the waves were sending clouds of spray across the roadway - a bit daunting after a lovely meal and a wine or three!
Tomorrow the weather gods are promising more favourable sailing conditions so we plan to set out for Camarge (again).
| Cruising, French Med |
