Monday January 30 to Sunday February 5 Le Castellet, and Castelnau Le Lez

February 05, 2023

Monday January 30 to Sunday February 5 Le Castellet, and Castelnau Le Lez

My sister gave me a good suggestion, to show a map so she could see where the towns and villages are located.

So, here's the latest itinerary.

This week, we took the train from Nice to Toulon, about 2 hours trip. Antoine picked us up and drove us to a town called Le Beausset, which is walking distance to the medieval hill top village of Le Castellet. He drove us to Marseille on Wednesday to catch the train to Montpellier, about 1.5 hours trip, so we could get to Castelnau Le Lez, located just outside of Montpellier city limits, where we stay for February.

March 1, we take the train to La Rochelle on the west coast, north of Bordeaux, about 7 hours by train, stay a week and return to Paris by train, about 2 hours, to catch flight home.

Monday January 30

Took the tram to the Nice station, but first we walked down and had a coffee and croissants at Malongo, a short walk from the train. There is a Paul's at the station but it's always busy.

Train was on time. A TGV, comfortable with charging points in the seat and free wifi.

Antoine met us and drove us to lunch in a village near Toulon. We then drove to see Bregancon, which is an island off the coast and is the retreat of the presidents of France.

I discovered that I actually get car sick, something I thought I put behind me a long time ago. The roads in the south of France are twisting and go up and down the hills, so we shortened the sight seeing and we returned to the hotel.

The Hotel is quite unique. It's called Relais de la Calache. A Calache is a horse drawn carriage. Relais is, like, relay in English. Under Louis 13 they developed a route or relay, through France where travellers could stop and rest and change horses on a long journey.

The Relais was built in 1630 in the reign of Louis 13, and Louis 14, the Sun King, perhaps the most famous king in French history, who built Versailles also stayed in the Relais. Napoleon didn't, but his officers did. Napoleon stayed next door at a doctors house.

The staff were extremely friendly, and we had a pleasant lunch there too, with Antoine.

Map below shows Le Castellet in relation to Toulon. It's well known in Europe because of a Grand Prix circuit. You can see it at the top of the map.

Coffee at Malongo before the train to Toulon

The interior of a TGV

Lunch village

Kumquats, I tasted one. A bit tart.

bregancon, the island retreat for French presidents.

Supper at Antoine's house, and the traditional Cheese plate after supper.

Tuesday Jan 31

We went on a long walk to the medieval hill top village Le Castellet past typical French vineyards, in the quiet countryside.

Pleasant Lunch at the Relais.

Antoine then drove us to the picturesque coast town of Cassis.

Walk in fireplace of our Hôtel.

The stair from our room. The door is real. The cat is not.

Presumably the dungeons. Or the wine cellar.

Long walk up to the medieval village of Le Castellet

Church built in the 12th century.

Town hall

The tree was planted at the time of the French revolution. 1789

The only cafe open for a coffee and a toilet break. Delightful to sit in the fresh air.

View from the cafe.

The main square of Le Beausset, where the relais is located.

Cassis. Castellet off to the right on the D560. All up and down Roads!

Car in Cassis

The population of Cassis is pretty laid back. Most people from Northern France like to retire here. So like Parksville Qualicum Beach but we don't have the cafes stretching down to the water. Or a warm winter sun.

The Mediterranean contains a large number of species of fish.

We would have walked right past this small piece of French tradition if Antoine had not explained. It's a community oven provided by the municipality. He spotted it because of the common sign. When you want to make a really large meal, perhaps for a party, you can bake the cake, pizza, or any other large dish in this kitchen because it's unlikely your oven at home or in the apartment is large enough. Because not every one lives in big houses with big kitchens.

Wednesday February 1

Breakfast at the Relais, and Antoine took us to marseille to catch the train to Montpellier.

Train left on time, pretty impressive since the day before was a national strike and all transportation all over France was stopped.

Montpellier was warm ! We had tram tickets left from our last visit, got to the apartment and then walked across to the Carrefour express for essentials for supper and tomorrows breakfast.

Toilet at the Relais

Castelnau le lez in relation to Montpellier. 20 minute tram from the centre of town.

For those who like to see inside French houses. We are on the top floor of an old farm house with complete privacy. Our own patio and garden. The host lives below . Perfectly quiet.

Thursday February 2

Beautiful warm day. High 15, going to 17 by Saturday. Walked into Castelnau village to do a larger shopping and withdraw cash.

Growth in Castelnau, another low rise apartment building going up on our walk into town since 8 months ago. And the small Aldi supermarket now has a security guard . Like supermarkets all over the world, I'm sure theft driven by high prices is a factor here.

Supper at Christiane and Hubert. We were pre-invited for yesterday, Our first night, but I had forgotten that in all the excitement of the prior two days. So we had "left overs" but as everyone knows some cooking tastes even better the next day. A Belgian Flemish dish, meat, potatoes, made with Belgium beer. deceptively simple but delicious, followed by cheeses and tarts

I downloaded the Montpellier transit app, it tells me not just the times of the next trams, but factors in the walking time from where I stand, in this case in the apartment

Lynda as expected went for the raspberry tart

The tram stop at night, waiting for our return ride home.

Robotic cooking. The age of the Jetsons is here.

Canadian lobster

Friday February 3

Took the tram into Montpellier and walked around in the sun this afternoon. 18c, nice strolling weather.

We discovered a new museum set behind a beautiful garden with a terrasse that looked inviting. We'll return to explore the museum and the patio!

Sept

One of the 13th century gates to the old city of Montpellier and the ramparts

Whimsical art

I was a big fan of Tintin comics when I was growing up. A whole store of Tintin and other cartoon memorabilia

A plaque explaining the hanging and burning of Protestant's in the late 17th century after the Edict of Nantes withdrew the protection of the Protestant religion. The right to religious freedom was finally re-instated during the French Revolution in the Declaration of Rights and Freedoms.

Pigeons resting from the sun

Saturday February 4 Market Day

Another warm day. Walked up to the Saturday market to buy vegetables for my bolognese and chicken curry. Also a baguette, olives, tapenade, and walnuts. The friendly olive stall owner gave lynda a free bag of crackers. The two cafes in the square were as usual, crowded, friends greeting friends .

We walked back and watched people moving into a new apartment. No space on the street for a North American style moving truck, and no elevators in a building, so they use a transit van and crane. If this was an apartment on a lower floor they would move in via the balcony.

I cooked my bolognese, after lunch we walked a few streets in the neighbourhood, and discovered a garden nursery.

And, we started watching Happy Valley on BBC. Gripping.

Owners and movers waiting on the roof!

Park path, with fake dog paw imprints. Just a guess, they might have set it up for dog races? It was a straight path.

Hard to make out, but every balcony has a tree on it. Most have lights which make it beautiful at night. And quite possibly the trees came from the nursery a few hundred feet away.

Lots of fully mature trees for sale

Piece of the holy grail? (For fans of the BBC Detectorists show.)

Montpellier is 770 kms from Africa. Brings warmth but also dust. This afternoon was very windy and we needed a shower to get the sand out and get moisture back in our skin.

Sunday February 5

Museums in France are free for the first Sunday in the month so we went to the Fabre museum downtown and also visited an 18th century mansion connected to it.

Last year we met a talkative Italian museum guard at this museum who was interested in Canada, we met him again today. It's good to meet up with acquaintances! He was particularly interested in grizzlies for some reason...

We went back to that terrasse that we had discovered during the week for a glass of wine before returning home.

Museum Fabre

Daffodils!

Europe has a number of medieval pilgrimage routes, some went through Montpellier to Spain. This is a marker on a street in the old medieval quarter by the museum.