France | LisaLarry.com

A Serendipitous Discovery

Lisa / August 1, 2009 / France, Travel

When I was in business school at Thunderbird, I spent a short winter semester at their satellite campus in Archamps, France – which is actually close to the Swiss border and Geneva. While there, my fellow students and I spent our down time and weekends getting rental cars and exploring the region. One day while out exploring another town, we decided to stop in a place called Annecy, which we had heard was kind of neat. That was an understatement! Despite the freezing, foggy January weather, I instantly fell in love. Annecy (on the French side, about 40 minutes from Geneva by car) is like a clean, Swiss/French version of Venice. A gorgeous, tiny, ancient town on canals, bordered by a large turquoise blue lake (Lake Annecy, of course). I have never forgotten about it and vowed to be back.

I had the chance to go back, and to share it with Larry, two years ago on our first anniversary trip. Because of our frenzied schedule on that trip, we rolled into town late one rainy night and only had the morning to spend there the next day, so it was a quick stop. But – Larry fell in love too. He couldn’t believe such a place existed, one that no one apparently knows about. The truth is that a lot of people do know about it (unfortunately) – just not Americans. You will find all sorts of British, German, and French tourists while walking the restaurant and souvenir shop-filled streets.

So – we made a point to go back on this trip. It wasn’t hard to work it into the schedule. About halfway between where we were staying in Provence and our next destination in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, it was easy to stop for a night. We got into town about 7 pm and headed straight for the old town and dinner at a restaurant we discovered and fell in love with on our last visit. Larry got some unbelievable night shots with his camera and tripod.

Seriously, there are too many good shots, I can't stop adding them

The Calanques at Cassis

Lisa / July 31, 2009 / France, Travel

Our return trip from the coast involved a stop at the small and charming port town of Cassis. We had read and heard about the famed Calanques: Mediterranean inlets with steep sides, similar to a fjord, and wanted to experience them for ourselves. Along the way we made a quick stop in Cannes for lunch, just to see it.

Seriously dude, are you that rich and bored?

Cassis is a small port town, fishing village really, not far from Marseilles but completely different in size and character. The entire town is a postcard and unfortunately, judging from all the tourists, it has been the subject of many a postcard mailed home. It took us forever to even find a parking space. This is what happens when you visit someplace in its peak season.

We finally parked the car and headed for the port. What we really wanted to do was visit the Calanque d’En-Vau, which is completely enclosed on 3 sides and boasts a spectacular small and sparsely populated white beach on one end. Unfortunately the Calanques are difficult to reach. One must hike for an hour and a half or more, or have a private boat that can get you there. We didn’t have time for either. Not to mention I can’t imagine making that hike in such heat!

We settled for just being driven around the Calanques with a 5-Calanques boat tour given by the one and only monopolistic tour operator in the port. We sat at the very front of the boat to get the best view, which also ensured that we would be sprayed with seawater from time to time. It felt good in such sweltering weather. The water was a crystal clear aqua blue – truly a living postcard.

White limestone forms the sides of the Calanques

The color of those cliffs in the background remind me of Southern Utah

Calanque d'En Vau with its secluded beach

There were cool caves everywhere. Some of them are now immersed but were inhabited during the Paleolithic Era. You can dive them and see the paintings on the walls.

We loved all the limestone rock formations

After returning from the boat tour, we decided we really needed to put in some beach time, so we carved out a spot for ourselves and enjoyed the refreshing waters of the Mediterranean. I had a near-miss with a tiny jelly fish (the woman floating next to me was not so lucky). Larry spent over an hour with his snorkel, just enjoying the water and the creatures. He spotted no less than 50 jellyfish on his tour but luckily gave them all enough berth that he escaped unharmed as well.

We finished the night with a very good Italian meal at a restaurant in the port. Cassis is such a charming city, we’ll be back – next time we’ll figure out a way to spend the day on the beach at Calanque e’En-Vau!

Orange County – I Mean the Cote d’Azur – and the Glamour of Monte Carlo

Lisa / July 29, 2009 / France, Monaco, Travel

We are in our last week here in Provence and have yet to visit the actual famous part of the coast, the Cote d’Azur. It is a bit of a drive away from where we are, so we decided to make an overnight adventure of it. I booked a hotel near Nice, we packed our swimsuits and beach towels, and took off.

Driving into Nice we had the feeling that we may as well be in Los Angeles. The landscape and the traffic reminded us both of Southern California. Way too crowded. Way too developed. We both counted our lucky stars that we didn’t end up renting an apartment closer to the coast. We’ve been so much happier where we are. We got to Nice in time to grab some amazing Italian food in the old town and walk along the famed Promenade des Anglais, catching some of the local street performers along the way. The air down there is much more humid than where we are. Steamy!

Ahh the glamorous French Riviera traffic — Ahh, the glamorous French Riviera traffic

After spending a couple of hours in Nice we got back in the car to drive East along the coast to Monte Carlo, passing through the towns of Villefranche-sur-Mer and Beaulieu-sur-Mer (which we promptly dubbed Beaumont-sur-Mer in honor of one of our favorite movies), bypassing St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and the medieval cliff town of Eze.

Driving toward Monaco - looking back at Nice

I had visited both Nice and Monte Carlo back when I was doing an exchange program in Switzerland during college, but that was many years ago. They are almost exactly how I remember them, including the crowds and over-touristed way of Nice and the true-to-life James Bond glamour of Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo, despite being miniscule in size, makes up for it in flashiness.

The post-stamp size principality lives up to its 007 reputation, particularly the area around the casino where one can find numerous Ferraris, Lambourghinis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, and other vehicles that cost more than the house I grew up in, just lying around in the parking lot while their owners throw away who knows how much money in the famed casino. It’s great fun to see and experience in person. Unfortunately we couldn’t go in the casino because the one dress code they have is pants, and Larry was wearing shorts. Oh well, maybe next time.

Can't you just hear the Bond music in your head? — Can't you just hear the Bond theme in your head?

The thing I love best about Monte Carlo license plates: 4 digits only

Lavender Air and Salty Air

Lisa / July 28, 2009 / France, Travel

Today we returned to Sault to get a closer look at the lavender fields. The fields are so numerous that if you roll down the window of the car, lavender-scented air blows in. It’s heavenly. We had a great time climbing in and out of the car to get some great shots, along with picking some straggling lavender blooms from a field that had already been harvested.

On the road above Sault. Several of the lavender fields had already been harvested - and they still had all of this.

Once lavender has been harvested, it needs to dry for a few days before going to the distillery.

My favorite shot of our entire trip so far, Lavender Kiss, was taken with the aid of our tripod and some well-timed wind.

We stopped in town to grab some sandwiches and buy lavender products from the local farmers’ cooperative. Our whole car smells like lavender now.

Stocking up on lavender products at the local farmers' cooperative

We pushed on for a quick stop in Aix to visit an English bookstore there, and then on to the port city of Marseilles. We went with some hesitation as Marseilles has a reputation for lots of thieves and petty crime and we’re still a bit scarred from our Barcelona visit, but didn’t want to miss out on seeing it. It is the unofficial capital of the South of France and has a character completely separate from the mother country. It’s unique.

We spent some time touring the old port, climbing up onto an old fort that guarded the harbor and provided great views out to sea and to the Chateau d’If, made most famous by Alexander Dumas (the Count of Monte Cristo was held at the prison at Chateau d’If).

The Old Port and Basillica of Notre Dame de la Garde

We then climbed up above the city to the stunning Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde for one spectacular sunset before stopping in Aix for dinner along the Cours Mirabeau on the way home.

Looking down from the church on the other side. I called those tall plants in the foreground the Dr. Seuss trees. They stunk!

The Chateau d'If in the middle of the picture — The Chateau d'If out in the harbor

You can see the oldest part of the Basilica from this angle — You can see the oldest part of the Basilica (a 16th century fortification built for Francois I) from this angle

Last shot of the tower. Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Watch) is the traditional guardian of seafarers — Last shot of the tower overlooking the Old Port. Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Watch) is the traditional guardian of seafarers

Climbing Mont Ventoux (in the car)

Lisa / July 27, 2009 / France, Travel

The day after the tour we decided to drive up in the car just to see it for ourselves. It was a long and painful climb for our poor little Pierre, I can’t imagine doing it on a bike! Maybe someday when I’m tougher.

Along our way we drove through one of the towns on the tour route and had fun looking at all of the encouraging words and phrases painted onto the pavement.

We then took the scenic route to the area surrounding the town of Sault because we had read that it was a large lavender-producing region. That doesn’t even begin to cover it. Fields upon fields of purple flowers. We vowed to go back when we had more time to explore.

Driving past the lavender fields of Sault

Cute little nekkid' sheep — Cute little nekkid sheep

We arrived at the summit of Mont Ventoux just in time to catch the last of the sunset. Tons of other Tour fans and bikers who had just completed the climb were there as well, to see the finish line for themselves.

Almost to the summit! Imagine how happy the Tour riders were with this sight.