Tag Archives: Cassis

Aug9

Musee du Cassis

Posted on by
Standard

Wednesday, 10-July-2024



Driving to museums is cool and all, but you know what’s even cooler? Walking approximately 120m (just under 400ft) to an art museum! A combination Art / History museum!

Not art history, that is to say. But a museum that showcases both art and history. Cassis is a small town, okay? The town museum isn’t super extensive, just roll with it.


And… I’ll be frank, here, the museum is clearly underfunded. I’m not saying that I could do better, but… as far as town museums go, this one didn’t quite reach the benchmark of “this museum showcases at least the summary of the town’s wikipedia page”.

It was neat, though, don’t get me wrong! Just… left me wanting, in terms of actual content.



What was there, then? Well – It was two stories; the first one being some interesting artifacts that had been recovered from the Mediterranean surrounding Cassis, and the second being paintings by Jacques Troupel. The artifacts were mainly Amphorae, the types of large stoneware jugs that were used in Greek and Roman times. The paintings were mainly “fire paintings”, where Jacques would paint with flammable material, and then light it to produce the interesting flame-scoring patterns.

It was neat, definitely… but I’ll still add a quick link to Wikipedia for those of my readers interested in the more detailed history of the town.


Link = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassis

Aug7

A walk in Cassis – up to the Chateau de Cassis, and out to Plage Du Corton

Posted on by
Standard

Monday, 08-July-2024


The plan for our time in Cassis was fairly open – Nothing firm, but the general theme was targeted at relaxing for the first day, visiting some spots further inland, and spending quite a bit of time relaxing by the water.

To kick it all off, we relaxed in Cassis, and took a short walk around town to get a sense of the various options we had available to us… starting with a walk up to the castle overlooking the town, and then wandering onward as we saw fit.


It didn’t quite go as planned – it turns out, the Castle in town is actually a private hotel. And, in true French fashion, was far too cool to allow tourists to wander the august halls of that high class institution. We found this out, of course, after hiking up the hill to the top where we encountered a solidly emplaced gate and a sign mentioning that it’s a hotel… a truly saddening lack of informational placards, in my personal opinion.

So we continued onward. It was a beautiful day, in a beautiful city, with absolutely no reason to stress of worry… only beautiful water and clear skies to enjoy.

We found ourselves at the Plage Du Corton. Beautifully clear water, lapping waves, and an expanse of beach goers. A small snack shack that we availed ourselves of, and an excellent chance to recharge before our adventure back to the blessed air conditioning of the apartment.

Aug6

Exploring Cassis

Posted on by
Standard

Saturday, 06-July-2024 through 18-July-2024



I explored Cassis!

Technically this started before any of my previous posts… but I wanted to set the stage before we dove into the play itself. Seems right, you know?


So Cassis.

Small town on the French Riviera. The Cote De Azur, in French. A tourist town, a fishing town, and a sea-side town down by the Mediterranean. An absolutely cute town, with a billion different restaurants and shops and other great places to walk and explore.

Small alleyways with beautiful growing plants. A few friendly cats to say hi to. Limestone streets, worn smooth by countless sandals, with day markets and night markets every so often.

Siestas halfway through the day, to avoid the midday heat, followed by late-evening dinners that last past sundown.

It wasn’t a bad spot. Daniel picked well, when he first proposed the trip back in 2014, and I followed up beautifully when suggesting my Mom and Steve come visiting.



Keeping with Tradition, I kept a list of the various places that I, and we, ate. There’s a lot of them, so bear with me:

  • Le Luminyen – Actually by the University of Luminy, I ate here after my walk up Mt. Pugot. Still, very good and worth visiting for a snack
  • Alcazar – My first meal in Cassis itself. Excellent food, though a bit unexpected… I ordered Fries and Paella… but the “Fries” were actually fried Sardines! Unexpected, but delicious.
  • Le Delphine – A quick and simple brunch, with pastries and fried eggs and a latte. Can’t complain… but I found that eggs aren’t really a breakfast thing in Cassis, unless they’re in a quiche.
  • Midday Express – Excellent hot sandwiches, quick and easy and great for taking before my hikes into Les Calanques
  • La Voûte – Great rissoto, mediocre burgers. Lesson learned here – In France, order French food. Or Italian, if you’re in Cassis. But don’t order American… it’s just not worth it.
  • Bistro’quai – Solid food, though I frankly can’t recall any real details here.
  • Le 8 et demi – Means “8.5” in French, though I’d give them a solid 10. Great pizza, great food, excellent Crepes. We went here at least 3 times, if I remember right.
  • Nomade – Amazing bakery. Seriously, simply glorious croissants, pain au chocolate, everything.
  • Le Petit Oyster Bar – Excellent oysters, glorious mussels, amazing charcuterie boards… what more could you want? Ohh right, great wine! It’s France, of course there’s great wine!
  • La Tarte Tropézienne – Amazing place, went quite a few times to pick up pastries for breakfast and tartes for dessert!
  • La Stazione – Excellent Italian food in the heart of a French town. Good pasta, good wine, good times!