Tag Archives: Cassis

Aug6

A car accident in France

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Sunday, 07-July-2024


On the drive home from picking my Mom and Steve up from the airport, a challenging situation arose.

As the title suggests, I got in a car accident.

I’d rented a car, since Cassis is a good ways from Marseille and we were considering taking some day trips into central France. I wasn’t too worried about it – France is a bit crazy with their driving (everyone is training to be an F1 racer. EVERYONE.) but they’re fairly predictable… at least in my opinion. And, frankly, I was confident – I’d driven in France and Spain before, and come out from it none the worse for wear.


I won’t include photos here, because car accident, but understand that it was thankfully quite simple and minor. It took a while to deal with, of course, but there wasn’t any blood and both vehicles seemed to work perfectly fine afterward. I also won’t include details here, since there was a police report… and I’ll let them stick to the official details.

Instead, the point of this post is to walk through what I did, and how I did it, during the parts that happened after the vehicles stopped moving.


Mainly, I shut up.

See, I don’t speak fluent (or conversational) French. Because of that, heated communication in an emotional time isn’t an ideal situation or decision. So, I shut up.

I moved the car out of the way, and let people do their thing. A car stopped to help, the police arrived, and we used Google Translate when necessary. I shut up. I was ignored, which isn’t pleasant… but far preferable to the alternative of being thrown off the side of the road by over-energetic bystanders who are sick of tourists.

I answered the questions posed, and kept the extra details to a minimum. And, 90min later, we were back on the road.

It wasn’t pleasant, and definitely took me a few days to fully recover from… but I’m okay with that. It happened, and we were able to move on from it. That, at the end of the day, is the only important part.

Aug5

A walk out to Port Mieu

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Sunday, 07-July-2024


I had some time before my Mom and Steve arrived in France, but I frankly wasn’t feeling super energetic… so instead of trying for a big hike like I had the day before with Mount Pugot I went easy and just took a stroll into Les Calanques, the national park right up against Cassis.

It was a walk that I’d taken quite a few times in 2014, taking the trail up to the rock climbing areas that my friends and I explored and scaled, and it was interesting walking those same paths again ten years later. They felt vaguely familiar, though I could definitely tell that I’m a different person now than I was back when I first set foot on them.

I’ll admit, the lack of 50lbs of rock climbing gear definitely helped my mood too.

I’ll also admit, the bajillion degree day didn’t help my mood all that much, though… It wasn’t bad, per say, but it was definitely a challenge that kept me sticking to the shadows as I ascended and descended the various hills.



A really cool part about Les Calancques near Cassis, and Cassis itself in fact, is just how worn the marble is. (I am learning now that it may not actually be marble… but a form of limestone that wears down super smooth?) Basically, it’s like walking on an ice rink in many places… which is kind of fun in town, but on the steeper sections of the hiking trails it definitely adds an interesting challenge aspect to the descents.

As I walked, I enjoyed the memories coming back to me. I appreciated the quiet, and I embraced the calm surrounding me… in the sea of tourists and chaotic people heading to and from the various beaches that the trail lead to.

It was lovely. Absolutely lovely, and a perfect start into my (our!) adventures in Cassis.

Aug4

A hike up Mt. Puget

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Saturday, 06-July-2024



I had some time between leaving the B&B in Allauch and when I could check in at my rental in Cassis… So I went for a walk. A long walk. Up a mountain.

Because that’s how I walk.



I found the hike by way of AllTrails – an app that I started using in Oregon, and have found to be passably useful here in Europe. I’m sure that I’ll find a better option once I get settled into Dublin… but for now, it’s serving me just fine.

And, in an interesting coincidence, the hike I chose happened to be at one of the spots that I went climbing, back in 2014! I didn’t notice it until I was parked and heading in, but the University of Luminy stood out in my mind, harkening my memory back to ropes and climbing and baguettes.

I headed in, and headed up.

I melted, a bit, but the hiking was lovely none-the-less. I walked when I wanted to, rested when I wanted to, and snacked when the urge hit. I enjoyed the views, enjoyed the adventure, and appreciated the fresh air.

In short – it was absolutely glorious.



I finished up strong, timing the completion almost perfectly. I had just enough time to grab a quick salad before getting back on the road to Cassis… not too bad, if I do say so myself.