Tuesday, 09-July-2024


One of the stops on our adventures, a bit away from Cassis, was Aix en Provence.

See, my Mom had seen some interesting articles about spots to visit, and found that a few were in Aix… which would involve a short-ish drive into the countryside, a perfect counterpoint to the general relaxing that we were aiming to do in Cassis itself. We poked around online, locked in two spots to visit, and headed out!


The drive itself was lovely – mainly highways, to be sure, but still through the French countryside. Vineyards, castles, and picturesquely abandoned farmhouses dotted our path. The roadsigns were… vaguely helpful, at least enough that I was mostly able to navigate my way. I did take one major wrong turn on the drive home, but that was it – and thankfully it only added 20min or so to the drive, which wasn’t the worst thing ever.

I’ll put up a few other posts for the main attractions that we visited in Aix, and focus on the town itself here – It wasn’t quite as touristy as Cassis, but that’s really not saying much since Cassis is like 90% tourist, whereas Aix seemed to be 80%. There were lovely bookshops, cool postcard spots, amazing fountains and wide boulevards.

Walking was easy, and the sun was bright… but thankfully there was enough shade (and enough fountains) to keep us cool enough. Food abounded, as did helpful shop owners, and we had an excellent time throughout the day. Heartily recommend!

Now, a quick side note – the Public Library Les Méjanes (Cité du Livre)

It’s gorgeous, and was all the rage on Instagram / Facebook a bit ago. The library facade is a beautiful vertical stack of books; super cool, and super picturesque… and super under construction. I was able to get some pictures, regardless of the workers and barricades and construction trucks, but… not a whole lot, and none as fancy as those that were trending and viral and all those cool terms.

Still – absolutely cool Library, and worth visiting. If only for the excellent selection and neat open-air interior.