May 2012 - and then.... A Short Stint in Provence

We headed into France next and towards Aix en Provence, yet another place we’d raced past for the last 2 or 3 years. I was hoping to see the Cezanne Gallery and his studio, as it turned out, so was everyone else in France at that time.  The place seemed to be jumping. The large roundabout in the centre was a jumble of tourist buses and jaywalking tourists, many trundling suitcases and the 3 hotels I asked at whilst Peter sat in the car, looked at me in amazement and said a rather firm ‘Complet Madame’.  Before it came too stressful Peter and I came to an immediate agreement that we abandon Aix on this trip, and head to the coast.  A good move as we found a good room for the night and next morning had breakfast in Sanary sur Mer and a good wander around through the huge produce market there.  I've noticed on recent visits to France that there's a trend towards white umbrellas in some of the local markets - not nearly as exciting for photographs and/or paintings - lets hope the coloured ones that are left, remain. This whole market at Sanary sur Mer was a feast of bright colours which is what got me clicking!

I also spent ages taking photos of the beautiful old boats crammed into the harbour, with their reflections .....

..... and the lovely backdrop of the old town of Sanary sur Mer


So happily armed with the boat and the market shots, I left with a head full of prospective paintings. Another good spot to return to, to be added onto the list!


Next we were off along the coast to Nice ….. slowly because we seemed to get caught up in what must be Europe’s largest Harley Davidson get together. I’ve never seen so many motorbikes in one place, all unfortunately on the narrow coastal road near the St Tropez turnoff, which is often a frustrating stretch of road at the best of times. We wanted to visit the Maeght Foundation near St Paul de Vence before arriving in Nice, which we did, but I must admit I was rather disappointed in the artworks there. I suspect they may now have moved a lot of the paintings to separate galleries in and around Nice. There is a good selection of sculptures there though, so worth the visit if that’s what you want to see.

After spending some time cruising around the not so salubrious outer surburbs in search of a large Carrefour Supermarket to restock our French products to take back to Greece, we arrived at Esplanade des Anglaise for our rendezvous with Rita and Donna. They were staying in a beautiful apartment overlooking the beach, with all that entailed – hours of entertainment from the window sill!

Some ladies even in their PJ's!

Its always great to be back in France – seems a little like returning home in some ways and I love having the soft musical French language in the background.  We made sure we had an Indian meal whilst we were there – seems like that’s the closest for us – sad eh!