South of France with Steph!

Whoa, so much to catch up on. It has been over a month, (which doesn't seem like much) since the last update, but we have packed a lot in to the end of August and all of September. Here we go:)

The last week of August, I got to go with my friend Stephanie to the South of France! Stephanie has traveled there quite a bit, so she knew right where to go. We set off for a little road trip!

We first stopped in Baux-de-Provence. This was beautiful! Baux-de-Provence is set up on a hill, and it was built up during the medieval era out of white stone. It has been well preserved, and is mainly cafes tourist shops selling local Provence goods. But I loved it! Provence is so different from Switzerland. It was like the coast of Florida meets midwest. Kind of a weird combo to visualize, but that is what it felt like.

loved this door!

Olive Oil shop down in the cellar. Way cool!

 We made our way to La Ciotat, our destination. La Ciotat is right on the Cote Azur, and we managed to find a Bed and Breakfast on Air BnB. Yvette was our host and rents out rooms in her home during the summer. Her home was beautiful, and only minutes from the coast. She was so sweet and wonderful, and served us a lovely French Breakfast each morning!

Steph and I unpacked and then drove down to the beach. It was a little cloudy and the water was really cold, so we just spread out our towels and talked. We got some groceries on the way home, and then headed back to the house. We ate our dinner on the patio and met Lille and David, a couple visiting from Nice that were staying in Yvette's as well. We all talked for the next few hours.......well, mainly Steph and them talking, my French has a ways to go! Steph translated most of the conversation for me, bless her heart;)

Walking down to the Beach

Hey Steph

 The next day, Steph, David, Lille and I headed down the coast to Les Heyeres. We wanted to see the Porquerolles, a little group of three islands right off the coast. We took a short boat ride to one of the islands. This coast is amazing! It is properly named, the water is a gorgeous Azure color!

We spent the day hiking along the coast. We were able to find a nice beach where we relaxed, ate our lunches and swam in the water. I was definitely the whitest one on the beach! I swear these people LIVE in the sun! Pretty funny.

We hiked up to a rocky part of the island, but it was by far the most beautiful! Words and pictures just can't do it justice. I loved the waves crashing on the white and black rocky beach!
It was a beautiful day!

Ready to board the boat!

Steph, David and Lille

Beach where we relaxed for a bit

Kinda reminds me of Little Mermaid;)

The Crew

 The next day, we headed to Arles. I really wanted to go here because Van Gogh spent quite a bit of time here, painting Provence. Lille and David joined us once again for the first part of the day, and the four of us just walked the town. Steph and I broke off for a little bit and saw an exhibit of Van Gogh's paintings. I loved this! What was really neat was that you got to see how his style drastically changed when he moved from Paris to Provence. In Provence, his palette became more vibrant and he really began to explore color. The short time I had spent driving through Provence made that all ring true. It really is a place where color sings!
We also got to see the hospital where Van Gogh spent some months during a very difficult time in his life. He painted the interior courtyard of this hospital, and you can walk through and see it. So cool!

The Hospital Van Gogh painted:)

typical Arles architecture

After exploring the rest of town, we said our goodbyes to Lille and David, and then made our way to Aigues Mortes. This is one of Steph's favorite places. Aigues Mortes is a truly medieval town! It is completely enclosed by it's original stone wall. You enter the town, and are in for quite the experience! Now I occasionally would walk BYU campus and see students dressed up in medieval garb, mainly for their sword fighting or jousting activities. I kind of found it strange and wanted to sound the "nerd alert" signal, but at the same time wondered what all the fuss was about. I kind of wanted to live a day in the club! Well, in this town, people dress up! And we are not just talking about employees, the visitors too! right at the entrance, you can see a blacksmith demo, sword fighting, and, closer to the town square, real medieval dancing!!! Not kidding, and it was really cool! Steph and I wandered down each of the streets, exploring shops and stands. It was a fun visit, and definitely a must for the medieval at heart;)

The next day, we drove towards Cassis, where we were going to hike. Talk about a perfect day! Clear skies! The drive was absolutely stunning! We stopped to take some pictures, then made our way to the Calanques. A Calanque is a steep-sloped inlet of water, mainly found along the Mediterranean coast. There are a few trails that connect a the different calanques, so we decided to give it a go! It  was gorgeous! There were some steep parts of the trail that were pretty crazy, but we finally got to one of the calanques where there was a good beach. We relaxed for a few hours, ate our picnic lunch, and dipped  our feet into the icy water...for like two seconds. As gorgeous as the water is, these inlets don't see the sun much. Don't know how people swim in it! But it was lovely!

We hiked back to Cassis, and went window shopping. Cute town! We got a scoop of ice cream to end the day properly;) A great hike to wrap up our South of France escapade!

It was a great trip! We saw beautiful things and had a great time!