A Day in Cassis

Cu a vist París, e non Cassís, a ren vist!

Sometimes, even when you live somewhere as beautiful as Aix, little escapes are just what you need. After spending Saturday at the markets with Hayley, we took off on Sunday morning for Cassis–despite all the rosé from the night before.

Cassis is a beautiful port city next to Marseille known for its beaches, seafood, and calanques. I visited Cassis very briefly when I was studying and was so happy to return! Fun fact: Cassis is not the home of crème de cassis–that is Burgundy. Instead, it’s where Cassis wine is made…which means a vineyard trip is almost certainly in our future.

A group of six of us hopped on the bus in the morning, hoping to see the Cassis market before it closed (note for future travelers: there is no Cassis market on Sundays, just Wednesdays and Fridays). An hour and a half later, we were at the port and ready to explore.

Cassis, like Marseille, has calanques–limestone cliffs that plunge into the Mediterranean. I did a boat tour of the calanques in Marseille a couple years ago, but had never hiked them! The man in the tourism office seemed very concerned that we all had good shoes before we went up–which, after going up a few of the rocky hills, I began to understand more and more.

At the second calanque, Port Pin, we stopped to faire un pause, eat lunch and mille feuilles, and profiter du soleil. All of the French schools are on vacation now, so there were a lot of families at the little beach trying to squeeze in one last beach day (in October!). After napping and getting a very strange tan on my leg, we left the smallest of the three calanques we had set out to see to climb to the top of one of the cliffs.

Unfortunately, I always realize at the most inopportune times how much heights freak me out…like, say, while on top of a cliff. But the views from the top are so, so worth it–even if I didn’t take any of the daredevil shots standing on the ledge.

As we were sitting on one of the cliffs, Hayley and I were talking about how incredible it is that we live so close to something this breathtaking–though, if anyone wants to come give me a foot massage, you are most certainly welcome.