The train journey along the coast from Marseilles to Cassis was mainly inland and involved a lot of tunnels. This section, like several others we travelled on later in the holiday seemed to be quite a feat of engineering and I was surprised that it had been first built in the middle of the 19th century. We left this leg of the railway at Cassis station and caught a very crowded shuttle bus to the town a few miles away.
We walked through the town centre and along the harbour front, which was lined with restaurants and cafes, to our hotel, Le Golfe. It was immediately obvious that the town thrives almost purely on tourism and is a different scale and feel to Marseilles. After the hubbub of Marseilles this was a welcome change. Indeed, throughout our French and Italian Riviera trip, the variety of stop offs was a really positive feature of the itinerary that Byway Travel had planned for us.
Cassis harbour is pretty and overlooked by the limestone Saint-Cyr range of mountains and, to the east, Cap Canaille. This headland is the highest sea cliff in France at 1,293 feet. It is a mix of conglomerate rock, limestone and sandstone and the colours at sunset were stunning.
Also overlooking the town, and on the lower slopes of Cap Canaille, is Chateau de Cassis. This was built in the 13th century as a castle and is now a set of rooms marketed as a luxury retreat. It is not open to the public but, from afar, it looks fascinating and very picturesque.
As we wandered around Cassis, we assessed the various eateries and concluded they were all very similar and all very popular with tourists like us. We picked Olea Cassis, rather over-ordered some substantial portions and then found a little lie down in our room too tempting. We visited St Michel church and investigated the Calanques boat tours ready for the following day. I strolled along the waterfront beyond the harbour to see the sunset on Cap Canaille and then had an early night. This was all very relaxing.
I’m not sure why but I always have to be persuaded to go on boat trips. However, Jane was clear from the time we booked the holiday package that we would be going on a boat to see the Calanques. These are an impressive set of limestone cliffs with inlets akin to fjords formed when caves collapsed as sea levels have changed.
There are several such inlets, separated by huge limestone cliffs, just west of Cassis. Each has a slightly different layout and rock features and each has its own name. Some of the beaches at the ends of the inlets are accessible by car, some by foot and some by boat or kayak. All were terrific to see from the sea, especially given the gorgeous sunny weather that we had.
The trip to see the Calanques was undoubtably the highlight of our stay in Cassis. On our return, I wandered the town again and visited the public park. This had a lot of ducks but none were in the very murky algae-ridden lake at the park’s centre. I made a brief stop at a supermarket for some beer and snacks and returned to the hotel.
By this time, I was preparing my nerves for a Forest Green Rovers football game that I was planning to watch that evening in our room on a catch-up streaming service on Jane’s i-Pad. In the event, I shouldn’t have worried. I sat on the balcony of our room watching the game with a lovely backdrop of harbour and cliffs and we won 4-0.
Next morning, still thinking buoyantly about that win, we had breakfast at our hotel. Le Golfe again served up what we agreed later was our favourite croissant of our whole holiday and we were ready to head off to our next stop: Toulon.
