The Last Port

For being on a cruise, we certainly took the train quite a bit.

The final port was Marseille, France but our daughter had other plans. There was a beach, Calanque de Port-pin, she really wanted to visit near Cassis, France which is about an hour train ride, followed by a twenty minute bus trip, ending with an hour hike.

We left our poor injured Rebecca on the ship to recover. An excellent idea as it turned out. While the hike was mostly easy, there were a few spots with rough terrain that would have been difficult with her injured ankle.

Cassis is a charming coastal town with a small marina nestled into a hillside.

Our first order of business was to find some food for a snack now and a meal later on. There would be no food vendors where we were going. Not being our usual organized selves that morning the process was more chaotic than it should have been. Add to that I sidetracked to pick up postcards and souvenirs in case the shops were closed when we made it back, meant starting the trek from Cassis to the beach took longer than expected.

There was also a required group photo before heading out.

Look at how fresh and optimistic we are!

From the center of town to the parking lot leading to our destination turned out to be quite the urban hike. It was a lovely route though, leading us through neighborhoods and along narrow streets some of which had beautiful views of the town and sea.

The truly stunning views, however, happened once we started on the actual hiking trail.

The trek to the beach took about an hour with only an occasional furtive glance down another trail, wondering if we were on the correct path.

We were. The questionable trail led closer to the cliff edge but eventually merged with ours. The most challenging part of the hike were the stairs heading down to the beach. They're steeper than they look.

Calanque de Port-pin turned out to be a rather popular place even in October with a constant stream of people coming and going.

We were surprised at the number of Germans who were lounging around or swimming in clear sea green, and very cold, water. We heard more German spoken than French here.

I opted to stay on the beach as I am not a fan of cold water. As I relaxed on my towel and watched my family enjoying themselves, I was reminded of the primary difference between American and European beaches. An older man and his wife, who for some reason decided blocking my view of the water was the best place to be after exiting the pool, stripped down, toweled off and put on dry clothes.

I've spent time on these type of beaches so I wasn't shocked, just annoyed they were preventing me from a view I wished to see.

Eventually though, it was time to make the journey back to Vision of the Seas and our waiting compadre.

While the trip was enjoyable, it was also a bit sad as tomorrow we would return to Barcelona.