A week in France

Week 1 has been a mixed bag.

Our first night back in France began at a hotel near the port, where we went for a nice evening stroll before dinner and saw this beautiful restaurant perched above the water:

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love my little place in France. It’s a small plot of land that is part of a big caravan park called the Domaine du Pin de la Legue. My grandmother owned it before me and a few years ago we finally had to remove the 1967 caravan that had been on the plot and we began to build something new. Sadly, the project has not been completed due to poor construction by a builder who couldn’t be bothered to finished the job, an architect who wasn’t able to manage the project, and a company that couldn’t be bothered to intervene even though they recommended the builder and the architect. For the last year we have been trying to find a replacement builder but it is common on the French Riviera not to be able to find good builders and when you do, they are too busy to dedicate much time to small projects.

Anyway, when we arrived, we’d already been made aware that there was a problem with the roof and stagnating water that could lead to a mosquito egg haven. Not good. Mosquitoes are very bad here when they get going. We did manage to get a new builder to come around and help with that problem, which is resolved for the short-term. The pitch of the roof is non-existent, apparently, so that is a new problem that must be dealt with.

So the week began in this way.

Also, I had a very important presentation that I had to do with a team I had been leading at work on Thursday. The presentation went very well and it was a delight working from our office in Sophia-Antipolis. Very modern site with wonderful environmentally friendly achievements.

We had mixed results at restaurants for dinner throughout the week. We are always trying to find somewhere new that is affordable and reliably good. So far, we confirmed what we have already found out in the past. Ranking in order from best to worst:

1. Restaurant Les Plaisirs in Peillon – nothing beats this for price, freshness and quality of the recipes. Plus, Romain the chef is a friend and a true artist when it comes to combining flavors.
2. Les Voiles in Saint-Raphael – This is only our second time at this restaurant but it was just as good as the first. The service is very good and the food is delicious.
3. La Table d’Yves on the outskirts of Fayence – a bit pricey but reliably delicious if somewhat fancy with weird 70s elevator music. A wonderful view looking up to Fayence and a weirdly big parking lot for a smallish restaurant. Owned by husband and wife: husband is the chef and wife manages the dining room with several other waitstaff.
4. L’entree des Artistes in Frejus – owned by two brothers. Reliably good food that is not too fancy.
5. Les Moulins de Saint-Aygulf in Saint-Aygulf – there was nothing specifically wrong with this restaurant. The food was good but on the fancier side with some flavors not quite working and it was quite pricey. The waitress was good and very attentive so we can’t fault that.
6. Le Barque Bleu in Nice – I’m just going to say this place is “meh”. It was ok, the service was ok, the food was ok. Nothing was outstanding or terrible but I wouldn’t recommend it.
7. Restaurant Le Tequila in Frejus – this one is actually on the commercial center next door to the Domaine. It’s not good. The food is mediocre and on the pricey side. Each year, we go there once and I say that I really don’t ever need to go back. It’s always a bit disappointing, sadly.
8. We can’t even remember the name of the worst restaurant in the Port of Frejus. The mussels made me sick the next day and there was nothing redeeming about this place.

Friday, I took the day off from work and spent the day exploring the region around Etang de Berre.

Etang de Berre is essentially the entry point for petroleum into France. It’s a bit of an odd one, I admit. But I was using my grandmother’s Michelin Guide from the early 70s and I was sold on the descriptions of the towns surrounding the lagoon. We started in Martigues, which is self-dubbed the “Venice of France”.

This town was a consolidation of 3 small medieval towns into one. We could see the old original charm, some new work, and some modern buildings, which all combined into a bit of a mixed response. This set the tone for the day.

Next we came to Saint Mitre les Remparts. It took us a bit of time to find the actual ramparts. Something funny happened while we were there, some locals asked us if we were actually visiting the town, as though they had never seen tourists before.

Next we visited a very ancient archaeological site: Saint Blaise. This was really pretty cool. We ran into a volunteer there who was doing some digging and he explained that this site was as important as Glanum (near Saint Remy) but it is in the wild.

Anyone who compares the two sites will understand this. Saint Blaise took about an hour so we quickly were running out of time and had to race to Miramas le Vieux, where we ate two very large ice cream sundays.

After that, we made a quick drive-by of Flavian’s Bridge to get back to Frejus for dinner at L’entree des Artistes.

Today, we began with a drive to Nice to pick up Chuck’s friend, Alessandro, for a further drive to Dolceacqua in Italy, where we met with Alessandro’s Instagram friend Paola, who showed us around the town. I’ve been once before but Chuck had never been. It’s an interesting place.

Next stop was Isolabona. This is another little town.

We ran out of time unfortunately and had to race back to Dolceacqua to drop Paola before racing to Peillon for our lunch reservation at Les Plaisirs. In Peillon, we had a wonderful meal…

…and then spent some time wandering around the village:

Finally, the week ended with a short visit to Nice, where we left Alessandro after seeing his beautiful photography books and zines.