I had never been to the Côte d’Azur before until this afternoon. I’ve seen the ‘local’ Mediterranean coast at various places, at Tarragona and Barcelona in Spain, at Perpignan and Montpellier in France, and in La Spezia and various other Cinque Terre towns, and Pisa in Italy. The beaches I have seen were all quite similar. I didn’t expect that this missing stretch of beach in between would be so different. I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about. But then again, what did I know.
We’ve only just arrived in Le Lavandou, and I have probably spent five minutes on the local tiny stretch of beach. My first impression? Holy fuck, this water is blue… It is beautiful, even. I also saw more topless, overly tanned, and definitely elderly ladies in those five minutes than in my entire life up to now. We have yet to see other couples with children. We significantly lower the average age here. I don’t care. These waters are very blue. I want to swim in them. So that’s the plan for tomorrow.
I’m sorry to disappoint, because 1) there are no pictures of blue seas and 2) there’s not much ‘story’ to write home about. I spent most of today behind the wheel, driving about four hours – but not that many kilometers – to get here. It’s no punishment to drive these roads. Most of it is gorgeous. But the area could benefit from more places to get a coffee… Whatever was there was closed for the afternoon. Bummer. Here’s a picture of the first stretch, to make up for the lack of sea shots.
Robin Heinen 