The Old Fishing Port of Cassis, Provence

On the 30th May, having managed to secure a berth in the old Port of Cassis by getting up very early and booking online, (as you could only book on the day and there were very limited spaces there), we left our little haven and set our sails, well our genoa only, for a fabulous downwind sail along the coast and into the bay of Cassis, arriving and safely mooring up by 11am, just before the feisty winds were due to start.

Cassis

Cassis is an old fishing port, overlooked by a centuries-old château, (more about that later), with pastel-colored buildings, sidewalk cafes and restaurants and a beautiful but pebbly beach. Local vineyards are known for producing Cassis white wine, not the blackcurrant liquor that carries its name, as we thought…. probably accounts for the fact that we saw no blackcurrants or the liquor anywhere in town! We can vouch for the wine though!!!

Once settled, we popped into the port office to see if they could recommend anyone to help us with our immersion heater and despite coming away with a few numbers in hand, no one was available to help until the end of June, arggh, at least they had hot showers ashore!

So we went for a wander to explore French life in the town, chill out and partake in the local wine, of course!

By evening the cold North wind had definitely set in and so we decided to have a night on board, grateful for having power with which we could put the heating on and some thick socks… who would have thought in the South of France with summer approaching!

The following morning we decided to take a walk over to the Calanque known as Port-Miou. This is actually part of the port of Cassis and we had the choice of mooring there on a buoy instead but opted for a bit of life. It is a 1,400-metre long inlet surrounded by steep cliffs, and has changed significantly over time, not just because of the sea. Man has made significant changes too.

The walk from Cassis was lovely, around the bay, taking in the sun worshippers on the beach and the €1m+ properties, most behind huge gates affording us a peek but no pics..

Until we finally got to the Calanque, we will let the pics do the talking, truly stunning but glad we had opted for the old Port, given the 2 boats that were on a buoy had to take 2 each because of the wind gusting through it.

Port-Miou

We then meandered our way back to Seaclusion, chilled out for the afternoon, had a very long and hot shower, god we were minging, then off for a wonderful meal of duck and red thai curry with calamari, courtesy of Chez Poulette, a small cosy family affair with all the staff and owner being very friendly and helpful, as we needed some help to understand the menu options, for which the chef came out and duly obliged. It’s times like this you wished you had studied French a bit more earnestly at school. We the returned to Chez Seaclusion hitting the sack ready to depart early the following morning.

1st June 2024