St Tropez

Are we fancy people?  I couldn't tell and I wasn't sure.  I didn't think so given we weren't on a fancy boat, but at the same time, we were in luxurious surrounds and we had arrived in a very nice car.  Wealth and privilege seems to be a relative concept.  I know that I am in a good situation, but when you're in a place like the South of France, even the well off can be made to feel quite small by the sheer number of partying billionaires.  For us, we were clearly not doing too badly and the fact that we were travelling the way we were meant that we couldn't complain.  To complete the fanciness of this trip, Veronica wanted to go to St Tropez.  In the same way that places like Capri, Cannes, Positano and Monaco evoke images of glitz and glamour, St Tropez has that same allure.  We had been to all of those places on this trip, so it was almost fitting to include this location on our places to visit.

We woke up early in an attempt to beat the rush.  We were out the door and in the car at what seemed to be an early hour in this part of the world, on the highway before 9:30am.  I thought back to some of the car trips I had been on when I was young and the painfully early starts we used to make.  This laid back approach would have shocked and appalled my father.  The last time I had been here, I had made the decision to drive out to Aix.  It had been a long and dull drive of more than two hours, but I had wanted to go see Manon and Gabby.  As much as anything, it had been the boredom of the long drive which had been the most difficult to deal with.  This time, the drive was a leisurely hour and a half, and I had Veronica to keep me company and entertained.  The scenery along the drive as as spectacular as I remembered it.  The hills in the region were a deep red, and the rose sharply out of the ground.  As we made the turn towards St Tropez, we shot down quickly towards the water and hugged the coastal road of the bay.  I had been warned about this section of road and sadly everything we had been told was true.  The traffic ground to a crawl.  Annoyingly, it was clear to me after a while that this wasn't really an unavoidable traffic jam.  The entire road needed about six to eight more traffic light intersections.  Instead, it relied on roundabouts which also had zebra crossings for pedestrians to cross as and when they pleased.  With such a high level of traffic and so many people crossing the road to get to the beach, these delays had to be expected with such poor traffic management.  After what felt like an eternity, we reached St Tropez.  We found expensive parking and went for a walk around the town.

It was an extremely pretty town.

The buildings were old and striking against the water.  The French Mediterranean style and colours contrasted beautifully against the blue water.  The town itself was small.  The small lanes, winding everywhere and full of people. 

Everything in the town was catered towards the rich and wealthy.  There were boutiques everywhere, both small and local, as well as the ultra high end.  In one enormous building, I saw the only Dior cafe I have ever seen (are there any others anywhere else)?  The town reminded us both of a French version of Capri, but without the same sense of fun and with a more muted French cultural twinge to everything.  Having enjoyed my time in Nice and Antibes, I couldn't say that there was anything about St Tropez which made me feel any particular excitement or interest.  It was all very nice, but I wouldn't say that there was anything about this area which was better or nicer than what I had seen closer to where we were staying.  If anything, I felt that in an overly touristy part of the world, this seemed to have even more of the negative aspects that most would seem to avoid.

The day was extremely hot.  We walked over to one of the nearby beaches hoping to get a spot to rest and swim.  Luck wasn't with us and all of the beach chairs had already been booked.  Even lunch wasn't possible as all the tables for dining were also booked, so we had to content ourselves at the bar for a drink.  The prices were as astronomical as you would expect in this part of the world, so this wasn't a terrible outcome.  We walked around the town a bit more and found a spot for lunch.  It was difficult to enjoy this place.  There were too many people, and the heat was now oppressive.  By mid afternoon, I felt we had walked more than enough of this place and so I decided I was done.  We slowly walked backed to the car and began the slow drive out of St Tropez.  For all the fame and glamour of this place, it didn't seem to have the appeal to justify its reputation.  As we were driving, we were stuck in another traffic jam.  I looked at the time.  It was still early.  It seemed a waste for us to just go straight back to Antibes.  We hadn't seen anywhere near as much of this region as I had hoped on this trip as a result of traffic, crowds and the heat.  This seemed to be a good opportunity for us to get in one more stop, particularly for Veronica.

I punched in "Cannes" into the GPS.  It didn't seem right at all that we had come all this way to the Cote d'Azur and that I hadn't brought Veronica here yet.  I always had some mixed feelings about Cannes.  I wouldn't say that I love the place, but it always seemed like a nice enough place to visit.  The drive in was trouble free and we were able to find parking easily (something which has always generally be quite nice about the South of France).  We walked out into the streets of Cannes as the temperatures had begun to cool.  The atmosphere was happy and vibrant as it was back in Antibes.

Climbing to the top of the fort at the end of the town, we looked across Cannes as the sun slowly set.  It was as beautiful as I remembered.  The last time I had been here was with Maya and Todd.  I remembered standing in almost the same place, looking over the town and feeling lucky that I was there with such good friends.  I felt lucky this time as well being with Veronica.  My life was changing and moving forward, and it was good to be able to share these places with her.  We started walking back down towards the town.  We were hungry and it felt like the perfect time for dinner.  Along the side on the way down from the fort, there is the busy street leading up the hill full of restaurants that I was introduced to on my first trip to Cannes.  This was the first time I had seen the place during peak season.

There were no spots at any tables on the street itself.  That would have required more booking or for us to have arrived earlier, but we were still able to find a nice spot.  We ordered fish, which was perfectly cooked.  We had been lucky with food on our trip, and Veronica was quick to note that each place we had been in France had cooked the fish to an expert level.  We didn't linger too long.  We wanted to see more of Cannes in the evening.

There were markets and stalls set up all along the promenade.  Veronica started shopping as I walked around and watched the street performers.  Like in other places, even though it was late, there was lovely energy and activity we had come to expect this time of year.  There were children with their parents wandering around, groups of young people out having fun.  This whole region comes alive during the summer.  Veronica had a beaming smile on her face as she moved from stall to stall.  I loved visiting this part of the world and this time of year had made me appreciate its joy and beauty even more.