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Day 11 - en route to Ste Maxime
After Carl and I accidentally slept through our early morning run (whoops!), we met
Lala and Lauren in our hotel lobby and set off to find some breakfast, which was
easier said than done! Heading off in a new direction, we finally found a café in a
pretty plaza where we munched on - you guessed it - baguettes! Very little English
was spoken here and the waitress had some trouble understanding what we were after
(plain hot water? Pfft!) but eventually our hunger was satisfied and it was sadly
time to take Lauren and Lala to the airport. Instead of a sad goodbye, we said a
happy à bientôt! And they proceeded to get drunk on their flight back to London
before going their separate ways.
Carl and I then started our 5 hour journey to Ste-Maxime. The plan was to stop in
well recommended Aix-En-Provence for lunch, however after taking the turnoff and
battling the scary, disorganised and chaotic traffic, we headed straight back to the
A8 without stopping, or lunch.
Our first view of Ste Maxime was a pleasing, seemingly neverending blue ocean. We
were excited to find our hotel easily, nestled in the botanical gardens an easy
10-15 minute walk to town. Hotel de Jardins Sainte Maxime is a 3 star hotel, but by
our standards the facilities were 4 star. We bypassed the indoor pool, gym, bar and
restaurant to get to our reasonably sized room with a balcony overlooking the large
outdoor pool to the right, and glimpses of the Mediterranean in the distance.
Carl and I decided the best way to become accustomed to the area was to go for a jog
along the waterfront. 6km and alot of sweat later, we had trekked past the main town
and had mapped out where we would eat, drink, swim and catch the ferry from over the
next day or two.
For dinner we chose the Brasserie Le Nautic, a non-pretentious restaurant opposite
the beach where the staff were super friendly and the salads huge and delicious. We
ordered a bottle of house wine which was coincidentally from Lala's future husband's
winery, the same bottle we had had in Carcassonne the day before. The dinner set us
back €55 including tip and a complimentary dessert wine. It was a perfect end to a
perfect day.
Day 12- Ste Maxime
Our day began with a gym session at the modest hotel gym, finishing with a dip in
the indoor pool - bliss!
We then set out to the port for our day trip to St Tropez, stopping on the way at
the crèperie for breakfast. The ferry to St Tropez was a €13 round trip and took
about 10 minutes, with stunning views of the cruisers and yachts that Carl and I can
only dream of (for now...)
St Tropez port is like nothing I have ever seen- row upon row of million dollar
vessels. We spent a frustrating hour trying to find the beaches in the searing heat,
passing nightclubs boasting about celebrity clients and plenty of boutiques, until
finally the tourist office re-opened and pointed us into the direction of the
closest, but not most popular, public beach.
We followed the coastline past some tiny bays which, like everywhere else in the
south of France, were packed with human traffic. We passed a beautiful cemetery
overlooking the ocean, and marvelled at how similar this stretch of St Tropez was to
our Clovelly stretch of coastal walk back in Sydney. When we were too hot to keep
going, we stopped at an unremarkable little beach with rocks, sticks and dirt
substituting the sand. We lay in what little shade we could find (near the bushy
border at the back of the beach) and lay there for an hour or two, occasionally
dipping into the refreshing (although only ankle-deep) water.
We headed back to the port and ran for the ferry as we saw it docked and ready for
departure. We concluded that, although we were glad we went, St Tropez was all hype
and much ado about nothing. We didn't, however make it to the other side of the
mainland which we will do if we ever bother to return.
Carl and I decided that we needed a well deserved cocktail after the St Tropez
ordeal, so we stopped at the Ste Maxime Club for some Mohito Fraise and ambience.
Still feeling the cocktail spirit, we went by our hotel bar and had a cocktail by
the pool before heading back to our room to get ready for dinner.
It was pushing 9pm when we were ready for dinner, and the staff at the hotel
restaurant were rushing us to order and eat so they could get out of there. Carl had
steak tartare and I had a tenderloin and we shared a demi bottle of wine. This
delicious (if not hurried) meal cost about €50, and marked the end of another night
on the riviera.
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