Cassis, France

Mike was able to take a week off from work and stay with us at an apartment in Cassis, France (pronounced Cass-ee).  It was about an 8 1/2 hour drive for us, but the kids were so excited to see Daddy, that the drive down went pretty smoothly.  (I had a little help from Mr.DVD Player as well.)  We arrived around dinner time on Saturday evening so we settled into the apartment, took a quick walk to the beach to have a look-see, and ordered some pizza.

We spent Sunday morning at the beach and then after naps we took a boat ride to visit the Calanques (pronounced Kah-lahnk). 

This is the beach we went to.  Our apartment was just about a block and a half away from the port.  It was just a few minutes walk to the local boulangerie (bakery for breakfast), market, park, and BEACH.

 

This is the highest cliff on the French Coast.

Jonas enjoying the boat ride.  Ezra, not so much at first.  For some reason, he didn't like the particular boat that we took.  He liked all the other boats, but not the one we happened to be riding on.  You never know with that kid.  He finally settled down enough to enjoy it.

The Calanque are fjords (inlets carved out by glaciers) along the coast between Cassis and Marseille (about 20 km).  It is a national park.  There are beaches, but you can only get to them by foot (except for the port).  I kept trying to get Mike to hike to one of them, but he maintained that he was sure we would lose one or more children over the cliffs along the way.  So our view of these awesome beaches was from the boat.

A fish in the crystal clear water.  Some springs right of the coast keep the water particularly clear here (as well as particularly chilly--as you'll see in the pics of Ezra and Mike in the water at the beach in a later blog).

And afterward, play time at the park.