We were up bright and early this morning so we could get to the bus stop for 08.20. We just made it in time. The bus itself is quite small and generally has the same driver. A rather bad tempered middle aged lady who also has a heart of gold. She drives the bus around the narrow lanes blasting her horn and voicing her opinion at any poor sole who blocks her way or impedes the progress of the bus. The route, unfortunately, has hundreds of 'sleeping policemen'. Not the nice shallow ones we have in the UK no, but fierce back jarring humps which make the bus shudder with disapproval. Needless to say the bus has no suspension which is quite a surprise for such a new vehicle. Mind you the lady driver is very comfortable in her air sprung luxury driver's seat, so one up to her. One day she suddenly stopped the bus when she saw an old man walking along the road clearly struggling with his walking sticks. She stopped the bus, opened the doors and made him get in. She then drove him the hundred metres or so to his destination. Quite nice really.
We arrived in St Tropez at about 08.30 and made our way to the supermarket which offers WiFi access and we down loaded the blog. By the time we had finished it was getting on for 09.20 and time for second breakfast. The market in St Tropez is held on a Tuesday and a Saturday, its a huge affair and has the same stall holders in exactly the same place every time. Like most things around here the market is not cheap and one should certainly not rely on waiting to shop there for a bargain. In fact the supermarket is significantly cheaper. One thing they do do that we like as a treat is Pizza. Cue second breakfast - two triangles on a napkin as we continued walking around, great.
The whole reason for going to St Tropez today is because it's Heritage open day at most of the museums and attractions. The four things we were interested in most were the local modern art gallery, the butterfly museum, a little chapel and the Fort which has been converted into a maritime museum. All of which are usually quite expensive to get into but today ...free.
The first place we visited was the art gallery called Musee de l'Annonciade. It is a converted 16th Century chapel and quite charming. Beautiful curved alcoved interiors provide the perfect backdrop for the works on show. The views from the windows were stunning as well across the harbour and sea. The gallery holds a collection of art painted by artists who either lived or worked in the town. Most notable being Signac and Matisse. We really liked the works by Signac who is described as a Fauvist, basically he paints with dabs of colour which when stood back from meld into beautiful pictures. There were also some interesting sculptures on show and the collection was spread over two floors.
Next we went to a lovely rustic little chapel called Chapelle de la Misericorde. Inside it was very plain with a curved ceilings. The walls were painted in light terracotta a typical St Tropezian colour. The altar was very ornate and grand and stood out in stark contrast to the plain walls of the chapel. There is nothing else to say about it really, it was plain but a delight to visit.
Down one of the narrow alleyways which join the harbour area to one of the main shopping streets is a small butterfly museum. To be honest it is not something we would normally be interested in but, as we were passing we thought we would pop in and have a look. Inside the building which was a converted house were several rooms containing large chests of drawers. Hanging from the walls were some of the drawers obviously removed from various chests and hung on the walls with displays of some of the most amazing and beautiful butterflies. We didn't realise the variety of bright colours and huge size some of them grow to. There was also large picture frames with butterflies arranged on pictures and designs.
Upstairs we were looking at a very rare pair of butterflies called 'black Apollo' when we were approached by an elderly man supported by a walking stick. He looked somewhat eccentric dressed in a red and white stripped Breton shirt and white shorts. on his head he had one of those colourful skull caps and wore a solid gold pendent around his neck. He started to talk to us in French but as soon as he realised we were English his face lit up and he switched to our language.
It turned out the gentleman was the owner and collector of all the butterflies, Dany Lartigue and it was his life's work. He told us how he had found the male butterfly as a lad and it changed his life. He became obsessed with collecting and he told us all the great collectors were British. Apparently he learnt English so he could read the books on the subject which were all in English. Well, he had got us now and we were taken into his office which was a fascinating place to visit. He sat down on his chair and proceeded to tell us his life story and was about to launch into his collection and the history of butterflies when the phone rang, an ancient looking push button thing with a bell loud enough to make your teeth rattle.
The reprieve gave us time to look around the office which was quite a large light room. Behind the entrance door was a collection of butterfly nets and on the shelves were all manner of interesting objects obviously used for the stabilising and displaying of the butterflies. One object that caught my eye was a small plank of wood with a groove running its length. The body of the butterfly is placed in the groove and the wings are taped flat against the plank. Presumably every butterfly in the collection has been through this device or similar.
Hanging from the ceiling were large models of galleons. Not accurate in detail but rustic and clearly hand made. On the walls some beautiful paintings, one was of the tree of life and had interspersed on it little butterflies giving a clue as to the artist might be. Above the old man's desk was a minstrel gallery containing a whole row of paintings. I would have loved to have looked up there. Well, I could go on for aged talking about this room but it became obvious that he was deep in conversation on the phone so we made our excuses and went on our way. We walked out into the cool of the alley and had a chat with the owner's wife and daughter who were chatting outside and probably having a cigarette.
Our last port of call was to be the Fort. Readers of the blog may recall that we did go to the fort last year but it was undergoing what we thought were renovations. However, it has been converted into a maritime museum to celebrate St Tropez involvement with the sea over the centuries. Externally the keep didn't excite us very much and it hasn't changed a jot but internally, that's a different matter. By fort standards it is a very small affair but very interesting. Most of the displays are below ground level in a maze of small inter-joining rooms that must have been storage and armoires in their time. The displays go through the different type of boats used by fishermen and traders of the region using models and drawings to illustrate. There was a display of tools and materials used by the craftsman set out in pull-out drawers. As we meandered through time we ended up in a room with a large torpedo and a short film showing a ship called the Suffren in action.
Suffren is one of St Tropez's most illustrious citizens Bailly de Suffren. His late-flourishing career ended with a famously successful Indian campaign in the 1780's. As you walk around the quay side there is a big bronze statue of him and the 10 century square tower the Chateau de Suffen has been retrospectively named after him. So it would seem has the ship in the film. From what we could gather from the film the ship has now been scrapped and the name was transferred to a nuclear submarine.
The highlight of the visit was to lie on our backs in a darkened room looking up at the ceiling watching another short film. I am not sure if it was the film or the lying down that we liked the most but in any case it was great to rest our backs. The film was extraordinary and was taken on one of the last tall ships in service using one of the first black and white movie cameras. It started on deck in beautiful sunshine and as you watched the weather changed to a full blown hurricane. It is an extraordinary bit of film and illustrated how hard life was for these young sailors. The waves were incredible as it threw the huge ship from side to side. Brilliant.
We arose from our lying position feeling somewhat seasick and conveniently made our way to the roof terrace for some fresh air. Being at the top of the hill you would expect great views and we were not disappointed. It was a beautiful day bright, sunny and the air was gin clear. The sea was a dark blue and covered in little boats leaving trails in the water as they sailed on their way. We spent some time walking around the ramparts admiring the view before making our way back down the stairs and out of the fort.
We got the two o'clock bus back to Bertie the same bus driver drove us down the same route cussing and a spitting as we went. The rest of the day was spent relaxing under the awning in the shade and the heat of the afternoon. We both fell fast asleep dreaming of torpedoes and hurricanes......
Sunday 15 September 2013
Oh how it rained in the night, we were rather rudely awoken by the thunder and lightning and the pounding of the rain on the roof. By 06.00 we had had enough and we put the kettle on. We had breakfast and decided to do a few internal jobs whilst the weather moved on. Petra did a bit of route planning whilst Kev hid some wires from the Tv, a job needed to be done since we had the van. We also drained the fresh water tank and gave it a good scrub out with the Milton.
By mid morning it had all cleared up and the sun was back out. As you know Sunday is cleaning day and nature had done a good job on the outside of the van and all that was required was a wipe over and the job was done. This left the whole afternoon to do what all good folk should do on the sabbath, relax. Petra spent the afternoon doing her tapestry and Kev did something but we can't remember what........!
Monday 16 September 2013
The day started off rather cool a mere 17 on the thermometer. Sunny but defiantly cool. Not something we are used too. We were a bit undecided as to what to do today but it seemed an ideal day for a nice long walk. And that is precisely what we did.
Last week we went for a walk around the headland and we loved it so much we thought we would do it again but an extended version. We caught the 10.34 bus to Tahiti beach which is about 4-5k from the campsite. We got off the bus and made our way to the beach a beautiful silver sanded beach with bars and lounger chairs all neatly laid out. The walk was a couple of kilometers further than the previous walk but didn't seem quite so arduous. I put this down to the drop in temperature rather than our sudden improvement in fitness.
We love this walk and everything about it. From the dramatic sea line with its craggy rocks and inlets to the hidden sandy beaches in coves. Ideal places for those whom prefer to bath o'natural as it were.... Still each to their own and if its a seamless tan you want you couldn't find a better place to get it. Any more descriptions would only be repeating what at have already said so I hope the pictures below will give you an idea.
Buy the time we got back it was about 13.40 so we had had a good walk stopping once for an apple break and a drink. We were quite tired and decided to take a rest on the beach. Once again it was a bit blowy but not so bad as to stop ourselves nodding off.
Got to mention this, in the evening made one of her stunning curry's. Its days like today that make it all so worth while, perfect really. That's it I'm off to grind the beans for the coffee.
Tuesday 17 September - Sunday 29 September 2013
One of the expected highlights of our visit to St Tropez was the arrival of our good friends Greta and Luc. We first met them here at St Tropez last year and Greta was the first person to come over and welcome us. We have since become good friends and we had a fantastic time visiting them at their home in the spring and being so kindly looked after in Antwerp.
It was great to see their Dethleffs motorhome turn up at the camp site and settle in next to Bertie. They have a similar van to ours except a different layout. The next two weeks were spent in and out of each other's company enjoying days out to St Tropez, having meals together beside the vans and chatting under the stars drinking St Tropezian rose wine which is available from all good supermarkets and our campsite owner at €20 for 6 bottles. A point to note here is throughout our stay we have eaten outside except on the odd occasion when it had rained in the night.
A new addition to Luc and Greta's family is a brand new 250cc metallic gold Vespa. It is resplendent and very shiny with bits of chrome dotted about it. It arrived in its own trailer and they have made full use of it during their stay. They even have a special carry bag for their dog 'Filou' to sit in on their travels. Luc (bless him) would fetch us our breakfast of croissants every morning from St Tropez on the bike and twice he ferried us all back from St Tropez after dinner. For that Luc 'we salute you'. As a small addendum, it is very fortunate for us all, that Greta has a large brain as her helmet happens to fit us all...
We went out for meals at Le Sporting. It's a fairly large establishment with large TVs showing football and they do play rather loud music through their speakers. But, the food is good, plentiful and for St Tropez quite reasonably priced. €100 gets you a main course for four persons which is just about more food than you can eat and a bottle of (you guessed it rose wine) for €100 or in English about £20 each. It is always packed and on market days impossible to get a seat.
We have watched the Voiles de St Tropez rev up over the last couple of weeks. Over the days we have seen the yachts slowly arrive and position themselves on the quayside stern in. There are some 130 classic and modern yachts in the harbour and some of them are truly huge. Those in the know will understand that a yacht with 5 spreaders up the mast is a big yacht indeed. There are some smaller yachts (one spreader) and on their own are beautiful and desirable but they do seem lost in the midst and grandiose of the bigger boys.
The queen of the yachts, has to be Velsheda. Built in 1933 the J class yacht was used in the Americas Cup race in a time well before it all went hi-tech with enormous catamarans and rich sponsors. It is a yacht from an era where wealthy gentleman would battle it out on the sea simply for the pleasure and prestige of winning a cup they could stick on their mantle piece for four years. It has the lines of a goddess and is immaculate in every detail from stem to stern. It's dark blue hull sits beneath a treasure trove of shiny bits and pure white ropes. The wood around the cockpit is a dark mahogany with a gloss as deep as the ocean itself. It is transfixing to look at and for me one of the most beautiful objects ever created by man. Apparently the inside is as beautiful as the out, something I doubt I will ever have the privilege of seeing for myself.
In the afternoon we would walk along the harbour and sit on wall watching these magnificent creations with their enormous sails power past us leaning over in the stiff breeze. Sometimes they would tack and whoosh out with the spinnaker, huge bellowing colourful bags of wind powering the boat forward. One can only imagine the exhilaration felt by the crew as it creaks and strains at the cleats as it ploughs through the waves.
At the end of the day's sailing the boats come in and all hands were on deck fending off as they squeezed their precious vessels in the gaps between equally expensive boats. Then the work would begin on cleaning and preparing the boat for the next day's racing. Sails would be removed and bagged up and all the beefcake grinders would be seen lifting and sliding the sails around the deck. I have no idea how much a mainsail for one of these boats weighs but it looked like over 1000kg to me. Up to 20 men would be swabbing the decks polishing the bright gear and coiling ropes. Each man gamely employed knowing exactly what he had to do. Endlessly fascinating to watch. We looked up into the rigging and three of the yachts had men up the top of masts all at the same time. They were so high they looked tiny against thick masts, for sure those men had a good head for heights and best view in town.
At the opposite end to Velsheda are the modern yachts, incredible carbon fibre creations with clear decks and driven by computers. You can see the computer terminals by the wheel. More akin to a space ship than a yacht. One man decided this was a good place to put his deck shoes. I guess it was the owner as I can't see a crew member getting away with that. All the winches are electronic and the sails retract into the boom and roll away. I have heard that you can actually sail one of these boats from your office desk if you should choose to do so? I don't believe it though!
Après sailing is all about entertainment and spending money which to those without money like us is fascinating to watch. Out come the owners and the well to do, with huge cigars and fancy cars. Over-made up women with over-stretched clothes and over-stretched faces. They are a breed to themselves who find it impossible to be polite to the hoi polloi who after all are 'mere mortals' and can't afford plastic surgery. They eat caviar at €1200 a kilo and champagne at any price you like. They refuse to move out of your way on the pavements, park their expensive cars wherever they like and have a life of privilege and excess that we can only imagine, and even then I struggle. I feel a little sorry for these creatures of show who really haven't a clue about the real world. Or, perhaps its us who are the naive. Either way, It is the grotesque side of St Tropez to us, to them, it is of course normal.
Constructed alongside the harbour is a small village containing a race centre for those competing and some really nice shops. There is a couple of artisan knife makers, a shoe shop specialising in deck shoes (what else?) another selling binoculars and another selling things made out of sail material. All off them have one thing in common' they are very very expensive indeed. Even the boating antique shop was unbelievably expensive. There was a large pond yacht for sale and the man wanted €6000 for it. He will probably get it!
The best shop was Les Voiles boutique which has all the clothing you could ever need for wondering around St Tropez. Voiles branded clothes, towels, hats, shirts sweatshirts, you name it, all with badges saying you were there in 2013. Again all a bit expensive for us but, Greta treated herself to a really handsome navy sweatshirt with a zip up front. One thing I will say about the clothing it may be expensive but it is good quality stuff.
For all of the down sides we still love St Tropez not despite it but because of it. It is a diverse and endlessly fascinating place to be. We love it warts and all and would be quite happy to spend the rest of our days here. We have seen there is a small apartment overlooking the harbour for sale for only €5,000,000, I hear it is open to offers so maybe we'll take a look.....
The stopping of the free bus heralds the close of the season and by the end of Oct there will only be locals here, most of the shops will be closed for the winter and only the hardy few will remain. The super rich will have moved there super yachts to the Caribbean and the warmer climate ("well one has to keep ones tan up doesn't one") The summer houses will be boarded up and the locals can take a well deserved holiday on their hard earned summers earnings. We leave here on Friday, sad to leave as we have really enjoyed our time here especially since Greta and Luc arrived and we will miss them very much. We are booked into our winter home in Calpe for 25 Oct. So a slow drive through France is called for followed by a gallop through Spain. We will then be tucked away in hibernation snug and warm ("we'll one has to keep ones tan up doesn't one") for at least three months probably four or until we can't stand being in one place anymore.
Monday 30 September 2013
Today it is Greta's birthday and to celebrate we decided to go for a 3 hour boat trip to look at the yachts racing out at sea. The boat left from the harbour at 14.00 so a leisurely start was called for and a lovely walk into St Tropez along the coastal walk. It was simply a perfect day, brilliant sunshine but not so hot that it made walking unpleasant. The bay was full of boats in sail and every now and then we heard the crack of the starter canon to signify the commencement of a race. Anchored off were large super yachts and some very handsome luxury sail yachts.
The walk is so familiar to us that before we knew it we were sitting high up by the cemetery on the benches watching it all happen below. A quick rest followed by a visit to the bread shop for lunch saw us at the lighthouse meeting Greta and Luc. By the time we had enjoyed our lunch and watched the comings and goings going on it was time to queue up for the boat trip.
The boat trip was absolutely amazing, the skipper of the boat whisked us all over the bay to see some of the most beautiful and expensive yachts in full sail. It was quite overwhelming for me. I have never seen these huge boats with their spinnakers flying and to sail alongside them was so so special. We would power our way through the waves from one marvel to another. Greta said there wasn't as many boats out this time as the last time they went out but that didn't matter to me, the weather was perfect for sailing and there were enough of the classic boats out to make it all worth while. The two highlights were Shamrock (similar boat to Velsheda) and a brand new yacht called Magic Carpet owned by the owner of L'Oreal. He obviously needed it because 'he's was worth it'!
The trip out was indeed one to remember and I have the photographs to prove it. We will definitely do it again if we come next year. The boat returned us to port as the Mistral was starting to blow in. The flags were horizontal on the poles and flapping madly. On the quay side we slowly made our way round the harbour ready for our dinner to celebrate Greta's birthday. The restaurant was right on the front and sold Italian food but the fish we had was a local speciality and was excellent.
After dinner we continued walking along the quayside in the dark. St. Tropez takes on a different atmosphere at night. The large yachts put on all the mast lights, one for each spreader crowned with a red light at the top. They look like stitching in the sky. All the lights from the restaurants illuminate the road and it all looks lovely and warm and very Mediterranean.
We returned to Bertie on Luc's transport and sat for the rest of the evening drinking two bottles of St Tropez best Rose, a great end to a perfect day.
