The few Marseillais we spoke with all urged us to go to Les Calanques (mini fjords). Of course, being a fan of all gorges, it's already high on our list. We took bus M8 to the popular seaside town of Cassis, a convenient place to check off both Les Calanques and Cap Canaille (2/3 of the walk was on GR98).
Les Calanques were every bit as beautiful as I expected, which also meant there were a lot of visitors. There were people of all ages and shapes walking the trails, rather plunking themselves on the first spit of sandy beach they came, the American way. For John, the outing was more anthropologically interesting. If we had another day, we'd be investigating kayaking.
Rode the metro a couple of stops to pick up bus M8 to Cassis. Gotta love a metro that has an aquarium down beside the tracks at one of its stops.
Bus M8 passed the Unit D'Habitation on the way to Cassis. Bonus.
Cassis Port.
A small beach at Cassis, not a calanque beach.
Following the trail to Calanque En Vau.
We are not alone. But the trail would get crowded then thin. Folks would stop to swim or to picnic and there are many places to do so.
A young man offered to take our photo. Sure!
The view from our lunch spot. Can you spot the kayakers and the 4 rock climbers?...
...Or in this shot?
Sun-Ling risks her life stepping out onto a ledge to take some panos with her phone...
...while John stays behind to guard the lunch bag.
We head back to Cassis after sitting for a few minutes at the official Calanque En Vau Viewpoint.
Back in Cassis, we head up to Cap Canaille which is billed as the highest sheer-drop cliff in Europe at 400 meters straight down. We walk on the road and it's a pretty easy 400 meter ascent in about an hour.
The view to Cassis from about 3/5ths of the way up.
And from the top. Wow!
And the view EAST towards Ciotat and Toulon beyond.
Almost back down.
An older model Citroen grinds up a steep section.
And finally, the view back to Cap Canaille through the M8 bus window.
Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
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