For our first real French croissant of the year we sailed 300 miles in 48 hours. From Mallorca Santa Ponça we had a smooth ride and arrived at Ile de Porquerolles early morning. This island felt surprisingly French to us after having floated in Spanish and Portuguese waters for almost a year.
The French folklore was to continue in the very elegant town of st. Tropez where we happened onto a procession for the patron st. Torpes. The Tropésiens walked along town in colourful traditional costume. Men in Napoleontic soldier outfits stopped at small places and streets and made our ears ring with terrible gunfire while having earplugs in their ears, something we evidently had not brought with us. After this interesting meeting with the glorious French history we admired the various interesting sailing yachts in the port which were lining up for one of the regattas st Tropez is known for.
The Iles the Lérins just south of Cannes made for a very satisfying anchor place which we shared with many other yachts, a Pizza Catamaran with a real pizza oven, a Mojito boat, sandwich rib, espresso express and whats more, all drifting merrily along in between the anchored yachts for your convenience: merci beaucoup.
After the day tourists had gone we shared the Island with the monks inhabiting the cloister which dated from the year 500. A beautiful walk and a very peaceful sunset.
For our summer retreat we flew home from Nice and were met by son Albert to spend good times with family and friends.
Back in France it was time to visit the old town of Nice with its many old streets and small stores with delicious Mediterranean food. This served well to make a small party of two at our anniversary. The boat was accordingly decorated.
I don’t think there are many artists which are as versatile as Picasso has been. During his time in Cap d’Antibes he tried out various techniques and the works were presented by him to the museum in an old castle in the village.
Another artist who donated his work to his dedicated museum is Marc Chagall whose colourful illustrative works look like from a fairy tale. His museum in Nice is well worth a visit.