Aix-en-Provence

South Of France

/ Zohra x / Leave a comment

Hello World!!

In July 2012 I went to the South of France to visit my friend Charlotte and it was incredible so this is my “France Blog”. I can’t believe I only met Charlotte 3 months before, sometimes you meet people and you feel you have known them forever. She left London and asked me to come visit her so I did…like a week after she left hahaha. I arrived in France not knowing what to expect other than great weather and a beautiful place. After meeting her family I knew I was going to have a great time, they were such warm people, full of enthusiasm and so hospitable. They went out of their way to make everything perfect for me, kitchen stocked with all the typical French food, three course dinners every-day, live music :p, they wanted me to have a real taste of France and it was delicious! They even gave me my own floor of their house, no hotel could ever compare to the hospitality I received despite the fact that I was a stranger in their home. I explained to Charlottes mum that she didn’t need to go out of her way for me and she told me it was her pleasure and the thing is I could feel their enthusiasm every-time they explained things to me, showed me new places and watched me try all these new things. People like that who get fulfilment from giving someone else pleasure are like gold-dust and despite the beauty of France and my amazing experiences, meeting them was by far the best part.

Charlotte had wonderful things planned for me every-day!  On my first day we went to Toulon, I loved the little cobbled streets and squares filled with people dining Al Fresco, I loved that there were ports and beaches everywhere and being surrounded by water just filled the air with a sense of tranquillity. We then took a boat to the beach in Sablettes to meet Brenda who lives there but was here in England for two months with Charlotte so was nice seeing her in her home town! Charlottes mum has powers by the way, shes an extremely lucky person and when she feels lucky she knows so she decided to take us to the Casino that night where she came home with 800 euros lol. It was like being in James Bond!

The next day we went to Sanary – my favourite seaside town, It was so quaint and colourful and I could have walked around there all day but we had a cruise to catch! We spent the day on a boat cruising the South coast of France (Marseilles, Calanques, Cassis etc) It was so scenic, we saw all the beautiful beaches as the boat cruised the coastline.
We spent Saturday in Aix en Provence, my first glimpse of a City there, it was also beautiful and the hours drive there was filled with mountainous landscapes with the backdrop of the beautiful blue sea. Aix was a shoppers paradise J Not only was it beautiful, scattered with ancient landmarks and fountains but it also had endless rows of shops J We stopped for lunch in one of the squares, I watched Charlotte devour her Steak Tartare..i’m not gonna lie I felt sick hahaha.  A raw pile of mince meat with an egg yolk sitting on top of it and she thought I WAS WEIRD for not wanting to try it.
Sunday was definitely a highlight; we went to L’Estagnol beach which was breathtaking! The clear blue water was filled with glitter, It was actual flakes of gold and when you came out of the sea you were covered in glitter, it was amazing, I felt like a Princess  haha.
That night we went to an amazing restaurant on the beach, as we watched the Sunset we ate the most divine food, I can’t tell you how much better the food is there, everything is fresh and the fruit and veg has so much more flavour. I remember not enjoying the food in Paris but all I did in the South was EAT! The next day Charlottes boyfriend Will took us to a beautiful Medieval village and we ate Crepes..mmmmmmmmmm. The village (like everywhere else in the South) had beautiful viewpoints where you could sit and take in the scenery for hours.
The weather was perfect, the food was divine, the landscape was breathtaking and the people were beautiful, I couldn’t have asked for a better break J I highly recommend a holiday to the South of France!

Lots of Love xoxo

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