Côte d'Azur: Port Grimaud and Saint-Tropez (3/31-4/1/1983)

Thursday, March 31, 1983

Ate a hot (as in spicy) dinner and readied to leave for the big trip to the Côte d'Azur/French Riviera.

Cote d'Azur Fran Tour Itinerary page 1

Cote d'Azur Fran Tour Itinerary page 2

Cote d'Azur Fran Tour deposit receipt

Cote d'Azur Fran Tour
final payment receipt

Marsha Cotter and I left at 19:45 to catch the #51 bus in front of the hospital. We became anxious as it sat and waited at both Beaumont and Mühlebrücke, but we arrived at the train station at about 20:20. The bus did not go into the loop as usual, but went straight off (to the garage?). It was pleasantly cool. We caught the 20:33 train to Genève/Geneva, arriving a little early at 22:26.

Biel to Genève train ticket

We were to meet our Fran-Tour group at 22:30 at track 4. There was a huge crowd waiting to board the 23:00 train to the Riviera. We had to file through customs as the time ticked by, and we finally got through at about 22:50, with many people still behind us. A man with a pad and pen asked us in French if we were on the Fran-Tour, and if we had seats or cuchettes. He then asked my name, and when I said, “Thompson,” he directed us in English to car #97!

When we found our car and compartment, two Arab guys were sitting in our window seats. We just took the middle seats, and a French-speaking mother and daughter took the door seats. When the tour guide came through, he made the guys move out since this was a reserved car. Marsha and I took our rightful seats. The tour guide ushered in an old lady who insisted she had a window seat and was “ja, ja”-ed by the guide. The lady took my window seat, so I was in the middle again.

The train left only a few minutes late. The tour guide came to give us some instructions, then the conductor came for the tickets.

Genève to Saint-Raphaël train ticket cover

Genève to Saint-Raphaël train ticket

Once a midget walked by and stopped to stare at us at eye level (we were seated). We figured out how to turn out the compartment lights. Marsha was able to lie down (folded up!) across 3 seats, and I floated in my two middle seats. It was hard to sleep because my head kept jerking since I had no where to lean it, and I was very hot.

Friday, April 1, 1983

We arrived in Saint-Raphaël late, about 8:30 instead of 8:09. We got off the train and waited for the tour guide at the top of the stairs. We were led through the train station and out into the sun to a tour bus. We stowed the luggage under the bus and boarded. I figured we would be driving east and sat on the right side of the bus. I figured wrong, so we were not on the seaward side of the bus. The Mediterranean Sea was a hazy gray. The landscape was the typical dry reddish rocky earth with basically scrubby pine and olive trees. There were cacti, century plants, mimosas, etc. Adobe-like buildings with red tile roofs were scattered about. The bus had to maneuver around an illegally parked car to leave the parking lot, then followed the road along the coast. The tour guide used the loudspeaker to give instructions, first in French. When he spoke in Swiss dialect, the loudspeaker stuttered. Back to French and the reception was clear. Bad again when in German! Finally it evened out.

Almost everything was pointed out to us: the airport, each town and which had beaches, the canalized creeks, the hotels found in Fran-Tour brochures, and La Garonette beach where the Allies landed in August 1944. We were shown the main plan: the pines, cork trees, and eucalyptus, and that the main industry is cork. We drove into Sainte-Maxime and the girl behind us oohed and aahed at the tourist trap. Up on a small hill above town we arrived at our Hotel Maxima 2000. When the bus parked, we were given maps of the hotel complex with our name and room number.

Hotel Maxima 2000 resort map

Hotel Maxima 2000 voucher

The bungalows were situated in groups, and ours was #202 in the Philippines. In the parking lot, we had to put our luggage in concrete shelves according to our group and someone would bring them to our rooms.

We were ushered to the cafeteria for breakfast at 9:30. We each received one croissant, and apparently could have as much bread and jam as we wanted. There was tea and coffee, and a Tang-like orange drink. I spilled my Tang when I hit myself with the plastic tour-info holder. After breakfast we went to the bungalow where the key was in the door.

Marsha entering the bungalow

We entered to find a tiny area with two beds, a desk, a niche with a closet on one side and a sink, shower, and bidet on the other side. There was also a tiny toilet room.

View from the bungalow window

Bungalow room

Ready for Easter

Our luggage was outside at the top of the hill. We unpacked, then left to meet the group at 10:15.

We were taken on a tour of the hotel resort as it began to sprinkle rain. We passed the information office, the pool, the bar, and evening entertainment room with the restaurant upstairs. Marsha and I continued past the basketball courts, tennis courts, the bocce court, and volleyball court to go to the information office. There was reception, a gift shop, a hairdresser, a couple TV rooms, and a theater-like area with ping-pong tables. We returned to the bungalow to shower and get ready for lunch at 12:00. Marsha misplaced her money and we searched high and low for it. Finally found it on the floor in the little toilet room.

It was raining when we went to the restaurant. We sat with our train companions. We started with Pizza Niçoise, thick tomato sauce and cheese and a black olive on a flaky crust. There was red and rosé wine on the table along with water. Next was colline au bonnes femmes, a headless whole white fish with a sauce with celery and mushrooms, and a boiled potato. We had a choice of cheeses or yogurt. Marsha pointed at one cheese, which tasted like fontina. Mine was a tasty Tomme de Savoie. Dessert was a pudding and cake-like chiffon with fruit in it and an orange sauce on top. Very rich! The hostess announced in English that anyone who wanted their hair dressed could make an appointment for this afternoon. We then could go to the bar for coffee. Marsha and I went to check out ping pong, but would have to wait until 14:00. We returned to the room to further unpack and nap.

We were back in the tour bus in the pouring rain at 14:30. We sat on the left side of the bus to get a steamed window view of the Saint-Tropez Gulf. We were driven to Port Grimaud and were let off the bus to cross a narrow bridge into the modern village, built to look like an old fishing village and dubbed the Venice of the French Riviera. We walked through the brick streets with the stucco red-tile roofed buildings in pink and peach shades of colors. Lots of tourist trap shops, hotels, and restaurants, and a yacht at everyone’s back door!

Port Grimaud

Port Grimaud

There was a Église St-Francois-d'Assise/St Francis of Assisi Church with a plain stone bell tower.

Église St-Francois-d'Assise bell tower

Nice boat!

Shopping district

We saw an Arab fellow wearing a plastic garbage bag over his head and shoulders with his pant legs rolled up to his knees, that’s how wet it was! We only had 30 minutes and had to be back at the bus.

At 15:15 we drove to Saint-Tropez and were dropped off in the port area on our own. We hiked around the harbor fronted by old buildings, cafés, and canopy-covered shops.

Saint-Tropez harbor

This was a real fishing village at one time, and is now an artists’ colony. We walked uphill through town, looking down the very narrow side streets.

Saint-Tropez Citadelle

We continued up to the citadel beyond town and paid 8 FRF/$1 to enter the outer walls.

Saint-Tropez Citadelle ticket

We had to climb further, and almost walked into the caretaker’s workshop. Up through another wall to get a view on the cloudy bay. We crossed a bridge over a grassy moat and into the citadel proper. Now we climbed stairs to the Naval Museum, going through the circular series of rooms to see artifacts, model ships, and busts of sailors, battle plans, and artifacts from the landing of the US forces in August 1944. We passed the tour guide going the wrong way! I went up to the roof to be able not to see down into the town. We left the citadel to explore the town, walking through several of the narrow streets and noting the many boutiques and chocolatiers! Unfortunately we had given up chocolate for Lent!

View down on Saint-Tropez

Narrow street

Church of Notre Dame de l'Assomption
bell tower

We found the Church of Notre Dame de l'Assomption/Church of Our Lady of Assumption built in Italian Baroque style, but it was fairly simple inside. Marsha lit an offertory candle. On one wall was a naïve painting of Fête de la Bravade/a festival that is big in Saint-Tropez, where a bust of St Tropes is carried in procession. We looked for the Musée de l'Annonciade, an art museum, but didn’t see sign for it until it was time to leave. We stopped at a post office to get stamps and I had to go to two different clerks to get enough! Marsha got a coffee at Le Drugstore! There we saw the old lady from the train who called me over to request that I ask the waiter in French for her shoes! She had given them to him to be dried in the oven! The waiter appeared to be ignoring her, but we finally got her shoes in time to get to the bus at 18:00. As a group, we, being typically Swiss, are very punctual! It took us a half hour to return to the hotel.

We sat with our usual group for dinner at 19:30. The first course was soupe de poisson/fish soup, in which we dropped toasted bread rounds and grated cheese. There was also a hot sauce that we ate with the bread, but the old lady said we should eat it with the meat. We had coq au vin/chicken braised in wine and tagliatelle au beurre/pasta with butter. We served ourselves the soup and pasta family-style. Marsha had her fontina-like cheese, but I skipped cheese tonight. Dessert was pêche Mary Garden, a peach on ice cream. The waiter dropped one on the table but left it there as he got another. The French-speaking daughter ate both! A disco-night was announced for this evening. I left at 21:00 and Marsha accompanied the rest of our tablemates downstairs to the disco. She came back to the room at 22:00.