Saint-Tropez

22/03
Saint-Tropez, Port Grimaud, Le Dramont, Corniche de l’esterel/d’or

Today we went on the cuefle trip to Saint-Tropez. It was with other people who take classes at the cuefle and only cost 5 euro. Down side – we had to wake up at 6 something to be at the fac at 7:30 am to leave. When we arrived I expected to see some 20-something person who would be leading us, but no, instead I find 4 really old French women and one middle-aged French guy who are in charge. The women are so funny, counting us every time we get on and off the bus and giving us snacks throughout the day. The guy on the other hand, was so annoying. He said he was a volunteer, which was nice, and was clearly passionate about what he was doing, but he narrated and commented on every single thing we saw or came across the entire day!! I was thinking that on the 3 hour bus ride to Saint-Tropez we’d be able to sleep, but no, he took that time to explain everything we saw out the window or anything about the town we were going to over the microphone in a loud voice! Needless to say, I just tuned him out and listened to my I-pod. After he said we were going to be arriving soon about a million times, we actually arrived, and got off the bus near the water in Saint-Tropez. When I thought of Saint-Tropez I thought of exclusive beautiful sandy beaches where all the celebs go. However we didn’t see any of that. Turns out the beaches are on the outskirts of the city, not really within walking distance of downtown Saint-Tropez, and we weren’t even going to see them. In addition, Saint-Tropez is really touristy, except only in the summer, so it was basically a ghost town. We started our tour at a museum called l’Annociade which was an old chapel turned into an art museum. It was pretty small so we were done in there pretty quickly. Afterwards we had something like 3 hours just to walk around on our own, eat lunch, and make our way up to the citadelle. So we walked around, saw the port filled with yachts, saw some high end designer stores (all closed) and found a market. Then we at lunch on a bench, went to a gelato shop, and walked through the little streets up to the citadelle. Then we still had like an hour, so we just sat on a bench, trying to keep warm, since it was an overcast windy day. That is when we noticed one of the peacocks that lives at the citadelle. Peacocks, by the way, make the weirdest noise. Finally it was time to start our guided tour of the citadelle. The guy knew that we were all foreign students so he decided to speak really slowly, which I thought was funny. After the citadelle it was back to the bus to our next stop, Port Grimaud, which is also called Petite Venise. I can understand why the call it that (all the houses are on the water, lots of bridges, everyone has boats) but Venice was way, way cooler, for the record. This town was so small, also touristy, but also only in the summer, so we just walked around, went in the church, and then waited until we could get on our boat tour. The boat tour took us around the “city” but it was so much colder on the boat because it was so much windier! So it wasn’t so much fun. After Port Grimaud we headed to Le Dramont, one of the places where the allied forces landed on August 15th 1944 under the American General A. Patch. There was a big boat (?) type thing when we got there that said us on it with a plaque next to it, and then we walked down to the actual beach where the rocks were supposedly blue. I guess they were a little blue tinted, but really they still looked grey to me. After a history lesson from our favorite guide, it was back on the bus, with two stops still to go. We stopped on the corniche twice to see different (slash really the same) views of the rocks, water and trees. The second time I didn’t even bother getting out, I was so tired and it was so cold and we were running so behind schedule. Then it was back to Nice, and I thought we were safe from the narrated bus ride back, but no there’s apparently always something to say. Finally, we make it back, around 7:30 pm at the fac.