Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
Along the coast I went towards Marseille. Much of Marseille left me with a dirty and dubious impression. This started already in the surroundings on arrival, where, in addition to other waste, I was passing burned cars and scooters thrown down the gorges, probably stolen. The area of the port in the city center is worth seeing though.
My impression was much improved to the southeast of Marseille, where the jagged cliffs with subtropical vegetation and beautiful sea views in the natural reserve of Calanques look exactly as one would imagine a romantic Mediterranean landscape.
I also passed through Toulon, where there is little left to see from the historic center, but there is a large naval and submarine base. Further on the inconspicuous town of Bormes-les-Mimosas offers beautiful views and town center.
Saint-Tropez still has the well-known gendarme station (now a film museum), but otherwise the city is one big crowd: of yachts in the port (all who want to show they can afford it are there), a huge number of cars of the yachts owners on the only access road to the port and a large number of tourists.
I therefore escaped from the crowded coast and off the main routes to lake L’Avellan and to the viewpoint on Mont Vinaigre. And when the temperatures climbed well above 30°C, I stayed all the next day at the lake Saint-Cassein.
From Cannes to Nice the mass tourism on the coast already reaches maximal intensity. Therefore to get a little distance from that I also went to the top of Mont Chauve d’Aspremont, where in a distance of only 10 km from the Nice city center I had beautiful views all around from the Alps to the sea, as well as untouched nature, complete with an old shepherd (or goatherd?), his dogs and goats.
Finally I went down to see Monaco, from there back to Nice and by train home. In total I cycled 2 346 km over 6 countries and 5 out of 13 regions of European Francie.
The last photo is from the return, from the easternmost tip of France near Lauterbourg on the Rhine.
Bonne journée!