Life’s a Beach and Then Another and Another

Around the Côte D’azur the saying can be quite literal. There is no shortage of wonderful beaches, islands, and inviting waters of all blue and green hues to beckon your attention. Of the places we’ve been, Le Lavandou quickly became one of our favorite beach towns. Named after the prevalent lavender in the area, Le Lavandou boasts 12 different plages (beaches), with different types of sand, clear water, and a vibe that emanates vacation through and through. Even as summer may seem comprised (it is October after all), Le Lavandou’s beaches state otherwise with bathers in the water and sun seekers still perfecting their bronzed glow.

Of the numerous beaches and activities available at Le Lavandou, the 3 km (1.8 mile) sentier littoral or coastal sea side walk between Saint Clair and La Fossette beaches is pretty special. Brigitte and I first discovered it a few weeks ago when it served as the morning hike on that particular day. The path itself which can get narrow at times offers numerous editorial like photo ops of the Mediterranean Sea and the Côte D’Azur landscape. The clarity of the water and contrast between different shades of blue is spectacular. We did the round trip hike in about 1.5 hours at a decent pace factoring in time for pictures. Plage de la Fossette was the end point and greeted us with a calm mid-morning scene, setting the tone for an effortless beach day on the French Riviera.

We’ve had visitors staying with us for the past couple of weeks now and my mother is our latest guest. Although we’ve seen quite a few places together, one of the things she had a keen interest in doing was the sentier de littoral between Saint Clair and La Fossette. This time around we set upon the hike in the afternoon which partly prompted me to create this comparison post of the two visits. My mom loved the walk and negotiated her way around the rocks well. As she is an artist, she was totally absorbed by the scenery and probably managed to take about a thousand photos, no joke. We completed the hike to La Fossette Beach and took the paved road back to Saint Clair Beach (our starting point), giving us bird’s eye views of the landscape and the sentier de littoral below.

Life can be a beach and in Le Lavandou’s case a series of beaches. The first visit made a great impression while the return visit made me fall in love with the place. Several more beaches and visits to go!