Looking to identify flowers we found in Cassis, I thought I'd look them up, and found this lovely piece of writing about the town, translated from the French, it reminded me of what I'd enjoyed so much about Cassis:
Nestling in a natural casket where pine forests rub shoulders with ochre and white rocks, the vineyards on the plains and terraces that stretch down to the Mediterranean sea, Cassis is protected by the two monuments of nature that are Cap Canaille(tallest coastal cliff in Europe) glowing red when the Mistral blows, and the white limestone Calanques.
"Qu'a vist Paris, se noun a vist Cassis, pou dire: n'ai rèn vist"
These words written by Frédéric Mistral, the Nobel prize-winner for literature, are all it takes to describe the incredible attraction that Cassis exerts on everyone who goes there. This little fishing harbour, nestling between two exceptional natural sites (the famous Massif des Calanques and the majestic Cap Canaille) offers its visitors a concentrate of Provence and the Mediterranean.
The magic already works its wonders on the little road that takes you to the village snaking its way down between vineyards and pine woods. The charm shows itself as you explore the little alleyways and squares edged with colourful fishermen’s houses. Cassis marks everyone’s minds forever as they discover the harbour for the first time, its boats and welcoming café terraces.
There were a surprising number of glorious flowers when we visited Cassis at the beginning of October, I'm, not sure of their names. Here are some of them:
Lyn found the name of the plant below, but I'm not sure what it was called, I'm sure she'll let me know. I thought it was a small flowered scabious when we saw it.
This is plumbago I think
The plant with the yellow flowers is a mystery
And below I think is Oleander
Is this Bouganvillia?
These yellow flowers look a bit like Ragwort
These fabulous autumn crocuses were in the car aprk beside the apartment
This gorgeous passion flower was in the front garden of the soap maker in Cassis where we went on our last day, keen to know more about soap production in the area. Marseilles is also a big soap producing city. We had walked past the soap factory a number of times, and since this was our last day, we were keen to see the factory. The only time that hadn't been crossed out on the board outside was 4pm, so we arrived then, and waited with four other people for the tour to begin.
While we waited, I took a photo of Cap Canaille and we thought about how lovely it would be able to see it every day from your front garden.
After a few more minutes, the talk began. We were led into a hot conservatory on the front of the house where an extrusion process was shown to us. The soap is squeezed out of a tube, stamped with their label, and then cut to size when dry.
Here's the extrusion process
and a long string of molten soap.
It was very interesting, although the information gained was quite limited becauseof course it was mostly conducted in French.
Above is a sign with the details of the business
We wanted to buy some soap from him, and only on the way out did we notice a chalet with lots of soap for sale inside.
Above the lovely metal signs on the gate and below details of when you can visit the factory
And these flowers in pots were just below aour apartment, we saw them every day when we went down to the sea.
I think I'll end the Cassis blog posts with the sunset we saw on our last night:
Nestling in a natural casket where pine forests rub shoulders with ochre and white rocks, the vineyards on the plains and terraces that stretch down to the Mediterranean sea, Cassis is protected by the two monuments of nature that are Cap Canaille(tallest coastal cliff in Europe) glowing red when the Mistral blows, and the white limestone Calanques.
"Qu'a vist Paris, se noun a vist Cassis, pou dire: n'ai rèn vist"
These words written by Frédéric Mistral, the Nobel prize-winner for literature, are all it takes to describe the incredible attraction that Cassis exerts on everyone who goes there. This little fishing harbour, nestling between two exceptional natural sites (the famous Massif des Calanques and the majestic Cap Canaille) offers its visitors a concentrate of Provence and the Mediterranean.
The magic already works its wonders on the little road that takes you to the village snaking its way down between vineyards and pine woods. The charm shows itself as you explore the little alleyways and squares edged with colourful fishermen’s houses. Cassis marks everyone’s minds forever as they discover the harbour for the first time, its boats and welcoming café terraces.
There were a surprising number of glorious flowers when we visited Cassis at the beginning of October, I'm, not sure of their names. Here are some of them:
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