41. Villefranche-sur-Mer

We didn't go to Villefranche, just whizzed through on the train between Menton and Avignon. It was nice to see some of the coast from the train; along this stretch it is quite mountainous, and the train spends a fair amount of time in tunnels.

50. Cassis

Cassis, a gorgeous, relatively sleepy (though frenetic in high summer I believe) fishing town east of Marseille. We went there for a boat trip around Les Calanques, deeply incised cliffs. I loved the whole atmosphere of Cassis and would very much like to return for an extended period. Perhaps in retirement? With longer to linger, there are many walks in the area that would be worth doing.

Click here to go to a webcam of Cassis.

Below: The village and port
Below: Cap Canaille, the highest maritime cliffs on the Mediterranean. This photo, unlike the painting below, doesn't show the ochre colour of the cliffs (wrong light!)
Below: I uploaded this picture of Post-Impressionist, Pointillist painter Paul Signac's Cap Canaille (1889). It was sold by Christie's in New York on 6 Nov 2007 for € 9,600,000! Signac stayed in Cassis between April and June 1889. More about this painting, and Signac -
click here.
Below: ...and it's off to Les Calanques...




Below: Calanque En-Vau, perhaps the most beautiful of all. Other than getting a private boat there, and swimming off the boat, you can walk; it's about an hour from Cassis.

Below: Back in Cassis. Is there anything odd about the small pink terrace house?
Below: Well, perhaps not the house, but this man looks a little too large for the small window!
Below: Fishing nets

Below: Colourful baskets in a shop in the town.
Below: After a picnic lunch provided by Nathalie, we had a swim at the town beach. The watre was just a little chilly - like the south coast of NSW in summer, really.

Below: Paddle boats for hire were fairly popular.

Below: This beach was made up of tiny pebbles. I don't think I've ever swum at a pebble beach before. It was damned hard to walk on, and to get out of the water from! I kept losing balance....and it HURTS the under-side of your feet.
Below: Post-lunch, post-swim snooze.
Below: A game of pétanque, the Provençal version of boules. The word pétanque comes from 'Les Ped Tanco', meaning "feet together" in the Provençal dialect of the Occitan language.

54. Barceloneta and the beach

Where to stay in Barcelona? In 2006 when I was there for a conference, I stayed with my friend Colette in an apartment in beachside Barceloneta. It was within walking distance of the conference hotel. So for a family trip, the area seemed perfect - a few steps to the beach for relaxation if it got too hot for sightseeing, a local neighbourhood not YET fully yuppified, not glitzy, but close to all the tourist action.

Like Bondi, Barceloneta is a city beach. It's sandy, and clean, and packed on hot days as locals and visitors take advantage of the proximity of public transport (bus and metro). The waterfront and Old Port (Port Vell - see separate entry) was revitalised in the lead up to the 1992 Olympics. BArceloneta benefitted from this, though it retains its sense of "villageness" as a traditional fishing-family area. There are no huge supermarkets, just lots of local shops, small groceries and a neighbourhood covered market.

A little bit of history. Barcelona is the capital of Catalunya (Catalonia), formerly independent, now an autonomous region within Spain (and with a long history of bitter conflict). A war was fought between 1701 and 1714, called the War of the Spanish Succession. It was a dust-up between the Austrian Archduke Charles against the french Bourbon Philip V about who would rule. The Catalunyans backed the wrong horse (Charles) and the city fell in November 1714.

Philip decided to build, at the city's expense, a huge fortress called "La Ciutadella" (now a massive park), and made the 5000 people living on the chosen land tear down their own houses stone by stone. Many were left in makeshift shelters on the beach, totally broke.

In 1735 a french military engineer called Prosper Verboom designed the neighbourhood called Barceloneta, reclaimed from the sea. The streets were laid out grid-like, with a market in the middle. The houses were long and narrow, only one room deep, so each room had a window and natural light. Houses were allowed only one upper floor. In 1837 the height restriction was modified, and then ignored altogether, so that every building is now at least four stories. It is one of these in which we stayed.

Barceloneta has been the traditional home of fisherfolk, port workers, sailors , with lots of seafood restaurants. Gentrification is happening, but there's still a lot of traditional families living in the area.

The photos are mix of those taken in May 2006 and June 2008

Below: The streets of Barceloneta from the beach at Placa del Mar. You can see the height of the buildings. Below: The beach (2006) . The whole area along the waterfront was cleaned up or re-developed in the period leading up to the Olympic Games in 1992. The city ensures the beach is cleaned every night.

Below: A photo shoot on the beach (2008)

Below: Beach cafe called a chiringuito (2008)

Below: Showers are provided by the city council

Below: Anti-littering campaign (2008)

Below: These concrete chairs are positioned for staring out to sea. And they ARE comfortable!


Below: Homage to Barceloneta by Rebecca Horn, a German artist and poet. Her sculpture echoes the narrow buildings of Barceloneta, with apartments stacked on top of each other. (2006)



Below: looking north from the Plaça del mar area to the Port Olimpic. The twin towers are the Hotel Arts, and behind it an office building. Rebecca Horn's sculpture is visible, and beyond it, the Frank Gehry work Fish. (2008)


Below: The Gehry sculpture up close (2008)

Below: And from inside the grounds of the Hotel Arts (2006)
Below: Real fish. Fresh catch sold each morning on the corner of our street.

Below: Looking north from the Hotel Arts along the Port Olimpic area. New restaurants and buildings emerged from the make-over for the 1992 Olymoic Games. (2008)
Below: Barceloneta - the beach at night (2008)






Below: Carrer Sant Miquel. The ground floor of this building is the flat we stayed in 2006 (2006)
Below: Carrer Sant Miquel (2006)

Below: Balcony (2006)


Below: Pretty window display (2006)
Below: Decorative wall tiles (2008) Below: How to dry your washing when you live on the ground floor (2008)

Below: Barceloneta market (2006)

Below: Parc de Barceloneta, created on the site of former gasworks (2006). It's a lovely green oasis. Music events are often held here (2006)

Below: the tower that looks a bit liek a minaret is an old water tower. Barceloneta Park. (2006)

Below: Plaça De Sant Miquel with the baroque church of Barceloneta's patron saint, Sant Miquel. (2006)

Below: Taken from the rooftop of the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (Museum of Catalonian History) - see entry on Port Vell - looking along Passeig de Joan Borbó, one of the boundaries of Barceloneta
Below: Paella, Catalunyan style - without saffron.