Calanques--Mugel

Here are--as promised--some photos of the other calanques near Parc Mugel in La Ciotat. There is a small botanical garden and a regional park, where the calanques are, as well as a public beach. It's way too cold to be swimming now that the Mistral has come to stay, but these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago, when the weather was still 15C, or around 60F. You can explore the trails, the park or just have a picnic! It's quite beautiful, even at this time of year, since the sun is out most days in Provence, and the sky is a deep blue that goes on forever.

It kills me how people around here are bundled up as if they're leading excursion to Siberia when the temperature hasn't even hit the freezing point (it's about 5C/40F during the day), though I've been known to complain myself...you get used to a warm climate veeeeery quickly, it seems! As mentioned, the wind is what really does you in: wind chill makes all the difference, and I'd wager that drops the "feels like" temp a good ten degress--all the way down to below freezing! Imagine!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures:

Calanques--Figuerolles

One of the important physical landmarks and main tourist attractions of La Ciotat are the calanques, or the coves, which are a few minutes' walk from the city center.  The calanques are jutting hills of conglomerate and metamorphic rock that line the Mediterranean coast. There are also caves within the hills which you can explore alone or with a tour guide. 

This one is particularly famous--it's on all of the post cards!

It is still possible to swim in the Figuerolles  cove because even though the outside air temperature is in the low 60s F/16-19 C, the water temperature is a nice 77 F/25 C! And here in the shelter of the coves, the wind isn't so bad.

Next, I will post pictures of the Mugel--more to come!