No sleep 'til Carmague!

Pink salt pond at Salins de Giraud

So Air Transat is NOT my favourite airline. We've seen it before, and this flight was no different. The plane was old. The seats were too skinny, and what I can only describe as "boney", digging into our back and sides as we tried to sleep. Thank goodness we managed to score a short row with only two seats - I don't know how we would have held up if we had been squashed into a row of 3 people! The "dinner" was served at midnight on our way OUT of Montreal, and for breakfast, a measly slice of banana bread was passed around just before landing, even though we landed at NOON in Marseille! Oh, and I'm almost positive we had to brake HARD on landing to avoid running off the end of the runway and into the lagoon. Needless to say, sleep was fitful, at best, and only for short bursts in between "food" and meals, so we were TIRED when we disembarked into the Marseille Airport.

Nighttime reflections

Flying in over the French Riviera Coast

Insert here an interlude where we almost got plowed over by people while trapped simultaneously at the bottom of an escalator AND at the end of a VERY long line for passport control. Why the long line at passport control? Because it was lunchtime, and only one police officer was available to process everyone. The situation got rectified quite quickly, but for a brief moment, we thought we might be stuck in that line for hours.

My awesome planning skillz and research ensured we got to the right bus and to the right stop to make it to the Indie Campers pick-up depot, but one more delay awaited in the form of a late return, and a quick change of vehicles for us. We did end up with an upgraded van, complete with better storage and a rooftop tent, so the entra wait was indeed worth it. Then a brief stop at a neighbouring Lidl grocery store to stock our pantries, and we were finally settling in to our own seats and beginning the driving adventure along the Cote d'Azur.

Distances are not long here, in this part of the world, so when I say we barely drove and hour to get to our camping site for the night, I mean we were not even finished our iced coffees before we were boarding the 3 minute ferry to les Salins de Giraud. Here, we bypass the town to take the road that runs to the sea, by way of the salt ponds here that produce so much of the sea salt that we use at home. Recognized le Sel de Camargue? Or maybe the Baleine brand of salts? We drove pass MOUNTAINS of the stuff, scraped from the surface of evaporation ponds, and ready to be processed for our cooking and dining needs. We stop at an observation hill to look over the area, spotting the bright white mounds of sand sitting in contrast of the rather pink-looking drying ponds. The blue sky filled with clouds was casting a perfect reflection on the completely still surface of the water.

Though there are not a whole lot of free camping options available along this route we are taking, this place is one of the few, with several gravel pull-offs along the road that ultimately leads to the Plage de Piémanson. In the neighbouring salt pond, wild birds are doing their bird things, including gulls, swans and even flamingoes! We stopped at one of the largest, with a fantastic view of the sunset and snapped shots of the birds as the sun disappeared behind a storm front, then reappeared again from under it before truly setting. What a magical sight! We ate a simple dinner of fresh baguette, cheese, tomatoes and pesto, with some fruits and nuts and a glass of a local rosé wine. After all, it's the thing to drink on the French Riviera in the summer, when it's still a hot sticky 28C out. And despite some hiccups and set-back, we are loving every minute of it!