La Calanque - Cassis

After all, it is the landlady and her ménage which have quite as much to do with one’s well-being and enjoyment as the mere externals of one’s surroundings.

Hints to Lady Travellers, Lillias Campbell Davidson.

I’m spending a week in Aix, looking after my adorable nephew Gregory (Le Nevue Adorable) while his nounou takes her holiday.

With a view to my inner well-being AND my external surroundings, I was taken on Sunday to the calanque just outside Cassis – which is BEAUTIFUL.

The calanques are a stretch of coves along the coast between Marseille and Cassis – Wikipedia helpfully tells me they’re like Mediterranean fjords. Pine trees hang over the deep blue water and often pretty little yachts are moored along the sides.

(My landlady and her ménage.)

First of all, Róisín booked a table for lunch. Then we walked the path going down to the calanque and I took photos of the trompe l'oeil pines.

Gregory sat on George’s shoulders and we admired the bateau-bateau-bateau!

Ró took a photo of me beside the calanque: she told me I looked Italian. I said 'ciao!'

And then we went back to the restaurant – the kind you only find in warm climates: a shed with an awning over some plastic tables serving incredible-looking seafood (sea urchins, anyone?) and excellent chips.

Gregory is sitting beside me as I write this, pointing at the photos and saying 'Neh neh!' (that's me) and 'bateau!'. I promise it’s not just an auntie’s bias when I say he’s adorable. Now we need to go and play. Au revoir!