Paris

From Cavalaire sur Mer take now the D 559 towards Le Lavandou. It’s a scenic coastal road where white, sandy and relatively uncrowded beaches can be found just a short walk down. A few very nice panoramas, like at Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer at the base of the Pradels mountain range, flanked by two pinewoods sheltering it from “mistral” winds. The village LE RAYOL sits in a natural amphitheatre in the wooded hillside. It is considered as a haven for exotic plants experts. Friends of nature will appreciate the almost unspoiled nature, hiking in the massif des Maures or with the car over the sinuous D 27.
But let’s continue on the D 559 and make a halt in LE LAVANDOU, whose name ould recall lavender fields, but it is related to “lavoir” meaning washing place (lavandula in Latin).

Le Lavandou and forest

Ugly high-rise buildings disfigure the city. Concrete cancer did its work as in a lot of other places. It is now a resort catering mainly for the teenager holiday market and owners of pleasure craft. It is a mixture of nightclubs, bars, cheap hotels and leather jacketed “dudes” on motorbikes. But the sea deposited a nice beach, attracting also tourists in the winter due to its natural sheltering. By the way, certain hike trails along the coast and in the mountains are closed in the summer due to fire risks.
To the west of Le Lavandou is CAP BENAT, France’s equivalent of Camp David, with most of the beaches inaccessible by car but possible on foot. The rocky promontory with its two ruined castles is a military training ground leading to the official summer residence of the President.

Take the road from Le Lavandou through an avenue of eucalyptus and mimosa to the coral-coloured houses nestled on steeply sloping roads to the delightful BORMES-LES –MIMOSAS for a tantalising flavour of Provence. It is one of the most beautiful and picturesque villages on the Cote but also very touristy. It village is crisscrossed by an incredible maze of stairs labyrinths, flower gardens, vaulted passages, blind alley ways, very narrow streets like the “montee au Paradis”, “ rue des Amoureux”. The ruins of a 13th century castle stand on a hill amidst pine trees.

Roofs of Bormes Mimosas

You can admire a fantastic plant growing like palms, oleanders, eucalyptuses, agaves, cypresses, plate-trees, tamarisks, almond trees and cactuses. Next to Place Gambetta is the place Saint-Francois with a view on the red roofs of the village. The chapel saint-Francois on this square is dedicated to François de Paule whose visit is said to have miraculously ended an outbreak of plague in 1481. Inside the chapel a few old sculptures and paintings.. This village could steal your heart with its old-fashioned hotels and inviting café terraces.
Really a dream village: everything is so clean, neat, renewed, restored. A pity the tourists storm it in the summer. A pity, but out of season it has a lot of charm. You should know (anecdote from the GDR) that several Royal families and famous actors come here during the year to rest a while: the royal families of Luxembourg, Belgium, for example. And did you know that it were Napoleon III troops who imported the first mimosas from…Mexico?

Bibliography:

John Pemble, "the Mediterranean Passion, Victorians and Edwardians in the South", (Oxford University Press 1988), Mary Blume, "Cote d'Azur. Inventing the French Riviera" (Thames and Hudson, London 1982), The Twenties, From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, by Edmund Wilson (Cannes 1921), “Tagebucher 1918-1937”, by Harry Graf Kessler (Presseschau, Munchen 1961).-Towns and villages on Cote d’Azur and Provence, by M.F.K.Fischer (Vintage books-New York), Guides du Routard 1998 (Hachette ed.)

From Nice to Saint-Tropez (suite)

Cap d'Antibes

Juan les
Pins-Golfe-Juan-Vallauris

Cannes

Iles de Lerins

La Napoule and Henry Clews

Esterel cornice to Frejus

Frejus

Sainte Maxime to Port Grimaud

Old Grimaud and Cogolin

Saint-Tropez

From Saint Tropez to Cassis

Ramatuelle-Gassin-Croix Valmer-Cavalaire sur mer

Le Lavandou-Bormes les Mimosas