I'm quite content in the South of France

On Oct. 15, I headed for the South of France and the Mediterranean Sea where the weather is a lot warmer. I spent one night in a camp for camping cars (motor homes) in Le Grau de Roi. I stood out there because all the camping cars are large white vehicles and I parked in the middle of them in my black station wagon.


You can barely see "Fury" in the middle of all those camping cars.

 

I got up early (9:00 am!) on the 16^th of Oct. and headed for the Camargue. The Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta - formed bb the Rhone river. It is a vast plain comprising large lagoons and is cut off from the sea by sandbars.

Its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. It is also famous for the Camargue bulls and the Camargue horses. 

 

After a few hours of exploring the Camargue, I headed for La Ciotat - on the coast of France, just east of Marseille. La Ciotat is the town where Petanque was invented in 1910 and it is my primary destination in this 2 1/2 month trip around France.

La Ciotat, France

I arrived in the afternoon and went directly to the Jules le Noir Petanque Club – the actual courts where Petanque was born. I almost cried with happiness! 

There was no one there so I got my Petanque boules out and threw for an hour or so and found the courts to be the most difficult courts I have ever played on. They appear to be relatively uniform and flat from a distance but there are alternating patches of sand, gravel and rocks with gentile slopes quite large – making it even more difficult to judge the path of a boule. I have never felt so helpless on a Petanque court.

This sign identifies this location as the place where Petanque was born in 1910 

Several club members arrived later and gave me a grand tour of their facilities/museum where I got to see the actual document that made Petanque an official sport in France – along with a display case of ancient Petanque boules.

Plaque describing this location as the place where Petanque was invented

 



1910 Official proclamation -
Petanque is a sport!

Paul and Paul showing historical boules.

 


The Heart of Texas Petanque Club banner at the Jules le Noir Petanque Club

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were no events scheduled for this afternoon at this club but I was told that the other club in La Ciotat, Cercle des Boulomanes Ciotadens, was having a tournament this afternoon.

 

Cercle des Boulomanes Ciotadens

The clubs are only 200 yards apart so I went there. I met an English guy, Raymond Ager, who retired several years ago, sold his home in England and bought an apartment in La Ciotat – just because he wanted to play Petanque in one of the most famous and popular places in the world. Now there's a man who has his priorities in proper order! We teamed up and actually finished in 2^nd place in the "consolation" bracket which is where you go when you lose the first game. The entry fee was 5 Euro ($6.50) per person and we won 15 Euro (almost $20) each. Since then, I've remained in La Ciotat (5 days now) and have played in a couple more tournaments but with less success ($0).

 

Registration for a petanque tournament

 
 



Raymond and Jim showing off their winnings
(look closely and you'll see 15 Euros in each of their hands)

The Heart of Texas Petanque Club banner at the Cercle des Boulomanes Ciotadens Petanque Club

 
 


The terrain at Boulomanes

The first two days, I stayed in a 4-star campground and had the place all to myself because this is the off-season. 

 

      Campgrounds near La Ciotat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              

 

 

 

Supper!

 



 Tailgate party! Not a BBQ grill in sight.

 

Raymond called a French friend with whom he meets weekly to have bi-lingual conversations to improve their language skills, to see if Chantal would rent a room to me in her very nice home in the adjacent town of Ceyrest. I've been staying there for the past week and will remain here for another week or so, before I go to Toulouse.

 

Chantal's home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



If you think I travel a lot, you should meet Chantal.
She's been everywhere!

 

Eden Theater - the world's first!

La Ciotat is also famous for having the very first movie theater in the world -  the Eden Theater, built in 1899. It was there that the first moving picture was shown. That movie was made by the Lumière brothers and was of a train arriving at the local station. When the audience saw the train coming at them, many fled the theater, never having seen anything like that. The Eden Theater has recently been renovated ($4.5 million) to its former grandeur and reopened just last month. As luck would have it, they are having a film festival lasting for a couple of weeks and showing 4-5 films per day. I've seen 8 already and will see several more during the next week.

 The Eden Theater

 

 

 

 Actual movie camera used by the Lumiere brothers
to record the first moving picture.

 

La Ciotat, France

I like this town! It used to be the major boat-building center in France but is now a busy and relatively small tourist town with a downtown marina filled with large sailboats and small fishing boats - and a few large mega-yachts for flavor.  

 

Market days: Sundays and Tuesdays

 

 

 

 

 

"On the road again..."

...a country and western song sung often by Willie Nelson and sparingly by Jim Schwobel. (That is probably the only time you will ever see those two names in the same sentence)

It is time to catch up on my travels in France.

I left Iceland on Sept. 13 and arrived in Paris that afternoon. I then stayed in the home of my friend Jo Sanchez and his wife Paulette – who live in a suburb of Paris. During that time, we played Petanque just about every afternoon with his club, played in two tournaments and I also bought a car to carry me through the rest of my journey in France. I call her "Fury" because she is a black 2002 Citroen C5 station wagon and tricked out with every option including leather interior, phone (I use my own) and GPS.  I'll sell the car at the end of my trip.

"Fury" - Giddiup!

 

On Oct. 10, I left on my driving adventure through France where I am managing to visit most of the major attractions relating to the game of Petanque, and along the way, discovering lots of other major attractions in France. 

The first night I stayed in a BnB in Tonnere, about 120 miles south of Paris, in a very old 3-story rock home only 100 ft. from the Bourgogne Canal. This is one of many canals in France that, starting in the 16^th century, were built for boat traffic that transported goods around France. There are over 3,000 miles of man-made canals in France (France is 2/3 the size of Texas) and my first encounter with one was when, in 1975, I lived near Toulouse and close to the Canal du Midi. This canal was a very important trade route because it connects the Atlantic Ocean (at Bordeaux) all the way across the southern end of France, and just north of the Pyrenees mountains, to the Mediterranean Sea. These canals are today populated with all kinds of live-aboard boats that people can buy or rent by themselves or travel on larger canal boats with other tourists. On several previous trips to France, I had concentrated on visiting canals, with the idea of perhaps some day buying a canal boat and traveling around France for a year or so. It is a very leisure and relaxing way to see the French countryside.

 

 

 Chablis, France - Yep, THAT Chablis.

The next morning, I drove about 250 miles to St. Bonnet du Chateau where I camped in the car that night. This is where the most famous Petanque boules (balls) are manufactured at the Obut factory. They have a great museum relating to this sport and a nice retail store where I somehow managed to avoid buying any more sets of Petanque boules (I have 6 sets in Austin and one set with me on this trip).

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

During the day, it began snowing for the first time this season in the middle of France and I got a late start on the road to my next destination. I ended up driving into the night, something I try to avoid here in France, and finally arrived in Mende where I checked into a nice 3-star hotel for a nice dinner of Muscat wine, Heineken beer, a sandwich, some pate and cheese - and a good night's sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An early start the next morning took me 160 miles to Millau. This is where they hold the Petanque world championships every year in August. I stayed in a very comfortable campground for a couple of nights because I managed to find a group of local retirees playing Petanque and they invited me to play.

 

 

This is the World's tallest bridge in Millau, France.

I've taken photos at this same spot in 2006 and 2010.

 
 



 Photo taken in 2006.