La Ciotat: who knew?

It seems like on any trip there's always one place that really surprises you. This time it was La Ciotat, the port just east of Cassis. Unless you're a film buff making a pilgrimage to where the Lumière brothers made the first film (what a name -- it's as if the Wright brothers had been called Orville and Wilbur Air) -- noone seems to have much nice to say about the place.

However, I found a sun dappled little square, complete with burbling fountain and a wonderful café. And after the requisite sketching session, stumbled on to Le Fresque, overlooking the port -- the kind of restaurant where the chef sends out little amuse bouches. The little pastry packets filled with tapenade on a warm chevre that came after that were a culinary highlight of the trip for me.