St Tropez

Thursday 6 October

St Tropez is definitely the land of the all-white ensemble. Men and women can be spotted in head-to-toe white gear (usually they're not the youngest people on the street), and in fact there are shops in the main port area selling nothing but white clothes. The port is also full of tourists, even in off season. As it turns out this is possibly because there is a big sailing event on, Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, which is a series of races for classic yachts. We didn't much like the town; too busy, too tacky, too touristy. We were probably spoiled by Cassis, which was so charming and much quieter and had fewer Eurotrash-type people.

The office du tourisme did a great job for us, though. We went in there feeling ambivalent about staying in St Tropez, and walked out with a reservation at a lovely resort hotel in the hills above the town, La Mas Belle View. Off season is a good time to be here; we have a rather gorgeous suite for around half of what we would pay if we were here in July or August. This
place has a stunning pool (two pools actually) looking over the sea, with a poolside restaurant. The best part is our terrace and our own little private garden, looking down on the Mediterranean, where dozens of boats are moored on the blue, blue bay, including one very large superyacht-type thing. We spent the afternoon laying on the sun loungers, feeling like movie stars. Lucky we are not, since I was inspired to take my bikini top off in the local tradition. It felt rather nice.

Tomorrow, Italy! We are aiming for Alassio, on the Italian Riviera. FIngers crossed we will get to grips with the Italian road system.