Port Grimaud and Cavalaire-sur-Mer

Cavalaire-sur-Mer

You know, there has been so much going on here lately what with Thanksgiving, Gregory's green card issues, and just life in general, that I still haven't gotten around to finishing up the tales of my trip back to France last July, so gather around kiddos, because that's what I aim to do today.
Let's drift off someplace else, shall we... take a deep breath, rid your ears of holiday music, your brain of Christmas to-dos, and let your mind wander to summertime in the south of France... can you hear the waves of the Mediterranean lap? Can you taste the rosé? Good, you're ready.
It was July, and I was already a week into my visit Unfortunately, even though I had been there for a week, I hadn't seen much of Gregory due to his busy work schedule, so as soon as he finally had a day off, we thought we should take advantage of it with a trip somewhere fun (he might have felt a tad guilty after hearing me rave about Sanary-sur-Mer).
I don't know whose idea it was, but we decided on lunch in Saint-Tropez, that famed port town of glamorous lore that I had never been too ("too crowded", Gregory would say). And since Saint-Tropez is only a hop, skip, and a jump from Cavalaire-sur-Mer, we thought we'd swing by there afterwards, say hi to The Croupier and see how much her baby had grown since we'd been gone.
We hopped in the car and left Toulon headed towards Saint-Tropez, but oddly, neither of us were paricularily excited... it started to dawn on us... Saint-Tropez in July, ugh... it seemed like a lot, the town would probably be packed to the gills with all that riff raff that likes to descend upon it every year to rub elbows with Jay-Z and Russian cagillionaires.
"I don't really want to go to Saint-Tropez" I whined.
"Me, either" Gregory replied.
Gregory and I proceeded to look at each other with whingy, scrunched up faces until he finally said, "I know where we can go." And that's how we ended up going to the quaint village of Port Grimaud, and more importantly, where I ended up eating the most delicious, pasta dish of my entire life.

There are no words that would do the pasta justice, every bite was a culinary delight, so much so, that months later, I'm still dreaming about it... fresh pasta and seafood with just the right amount of garlic and parsley. It was perfect in its simplicity. I WANT IT NOW.

After Limincellos and coffees, we strolled around the port before traveling down the road to meet up with The Croupier in Cavalaire-sur-Mer. The Croupier hadn't changed a bit, and the seaside town was still as lovely as ever, but this little cutie was much bigger than I had remembered.

It was the most gorgeous of days... the sun was glistening off the sea, my belly was full of delicious goodness, there was Limincello and rosé, and baby cuddles... it was heaven.
Now take another deep breath and come back to reality.
Meh.