Southern France - Gassin

June 27, 2019

Note: I have experienced a significant malfunction with my iPhone that has left me without access to my pictures taken while in Gassin and Liz took only a few. So, this post is short on pictures and will be until Apple is able to restore them which they tell me will be within 10 days.

Our flight from Athens to Nice was uneventful. For the second year in a row, Liz and I will be visiting our dear friends, Alan and Karen Farkas, who, for years, have rented a villa in the village of Gassin – a 5-mile drive from St. Tropez in the South of France. Our journey to Gassin takes 1½ hours.

I first met Alan approximately 20 years ago while I was at Bentley Systems and Alan was the owner of a consulting firm, Farkas Berkowitz & Co. Alan's firm provided strategic consulting services to engineering firms that were the same firms that Bentley sold its software to. For many years, Alan held a conference for the CEO's of those firms attracting an audience of around 200 people. Bentley became a sponsor of this event and then we collaborated on a CIO conference for 17 years. It was a wonderful partnership.

Alan was also the person who introduced me to Water For People where we ended up serving together as board members. I recently completed my six year term there, but while we served together, we traveled to Bolivia and Nicaragua to witness Water For People's extraordinary work based upon their "everyone, forever" strategy.  Following the Nicaragua trip in 2018, Alan and I met up with Karen and Liz in Costa Rica to explore that beautiful country. And over these many years, we have become very dear friends and travel companions.

Malcolm, Liz, Karen and Alan in Costa Rica river rafting

Gassin is a small village perched on the top of a hill with wonderful views of the Mediterranean and the vineyards of Provence. It is believed to be one of the oldest villages in the South of France with the first written evidence dating back to 1234. Once a Moorish stronghold, the town is surrounded by the remains of 13th century ramparts. The older, original, village has a maze of winding streets and ancient houses with a population of 80 people, while the larger village has a population of 2,600. It is one of the cutest villages you will find anywhere. Alan and Karen’s home is located in the old part, on the peak of the village near the church. It has three stories plus a rooftop deck offering superb views.

Gassin

During the time of our visit, the heat wave that has engulfed much of Europe has also arrived in southern France with temperatures that are around 100°. It is hot and will remain hot for the duration of our 5-day stay. Fortunately, our agenda each day includes spending several hours at the beach.

Shortly after our arrival, we depart to a neighboring beach club to have lunch with friends of Alan & Karen’s. We had met Juergen and Mary (he’s German and she’s Botswanan) the previous year so it was fun to catch up with them. That night we had a light dinner at home and delightful conversation with Alan and Karen.

Juergen, Mary, Karen & Alan

Our daily routine in Gassin followed a pattern that was, for the most part, identical to our previous visit. Breakfast around 9AM consisting of croissants and baguettes from a nearby bakery accompanied by a wonderful selection of local jams and fresh fruit. The remainder of the morning is time for reading, catching up on the news and preparing to head to the beach. We head to the beach around noon – a 15 minute drive to Moorea Beach Club.

In my experience, beach clubs are a uniquely European thing. These are privately operated clubs consisting of a restaurant, bar, shops and lounge chairs on the beach. Moorea must be one of the high-end clubs as the restaurant is first class, complete with an afternoon fashion show.

Alan and Karen have been coming to this area and this club for a number of years and know the owner, Christophe, quite well. When we show up at the club and head to the beach, we are escorted to our comfortable lounge chairs on the beach. Our four chairs, complete with umbrella, are in the front row. Alan jokes that, due to his frequent lounging, he has been upgraded to “front row” and, in fact, we are given the same lounge chairs each day we go to the beach. After hour or more of lounging, dipping in the beautiful Mediterranean, re-applying sunscreen and reading our books, we head to the restaurant for lunch.

Lunch is outdoors, but, thankfully, under shade and is truly fine dining with wonderful fish dishes, salads, desserts and, of course, wine. Typically a local rose, which is superb. And we also enjoy the fashion show that includes three models showing off various beach wear available from the several boutiques that are part of the club.

We celebrate Liz's birthday (two months late) at Moorea

Lunch takes a couple of hours, after which we head back to our lounge chairs, take a nap, swim, read and then head to the bar before getting in the car around 6PM to head back home. It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it and it turns out that it was our turn (again).

We generally follow this routine for each of the four days that we are in Gassin, except for Saturday. On Saturday, Alan and Karen will be competing in the Moorea Cup, a golf tournament sponsored by their beach club. So, on this day, Liz and I drive into St. Tropez on our own to enjoy croissants at a harbor-side restaurant where we had done the same the year before. The croissants were so good, they became one of the highlights of our trip demanding a repeat performance this year and they did not disappoint. We also walked the harbor to take inventory of the many, many boats there. And these are no ordinary boats. We paced off three of them that were in excess of a hundred yards each. Literally, the harbor was mooring several billion dollars worth of boats.

After our croissants and boat tour, we headed to St. Tropez’s outdoor market which includes everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to clothing to antiques. It is a large affair and a very fun place to visit. We bought some cheese and flowers as Karen and Alan will be hosting a cocktail party for 16 or so people on Monday.

The view from our restaurant in Gassin

That night we had dinner at a restaurant in Gassin with outdoor seating overlooking the exquisite countryside as Alan and Karen were busy with a dinner as a culmination to their golf tournament. In a letter to friends and family, Alan describes the tournament results as follows-
“Last Friday night, the American women prevailed over France in the World Cup quarterfinals. The following day in France another international competition would take place, the 26th annual Moorea Golf Challenge, a tournament sponsored by one of the oldest and most prominent beach clubs in St. Tropez. In this competition, two Americans would be among the 288 participants competing for best and second best net scores (after accounting for handicaps). Those two Americans and their French teammates would go on to place second among 72 foursomes. The glass-engraved plaques were presented Saturday night at a big party held at the beach club with 350 in attendance.

You cannot imagine our shock and delight when the owner of the club announced that “les Americains M. et Mme. Farkas” were members of the second-place team.  I thought our performance was respectable, nothing more, but in fact, we had tied for first. Because the winners had a better back nine than we, they took top honors. That a team of septuagenarians could place in this competition is astounding. Our teammates were a retired physician and his wife from Marseille. That win is the highlight of our trip so far, and may rank as the highlight of our 14 trips here over a 20-year span.”

On Monday night, we had the opportunity to meet the “teammates from Marseille” who attended the cocktail party. Liz and I felt honored to be in the presence of golf royalty.

The next morning around 10AM, we packed up our bags and headed back to the Nice airport to catch a flight to Dublin. Our visit to Gassin was, again, exceptional. It is truly a beautiful place and it is made all the more beautiful when we are able to bask in the incomparable hospitality of Karen and Alan. “Merci beaucoup, mes chers amis!”

Musings-

I think it's fair to say, and my friends will surely attest to, I don't function well in the heat. Something in my DNA, but I become so lethargic (and maybe crabby?!). That said, can't imagine a better place to be in that heat than the beach near Gassin with our wonderful friends Alan & Karen. It was another lovely visit to one of the most idyllic, bucolic villages imaginable. I highly recommend visiting Gassin if you are ever in the area - you won't be disappointed. Plus the restaurants at the top offer a beautiful view of the valley and delicious food.

Merci beaucoup from both us!!! Till next year...