We headed off early to catch a boat to Île de Porquerolles, one the three Îles d’Or (golden islands). Unfortunately, in classic us style, it was not the “easy drive to the port” that we had hoped it would be. We drove around in circles for a little while (mind you we were following Vicky’s navigation, so not entirely our fault) and may have done 1 or 2 laps of a roundabout before landing at the port. We grabbed our things and headed down to the boat. With our tickets in hand we headed down to the gangway. Except that Roisin did not actually have her ticket. We stopped and pulled apart her wallet, rifling through recipts and old tickets, but no such luck! I traced our 5-10 steps back to the ticket desk and there it was – casually sitting right there on the counter!

After a short 10-minute boat ride, we arrived at the crescent-shaped island of Porquerolles. A croissant and hot chocolate later and it was time to explore. We initially wanted to hire a bike and cycle around, but when we saw how much they cost, we opted for walking and more time relaxing on the beach! As we made our way to one of the marked beaches, we couldn’t help but notice all the pine and eucalyptus trees. No home-sickness for us! We found a secluded spot on the beach with both sun and shade and headed towards the stunning, sparkling water.

We decided to finish our visit with a stroll around the northern part of island. We did not get a chance to make it to the southern side, where the coast is made of steep cliffs and secluded creeks only accessible to hikers (we’ll have to go next time). With the amount of people we saw bike riding, windsurfing, swimming and stand-up paddle boarding, I can only imagine how busy this little place would get in the peak summer season! We grabbed a crepe/sandwich for lunch before jumping back on the ferry to Hyères.

We were happily gushing over the serenity of the island, until we attempted to pay for our parking. We rocked up to the pay station and Roisin opened her wallet to pull out the parking ticket .. that wasn’t there. We pulled EVERYTHING out of her wallet and yet, nothing. There was nobody around to ask for help. No-one was answering the “help” button on the machine. We all started freaking out a little bit when we noticed that the cost of parking, if you have lost your ticket, was €150! Then we remembered that we had thrown out things when looking for Roisin’s boat ticket. Max and Roisin ran back to the kiosk to see if the could rummage through a bin, while I waited at the machine to see if anyone would show up or answer the help button. After what seemed like a millennium, the girls came back in a flurry! They had found the ticket! Thankfully the bin they had to riffle through was a paper only bin. Things had become a bit frustrated/heated when they found the ticket, with Roisin exclaiming “I knew we would find it”, and Max replying “did you, did you really? Or did you just hope that we would find it? I mean honestly, how can so many things go wrong on one trip??? Surely we have had more than our share.”. We all understood and agreed with this sentiment. I mean really. We will look back and laugh about this, I’m sure….

Once we had relaxed, we headed toward all the glitz and glamour of St Tropez. Unfortunately after circling the town for about 45 minutes trying to find a car park, we decided to pack in it and head to our next destination, but we still saw some of the Vieux Port, yachts like spaceships, fancy restaurants, all manner of $$$$$$ cars, high-end shops and an infinite number of tourists. On the way out of town we even stumbled upon some sort of crowd and commotion (mind you, this was while we were driving down streets that really did not feel like they were meant for cars…we were awfully close to people and shops). No way of telling what or who was causing such a ruckus, but you could certainly sense the hype, everyone with their phones out – snapping photos!!

We drove along the mediterranean shoreline until we reached Sainte Maxime – a seaside town named after a nun who died in 750. No prize for anyone who guesses why we picked this town, with the name closely resembling Maxine’s ;). We spent a lovely time walking along the shops, markets, restaurants, bars and cafés that were opposite the harbour while enjoying some delicious gelato.

We had decided to head to Cannes for dinner (it’s a tough life). I found the town quite a lovely mix of glitz and old-world pretty. We spent a bit of time walking up and down the hilly streets, past couture shops and fancy restaurants, avoiding the invitations of waiters left, right and centre until we decided to head to L’epicurieu for our meal. It was a rather funny evening in the end. The restaurant was very full, so we sat outside on a table designed for two. Now we did not really think this would be an issue, however the waiters seemed more than a little concerned. We soon found out why, as they brought out our water, wine, bread, condiments and finally our meals. We ended up using the concrete edging of a public garden bed next to our table to rest some things on!! Then two poor ladies sitting near us smashed an almost completely full bottle of red wine on the ground. Such a shame, but they still giggled away the rest of the night! The waiters were lovely and the food was delicious, an evening only made better by the funny atmosphere.