Drive to Toulon’s Memorial of the Liberation
Today we’ll explore more of the city of Toulon, starting with a trip up Mont Faron to the Memorial du Debarquement et de la Liberation en Provence. (Provence is the southeastern region of France that borders Italy and the Mediterranean Sea) Weather looks good, clear skies, warm with temps around 68-70F, no rain forecast.
Getting out of the city is a real act of courage. Trying to negotiate the round-abouts with stoplights and several side roads converging on the square is not just confusing, it’s challenging! Several times recently we’ve encountered a stray car either cutting across the entire road or not willing to play nicely. Not to mention the hundreds of mopeds and motorcycles that feel every lane in every direction is theirs, or they can just create a lane. Throw in vehicles doing 50, 60, even 70+ kilometers per hour in a 30 kilometer per hour zone and you are set for some real fun.
Just when I thought we had made it out of town and in a more relaxed driving area, we start our ascent up Mont Faron. This bike lane converted to a road is the scariest road we’ve been on for quite some time. We could only hope that this was a one-way road and no cars would be coming down while we are going up. Collette got out a rosary, a Jesus dash figurine, a window sticker that said “Jesus is my co-pilot”, a Budda, some incense, and threw salt to the east, just as a precautionary measure. There’s a 1700’ elevation change from the city to the memorial. Doesn’t sound like much but to get there the road is a series of switchbacks with some having very, very sharp turns.
Just as we pulled into the parking area, it started to rain, heavy rain. Remember that the forecast said no rain, wrong! Good thing we had our coats and umbrellas, time to head for the doors.
Once inside we bought our tickets, 6EUR each, and began the walk through the account of World War II in Provence. Most of the displays in the memorial are videos with English subtitles. There are some static displays of uniforms and military items, such as K rations and Walkie-Talkies, that have written descriptions also in English. Overall, the museum was interesting, probably not one of the best we’ve seen, but also not the worst.
K-Rations breakfast and dinner!
Algerian uniform
French uniform with British helmet
Outside there is an artillery field piece and a Sherman tank on display. Best of all are the views of the city.
US Sherman tank
Field piece
The harbor from Mont Faron
Toulon “burbs” from Mont Faron
Ferry port and Naval Yard
Our apartment house from Mont Faron. (Center, behind the yellow / white ferry)
Time to head back down and were we glad to see that there was a one-way road going down at the other end of the parking area. We have a bit of grocery shopping to do for our final days here, and of course, find a coffee and pastry shop for a little people watching.
Found a pastry, flan!
Marcel Pagnol statue, Partie de Cartes de Raimu. From his trilogy Marius, Fanny, and Cesar.
Rain is forecast for tomorrow so we’ll stay in town again, maybe do some souvenir shopping, laundry or just hang out. Sunday we are driving to Cannes and Monaco so we’ll be on the road early, home late. Then on Monday we travel to Avignon, France for one last ancient city before returning to the apartment to pack for going home. Has it been 2 months already?