France – Gémenos (En)
We went to Gémenos because it was only 20 kilometres from Marseille and we’d seen that you could catch a bus from the campsite, but nothing went as planned. We didn’t know that Gemenos was nestled at the foot of a mountain, surrounded by streams and offering beautiful views. It’s a small but very pretty village, thanks to its mountain setting.
Where to stay
We stayed at Camping La Bergerie (43.29112, 5.620287 lat, long), the only campsite in the village. It costs €20 without electricity and €25 with electricity. We chose this campsite because Park4night said we could take a bus to Marseille, so we planned to stay for several days and visit Marseille. When we arrived, the manager was having lunch and told us to park wherever we wanted and that he would come to see us in 10 minutes, but he never did. The campervan area is very nice, next to a stream. We had to figure out on our own where to empty the wastewater, which we did, but we never found out where to fill up with drinking water. The toilets (no toilet paper), showers (hot water but no pressure), dishwashing area (no hot water), and chemical toilet are in another area quite far from the campsite. The washing machine was broken and full of cobwebs. Since he never came to see us, we couldn’t ask where to catch the bus to Marseille. Disappointed, we decided to leave the next day. We had to leave the money in an envelope in the restaurant’s mailbox next to the campsite. 20 euros, and we couldn’t visit Marseille—a bad experience. The town is nice to see.
What to see
We walked to the village, about 10 minutes away. The village has a square with a memorial, a very pretty fountain, and the town hall.
Then we wandered through the alleyways, full of interesting shops, bars and very cool restaurants.
We ended up in the church area, which we were able to see inside. That area has the best view of the mountains.
We returned to the campsite and went to see the stream, which was very beautiful, with a bridge crossing it.
The next day, we went to Pampelonne beach, the origin of the Saint-Tropez myth, which you can see in the next blog.
