Friday August 3, 2012 After leaving Barcelona our first stop on the Mediterranean was Toulon, a small town and military harbor in South France near Saint Tropez. Toulon is beautiful little port city nestled between the coast and a large mountain range, which offered stunning views of the cliffs and sea. As we passed through the cruise terminal we stuffed our bags with brochures and pamphlets to help familiarize us with our new surroundings, because we had no idea what to expect of this little French town! Making our way from the ship, and through customs we ran into the Le Petit Trains, cute white tour trains for €6 a person! We gladly paid the fee allowing us the ability to hop-on, hop-off at our leisure. The train ride began at the port, cruised to the beach, and then to the town plaza, all the while calling out points of interest, local history and playing obnoxious French marching music.
Our first stop was the beach where we “hopped off” to take pictures and soak up some of the early morning sun. The small sandy beach reminded us of the always-crowded beaches of Tenerife, it was surprisingly packed considering it was 10AM on a weekday – do Europeans ever work?? We made our way to the rocky coast, snapped some photos, and enjoyed the cool morning breeze blowing off the Mediterranean. After the beach we browsed through the cafés in search of Wi-Fi, our main goal was to find a map of the city with points of interest (our large collection of brochures were all printed in French), and a much-needed bank. We had heard that Toulon was famous for its historic fountains, but we had no idea where to find them! Twenty minutes later the next Le Petit Train came around so we “hopped on” and rode to the town square.
The center of Toulon was lively with farmers markets, merchants and artisan shops. It was fun to see the locals filling their baskets while bartering with sales people over fruits, vegetables and fish. This is also where Megan began her never-ending cruise-long pursuit for souvenirs, a habit that would see consequences later on. Walking up and down the aisles of the market we eventually stumbled upon a place with free Wi-Fi. As usual we sat down and ordered a coffee, and asked for the password to the network, which was typed into the iPad by the old French bartender. Unfortunately we couldn’t connect to the Internet so went to pay the bill and leave… At this point we realized neither of us knows a word of French! Check, bill, tab, we couldn’t come up with a French word to signify we were finished, so we motioned signing a paper with our hands. The bartender replied back with some number, in French of course, again we didn’t understand. So we handed him a €5 note hoping it would cover it and waited for change.
We walked around Toulon, discouraged about not being able to find Wi-Fi, or a bank. Kyle’s contacts began giving him problems, and unfortunately he had left his glasses on the ship. Megan spent our last little bit of cash (holding out for an ATM the next day in Livorno) on a pair of pants, now dubbed her “France pants.” Frustrated about our situation we made our way back to the train pickup point that would take us back to the ship. On our way we came upon a man-statue, a person dressed as a statue that asks for tips in exchange for pictures and a performance. However this man was different, this man had cats! In his powdered wig and baby blue coat he held a fluffy white cat on each arm that he had trained to do tricks! The cats could wave, lick each other’s faces, and sit on his head; it quickly brought smiles to both our faces and we forgot about how disappointed we were that Toulon didn’t go our way.
The Cat Man from Traveling In The Moment on Vimeo.
Despite our setbacks with not being able to locate it’s fountains, landmarks or even a local bank, Toulon was a great city to kick off the cruise! It helped prepare us for what was to become our daily routine as we approached each new port city – find a map, a bank, Wi-Fi, points of interest, and GO!
Xo, M&K
