The Glamorous Life - St. Tropez

We have been living in France for 10 months now, and while we've done some traveling, last week was our first trip that I think qualifies as a real European vacation.  That is to say, no one told us to go there and we had no ulterior motives - just vacation!  We spent one week relaxing in the sun and taking in the beaches and towns of St. Tropez, France and Ajaccio, Corsica, which is also technically France, although they seem to be in denial of that fact.

Our first two days we stopped over in St. Tropez, just to see what all the fuss was about.  To be honest, planning this trip was a little intimidating.  We do care about money and have a budget to work with, which automatically means that in St. Tropez, we don't fit in.  If you're not prepared to splurge a little on some things (and a LOT on others), you won't find much to do in town.  And even if you do feel like emptying your wallets, there are really only three main components of St. Tropez anyway: beaches, shopping, and dining.

Here is how a typical day in St. Tropez works: wake up when you feel like it, and head to the beach.  The water was beautiful, but cold!

They also seem to have a bit of an issue with these creatures:

We didn't swim very much

Of course, you will have reserved lounge chairs, parasols, and cabanas (60 euros for two people) at a beach club at least a week ago, much more if you are going on a weekend in July or August.  We went to Moorea Beach Club, and Club 55 (the most famous of them all) during our two days.  Arrive at the beach around 11:00.  Lounge around for 2-3 hours, watch the yachts slowly make their way in.  If you have business to attend to, it's totally appropriate to spend the first part of the day on the phone, handling matters so important you can't let it go for a few days and enjoy vacation [loud Italian man next to me].  Then again, people here vacation for weeks, not days, so maybe it is necessary to catch up every now and then.

Our setup for the day - Moorea Plage

Around 1:30, slowly dust the sand off of you, throw on a cover up, and walk a few yards back to the beach club's restaurant (which you also reserved well in advance).  Settle into your table, and get comfy, because you'll be here for a while.  French meals tend to be long and slow, and beach lunches are no exception!  These restaurants are no walk up beach shacks selling daiquiris and fish tacos.  Aside from the sand in your toes and ocean breeze, you might as well be in a fine dining establishment, with prices to match of course!  We even had a fashion show during one lunch.  After a 2+ hour lunch, mosey on back to your lounge chairs, and nap it off.  I was surprised to see how many people (myself included) took a quick snooze after lunch. Fair warning though: fall asleep, and you miss the celeb activity on the docks.  Oops.       

Our St. Tropez celebrity spotting:
We did see him come in, but missed the photo ops - http://concreteloop.com/photos/steve-harvey-vacations-with-family-in-saint-tropez/infphoto_2591359 

Enjoy your afternoon in the sun, perhaps with a 60+ Euro bottle of chilled wine delivered to your cabana, although we opted for the equally unreasonably priced 9 Euro bottles of water.  Around 5:00, people start packing up, and by 6:00, the beach clubs are almost empty, even though the sun is still shining brightly.  You'll need plenty of time of course to go back to your hotel and clean up before your 9:00 dinner reservation.  We skipped this part too.  Instead we walked the port in the center of town and stopped for a (relatively) quick dinner at a brasserie.  The port was more or less as expected - yachts, yachts, and more yachts!

A small sampling of the boat and yachts docked in St. Tropez.

Never have you seen so many fancy boats in one place.  The colorful buildings reflected in the water, lined with endless rows of boats, is quite a site to see.  But then, after you've seen it, marveled at the gross amounts of money concentrated in such a small number of hands, and pondered the implications of spending 2,000 on dinner for you family without flinching, well then you've pretty much seen St. Tropez.  There's not a whole lot more to it.  If you are a 40+ male, and fancy feeling like a local, you might head to the Place des Lices for a  Pastis and a game of Petanque.  Pastis is a very popular licorice flavored french liquor, usually served with chilled water and drank only during the warmer months.  I think it's disgusting.  And Petanque is a traditional French game played with a set of metal balls that are carefully rolled on the ground in attempt to get as close as possible to the little ball in the center.  Similar to bocce I think.  We have never played, it doesn't seem to be socially "cool" for anyone under 40 or females to partake.  But I do see groups of older men playing all the time, it looks like fun.

Petanque at the Place des Lices

Unless you are a fan of the night club scene and staying up until at least 1:00 AM, when the doors open, there is little else to see in St. Tropez.  There is a fair amount of shopping, almost entirely very high end stores, but they all close by 8:00, so you'll have to sacrifice some beach time if you wan't to pick up any souvenirs.  I found some beach towels I absolutely adored, but promptly put them right back on the shelf when I saw the 120 Euro (each!) price tag.  For a beach towel!  We capped off our evening by picking up some fresh macarons and watching the sun set on the harbor.  There is no denying that the St. Tropez vacation lifestyle is uniquely indulgent and certainly a place to escape reality.        

St. Tropez Photos