The year was 2023 and the month was July. Stacy Lyn had not been overseas since 2018 – before Granddaughter was born. Granddaughter is so much more intriguing than the world at large because she is the world to Stacy Lyn. But that summer an opportunity to travel presented itself, so Stacy Lyn dusted us off. Remember us? Stacy Lyn’s Traveling Socks?

Though Stacy Lyn prefers to stay close to home these days, she found a gem in the coastal town of La Ciotat, France. She fell in love with the place and has returned since that summer because there is no other place like it.

It sits on the Mediterranean in the province of Provence. Provence was a place of Stacy Lyn’s dreams because of Marcel Pagnol and all of his delightful characters and his descriptions of a place that reminds her so much of Louisiana in countless ways.

That first evening there, Stacy Lyn and Norm dined on the terrace of a restaurant where the food was divine for the seafood lover that she is. As the gentle zephyr blew, Stacy Lyn pondered how she had promised Granddaughter a rainbow purse for a souvenir, and she secretly worried that she would not be able to deliver. Where would she find a rainbow purse in a little city halfway around the world? While Stacy Lyn and Norm were enjoying their meal amidst the crescendo of the cicadas, vendors began to set up their kiosks for the evening, a summer ritual in the coastal town. To Stacy Lyn’s delight, the vendor across from the restaurant was setting up his purses, and low and behold! He hung a rainbow purse on one of the hooks. Needless to say, Stacy Lyn and Norm crossed the street after supper and purchased the purse. Phew! Stacy Lyn had never broken a promise to Granddaughter – and she never will.

The following day Stacy Lyn and Norm walked around the town and made their way to the beach. The water was crystal clear, but too cold for Stacy Lyn to do anything but dip her toes. People were relaxing on the sand, chatting at the beachside restaurants, and strolling the boardwalk in a way that only the French can do. (The French call this kind of unfettered relaxation flanerie.) They have the uncanny ability to while away their time just being, not worrying about the future or regretting the past. Being in that place at that time gave Stacy Lyn a bit of a reprieve from her life and all of the people who don’t belong in it but are.

The nighttime came alive with dinner dates and more flanerie. Children rode their bicycles and scooters; parents followed behind arm-in-arm or hand-in-hand. Vendors answered questions about cheese, linen, silk, purses, sunglasses, cognac, chocolate, millinery – all made in France. No one seemed to be pressed for time as they always are in Paris. And the piece de resistance was the people themselves: welcoming, accommodating, friendly, and unforgettable.

On another day, as Stacy Lyn and Norm sauntered around the town, they stopped to watch a group of local men playing petanque – a game that reminds Stacy Lyn of marbles, only the petanque marbles are metal and the size of a baseball. It is a French pastime of relaxation and camaraderie, and it appears in the novels of Marcel Pagnol. Ah, have we really landed in a Marcel Pagnol novel? Oh, would that it were true! Then, continuing their exploration, Stacy Lyn and Norm crossed the place and wound their way around a peninsula that overlooked the harbor. It was there that they chanced upon a most unexpected discovery – a monument dedicated to submariners. Norm is Stacy Lyn’s submariner hero, and seeing such a place when they had no destination in mind seemed like fate was validating their choice.

After a few short days, time did what it always does – it flew away. Stacy Lyn was happy to be home to give Granddaughter her rainbow purse (and a suitcase full of other goodies), but she will never forget the one-of-a-kind place of La Ciotat. Not many places warrant being revisited, but if there is only one, La Ciotat is that place.

❤