Sanary-sur-mer: christmas magic and traffic chaos - an excursion to the côte d'azur
- alisalomon
- Jan 11, 2024
- 2 min read
Last weekend, filled with anticipation, we set out for Sanary-sur-Mer, a charming coastal town on the Côte d'Azur. The expectations were high, as in previous years, Sanary-sur-Mer had adorned its streets and squares with enchanting Christmas decorations. The illuminated harbor promised a magical atmosphere, in true South French style. We had last witnessed this spectacle in 2019, and I wanted to show it to my 3-year-old daughter this year.
However, the planned Christmas spectacle took a completely unexpected turn. The traffic jam to get into the city was enormous, and we were stuck for hours. Finding a parking space was out of the question. Determined to escape this traffic chaos, we tried to find one last parking spot on the outskirts of the city. After several futile attempts, hope for a Christmas miracle dwindled.
In the neighboring town of Bandol, we opted for a dinner stop at the harbor, hoping to compensate for the botched Sanary experience with a delicious pizza. However, here too, we got caught in heavy traffic. The mood was at its lowest, and nerves were frayed.
Amidst the chaos, we suddenly realized that my husband's phone was missing. A call to my husband's daughter, who could locate the phone, brought certainty: It was exactly where we had made the last attempt to park, and I had gotten out to check if we had enough space. So, we decided to drive back and search for the phone, even though we were still stuck in Bandol.
The journey back felt like an eternity as my stepdaughter checked the location of the phone, which surprisingly didn't move an inch. Minutes turned into hours. When we were only 600 meters away from the phone, the traffic came to a complete standstill. My husband decided to walk the last stretch, and I took over the wheel.
But the moment I tried to continue driving, our car got stuck. The key was in my husband's pocket (cursed modern technology). The traffic around me turned into sheer traffic chaos hell. Standing right in front of a roundabout, I panickedly tried to redirect traffic while keeping an eye on my car with my daughter inside. It felt like a scene from a bad movie.
Fortunately, the drama ended with a happy outcome. My husband found his phone again: a car had parked exactly where we had tried before, and the phone was not run over but perfectly protected from the eyes of passersby and the rain. It was right behind the tire. The traffic jam also cleared relatively quickly, and we could finally head home, even though the magic of Sanary-sur-Mer's Christmas spectacle was lost on us. This beautiful town had proven to be chaotic and overcrowded, and we ended the day with a glass of rosé. Sometimes, it's the unexpected turns that make a story unforgettable.
PS: The photos from Sanary are, of course, still from 2019. The rosé is from this year :)
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