photo friday: ile saint honorat

view – 4 oct 2015

As I planned my trip to France, I started to think about things to do while I was in the area around Nice. I’ve been to most of the touristy places in the area and wanted to do something different. I thought about traveling to Corsica, but I I didn’t have enough time. Are there other boat trips or islands to explore near Cannes or Nice? And then, on the same day, I came across the Lerins Islands and a friend recommended them to me as well. Bingo!

I booked a hotel in Cannes for the weekend and researched how to get from the Nice airport to Cannes and from Cannes to Sophia-Antipolis. I watched the weather reports which were getting worse and worse and worse.

Then Sunday morning arrived and the sun was up and the temperatures were perfect. Time to go catch the ferry! The boat ride to Ile St Honorat was pleasant and offered a lovely view of Cannes and the surrounding area.

As we landed, everyone disembarked and headed up the stairs for the monastery. But I was not there to tour the abbey. I was there for some very quiet, slow time for myself.

And that was not easy. I kept finding myself telling myself to “hurry up”! “Time to move on!” “I don’t have time to sit and relax!” I worked to fight off those thoughts every time they popped up, but it was almost constant. I had a very difficult time remembering that I came out there to be still and silent and not to be hurried and productive and to be sure to see everything I could in as short a time as possible. Sit. Breathe. Walk slowly. Take the time to explore the side paths if they look interesting.

I felt so calm and so at peace by the time I headed back to Cannes. And I managed to carry that unstressed state through the rest of my complicated day.

paths – 4 oct 2015

vineyards – 4 oct 2015

monastery – 4 oct 2015

castle – 4 oct 2015

castle – 4 oct 2015