Exploring around Marseille - A trip to Verdon Gorge

Today we had a hire car - yay - and we were out and about heading to Verdon Gorge to explore.  Karl picked up the car at 9am and then headed home to pick us up.  We got sorted and then we were off.  We had no GPS and so Karl used good ole Google Maps to get our initial direction and town sorted.  

Our first stop was Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a very gorgeous little town where we stopped for lunch and a wee explore.  There are just so many gorgeous towns in France - and this was another one - just beautiful.

We were then off to see the much anticipated Gorges Du Verdon (in French: Les Gorges du Verdon or Grand canyon du Verdon), in south-eastern France (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).  It is a river canyon that is often considered to be one of Europe's most beautiful.

It is about 25 kilometres long and up to 700 meters deep. It was formed by the Verdon River, which is named for its startling turquoise-green colour, one of the location's distinguishing characteristics. 

The most impressive part lies between the towns of Castellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, where the river has cut a ravine to a depth of 700 metres through the limestone mass.

We began our drive into the gorge from Mousteirs-Sainte-Marie - spectacular and absolutely not a drive for the faint hearted! 

We did not go all the way to Castellane as we were keen to do a small loop and then head back to the end of the end of the canyon, where the Verdon River flows into the artificial lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon (in French: Lac de Sainte-Croix) where we knew we could swim and hire pedal boats - our plan for the afternoon.

Of course the boys spotted some blackberries on the side of the road and were in........bare feet and no shirt and all - blimey Kiwis.

After spending the afternoon here we go on the road back to Marseille - about 90 minutes drive stopping for delicious ice-cream on the way. 

What a great day.