and for the first time, i glimpsed into the open of our wild spot we set up our tent in after tumbling up to our wild camp late last night. the earth was red and our tents dry. evelyne had already left and came back when she told me she was spotting birds in the nearby mediterranean pine forest while i set up the camera to capture the moments. we were on a little hill surrounded by horses. we had a tiny breakfast session, but soon, realizing we were running low on supplies made us head down to the coast of nice through dry canyons. our first stop: a carrefour market by the outskirts of nice, and me, waiting inside the car parked in front of a garage.

nice is well known for carjacking, so it’s always best to keep the car parked inside a supervised lot. that is what we did. we shopped for a cozy picnic by the beach and strolled through the old town’s pastel and orange. as if they had an unspoken rule to paint their cities the liveliest and dreamiest colors possible. we had countless rounds of ice cream and iced coffee, i lost my credit card before we arrived at a viewing platform and finally, there it was. the ocean.

we jumped right in and soaked into the deep blue. the water was refreshing but cold, so we had to step out of it once in a while through big pebbles that felt more like broken glass. walking was barely possible, so we enjoyed some baguette and grapes instead. evelyne was quite impressed by how long tess and felix have been in the water meanwhile, playing games.

although we all loved staying by the beach, we had the same idea of traveling to a more intimate and serene beach - you know... less people, more nature. it was already 5 pm when we grabbed the car almost like throwing a dart i marked a random spot on the map i thought could be pretty and we started driving for one and a half hour. upon closer look we found ourselves driving to a peninsula full of campgrounds. the first one was by the sea. we drove into the gates and nobody let us in. they already closed. so we turned around and drove to a caampsite at the other end of the peninsula. at the receptionist, we sent felix to ask for availability because he was the only one of us who spoke french. he returned with the biggest smile and relief saying that five minutes ago someone canceled their booking and one last spot got free'd for us. we fell in love with the place at first sight. living here seemed twice as slow as anywhere else. there was a small grocery store selling local produce like lavender honey and a welcoming bar for pizza and drinks. we set up our tents, ordered some pizza and it was sunset time.

through a little gravel trail of pine trees and dry grass, we walked down a thin passage. and then it opened. it opened up perfect thick golden shoreline to us. pardon my legendaryness said the sky. said the sun. said the beach. i grabbed evelyne's hands pretended we were dancing to la la land while we stepped to the cliffs in front of us. i picked a pink flower, put it in her hair and in that very moment, i was jumping, cheering in happiness in bliss, my soul screaming. cheering for how beautiful life is. it was the most beautiful sunset i have ever seen in my life, like we were living in a perfect coming of age indie movie.

tess and felix joined our round of joy. we celebrated life. how lucky we are to stay at that campsite. to how magical the sunset was.

with 🐝 by frank.

useful information

feeling inspired? here are some resources you might find useful if you would like to follow our footsteps:

• our favorite campsite, camping olbia in hyères