Summer holiday 2003
le Cap D´Agde − France


Saturday, 5th July

We get up early and go to the dining room were we have a good breakfast. At around 08:30 hr. we leave the hotel and set out into the direction of Nimes and Marseille. So far we have covered about half the travelling distance to Cap D´Agde. The weather has improved considerably and it has become sunny and warm.

Just a little south of Lyon we enter the turnpike road again and travel further south to Valence, Orange and Nime. France is notorious for its traffic jams, especially around Lyon, and every now and then we do get stuck, but only for a little while. Fortunately it is not all that bad.

We are now really beginning to notice that we are in the southern part of France. There are more pine trees growing in this region, and the vegetation is gradually changing. For sometime now the river Rhone flows parallel to the "Route du Soleil", and during our travels we have crossed it several times over long wide bridges that offer us a fabulous view across the river itself.

Driving along we reach Montpellier at around 12:45 hr.. Here we leave the turnpike road again, paying € 19,40 for the stretch from Lyon to Montpellier. By now the outside temperature has gone up considerably and reaches 35 to 40 degrees, and even higher in the car itself.

We drive along following the turnoff to Agde, and head towards le Cap d´Agde. And again we are driving around in circles, literally this time. Someone here really likes roundabouts! Clearly we have missed the sign "Village Vacances" that shows the direction of the resort "Saint Loup". Eventually we do manage to get our barings straight, and we finally reach the park.

First we go to the reception desk in order to sign in. Here we receive the keys to our apartment and also a few flyers about some of the tourist attractions around here. We also receive the activity schedule of the animation team that is present here. Having finished the administrative part we enter the park and go to our apartment. Fortunately I can park the car right next to the apartment, so we don´t have to drag our luggage for miles.

After having finished unpacking we take a look around the park. One of the first things that I notice is that there is a lot of lush green here and it is also fairly quiet. On some of the open spaces among the apartments there are swings and seesaws for the very young children. At the centre of the park there is a large swimming pool, a restaurant with a bar and a small but well stocked supermarket. If you don´t want to go out for shopping, you don´t have to! For the older kids there is also a small discotheek present, which is supervised by members of the animation team. During the night members of a security agency keep an eye out in the park, at the entrance and on the car park.