Plage de Cavalière — Attraction in Toulon

Hey, I’m a little bit sad.

Look, Le Lavandou is beautiful and the local people that I have met were super nice, but then happened something: When we arrived at the beach, some of us, including me, decided to get a bear at the local spar, to bring to the beach, before settling in sand and sun. After fulfilling that Idea, a friend and me took the two steps over the street and entered the beach area right next to the lifeguards office, happily and in the mood for a chill/calm day at the beach. While doing said, we encountered a middle aged french man who asked us for a bear, apparently as a joke, but we shared a very nice and spontaneous moment of strangers just sharing a smile and having a fun conversation for a few seconds. This encounter was overseen by a lifeguard, and over the next few hours I gained the impression that he is the guy in charge at this beach. He was not happy at all with us sharing laughs and gesticulating funnily. Right after the fun guy said bye and thanks for what we think is normal and he thought was really nice of us, the guy in charge made himselfe known by coming up to us and telling us that this is a quiet beach and that we were not supposed to be loud, he unkindly reminded us where the trash belongs and that we were not supposed to go for a swim after we had a beer. This situation lastet for about a minute and left me real confused.

Situation: Afternoon, sun, burning hot, beach crowded af, a lot of children, a lot of adults, no dogs, two ppl trying to sell Ice by yelling it all over the beach, at least two ppl trying to get money from ppl who are to lazy to take vacation pictures by themselves.

Back to the my problem: I never ever felt so judged in my life. This guy told me how to behave, assumed I would litter, assumed I would be loud and unpleasant for other guests at the beach before I even had the chance to open my mouth or show him how wrong I was really raised. As written before, it left me real confused and so I startet my day at the beach with a wrong feeling that I didn’t signed up for or deserved. After a lot of sun, nice times in the water and what in the end seemed to be a good time, the guy decided to take it a step further. During the day, we collected about 5 bottles of water that we had, some wooden icecream stiks, and a little bit of plastic wrapping. With collected I mean, placed together in between our circle of towels. He brought us a trash bag, with some comment I didn’t really understand acoustically but I promise you, he did it not because he wanted us to have a easier time bringing the trash away. After that I was really angry, and yes, I gave him the “you really suck and I can’t understand why someone would want to be like you” eyes, and yes, when he left I cursed in my mother tongue and was really angry, not gonna lie. To regain some calmness I decided to smoke a cigarette, when a friend asked me for one. He was two towels over and so I tossed the package in his direction. I missed his reacheable space by about 20cm and so the package restet in the sand between the towels. This gave the guy another reason to step up and do his show, by directly asking me what my problem was. Sadly, before I could think about what to say and how to make a better person out of this guy, he switched interests and ended his moment of glory with some nonsense directed at one of the guys next to me. I’m not used to feel real anger from me directed at a person and so I was a bit overwhelmed. I learned today, that it can be really confusing and saddening when you get labeled for no other reason than someone’s opinion. Some may say, all of this should not make you angry and that this is a personal problem, and yes it is, but if you ever encounter this man, and share a similar moment, rest assured you are not alone and someone somwhere is also really not...

• Gutes: Das Meer selbst ist wie immer und überall sehr schön. Es ist ein Sandstrand - angenehm und seicht. Gut für Kinder und Nichtschwimmer. Es gibt eine Wasserwacht. Es gibt ein paar Unternehmen mit Wasserattraktionen (Paragliding, Wasserski etc.) - sehr nett und kundenorientiert.

• Schlechtes: Grundsätzlich ist es überraschend, dass in Côte d’Azur - in einer Region mit immens langer Touristik-Geschichte - Stadtverwaltung oder Privatbetreiber nicht auf die Idee kamen, dass man auch am Strand gewisse Infrastruktur braucht. Z.B., die türkische Riviera ist in diesem Kontext viel besser aufgestellt. Kein öffentliches WC am Strand Keine Dusche/Duschsäule, um Salz und Sand nach dem Strandbesuch loszuwerden. Keine festen Gehwege (Holzbretter oder Plastik-Platten) am Ausgang vom Strand - man schleppt Unmengen an Sand nach Hause. Es gibt keine Kabinen, um sich umzuziehen. Das Clienté ist wie fast überall auf den westeuropäischen Stränden hemmungslos und bekloppt: es gibt jede Menge alte Omas und Damen 50+, die sich oben ohne "topless" sonnen und baden. Es gibt Männer, die sich direkt an der Wasserlinie komplett umziehen - vor Augen der Kinder. Das Ganze sieht einfach ekelig und unangebracht aus. Man vergisst W. Churchills Worte: "Die Freiheit des Einzelnen endet dort, wo die Freiheit des Anderen beginnt". Es gibt kein Sonnendach/Sonnenschutz, wie man es z.B. auf den türkischen Stränden oder den ukrainischen Stränden am Schwarzen Meer sieht. Man kann natürlich Sonnenschirme mieten - aber die sind winzig und geben wenig Schutz vor Sonne.

Die o.g. Mängel sind aus meiner Sicht erdrückend. Die Stadtverwaltung und die Privatbetreiber sind offensichtlich faul und...

The roads of the Cote d'Azur have one advantage, they stretch along the blue of the water and from beach to beach. Plage de Cavaliere is located in the wonderful surroundings of hills and forests where you just need to park your car a dozen meters from the water and your beach. It can be crowded, but you will always find a place. From the car straight...