This place is great! Towards the end of our honeymoon, we found ourselves in Seyne-Sur-Mer (not…read moreplanned) and our AirBnB host had cancelled our reservation 30 minutes after we were supposed to check in, lame right? After shouting at the heavens and scaring off a cat that was sauntering around us, we got back on our bikes and headed back the way we came. Thankfully, we noticed a sign advertising a hotel and as we were in the middle of nowhere, in a place we knew nothing about, we figured what the hell, it's the end of august in the French Mediterranean and unlikely that we'll get a room, but we may as well try.
We headed to the reception and pleaded our case in our lovely Canadian French (oh les cousins!) who sent us downstairs to talk to the manager. This sweet guy, in the middle of a lunch rush where he was immersed in managing the staff, managed to also find us a room for a few nights and we nearly hugged him. Since our room wasn't yet ready, we plopped down and immediately ordered some wine and lunch.
I had a lovely little goat cheese salad and it hit the spot. From reading the literature about the hotel over lunch, my wife and I learned that the hotel actively employs people with mental disabilities as a way of engaging them with not only the locals who work in the hotel, but also with the tourists such as ourselves. Lovely! For those unfamiliar with the areas surrounding Marseille, it is VERY touristy, VERY sheeshy, and not particularly progressive so this was such a nice little oasis of a find. Our little hearts that had been bruised and battered whilst biking around the hellhole that is Marseille were rewarmed and refortified.
The room was beautiful, replete with a decadently enormous bathroom that was tastefully designed. Additionally, there was a little pétanque pitch and a private gate leading to the beach that is literally next to the hotel.
If I ever go back to this part of France (unlikely, but one never knows) I would stay there in an instant.