In leafing through the Destination Guide recently, I happened across an entry for Petite Provence d’Annisss, a full private region setting leveraging the Land Capacity bonus, designed by Annisss Mathịṣ (annisss). Offering a mix of public spaces and rental properties (so some caution might be in order during wanderings to avoid invading someone’s privacy), it offers a good deal to see and appreciate and some pleasing opportunities for photography.
Visit a village in the south-east of France, have lunch at a restaurant with a sea view or enjoy its beaches and small isolated coves, visit its superb caves or come and enjoy the evenings at the Club.
– Petite Provence d’Annisss About Land description
A visit commences towards the west side of the region where a tall clock tower keeps watch over a channel cutting its way into the landscape. Perhaps this watery cutting and the bay at its eastern end may once have been a natural inlet, but where the banks may have once stood has been built up with walls and topped out with paving to provide space for local businesses, the town church, with the inlet becoming something of a small harbour, offering a safe haven to various craft which appear to enter via a separate channel.
Gathered behind the clock tower, the part of the town adjacent to the landing point carries hints of multiple locations – some of the buildings having a lean towards Tuscany; others seemingly plucked from rural France. It’s a mix that is pleasing to the eyes with cobblestones an paving run around and between the buildings, inviting feet to follow, while to the south a road sweeps down from the heights before performing a u-turn and ending as abruptly as it started have served its intent and brought visitors down to the golden sands of a beach whilst cupping one of the region’s restaurants in its arms as it does so.
The beach offers plenty of places and space to catch the sun, whilst a makeshift bar might allow sunbathers to quench their thirst when it is stocked and operating. For those who prefer, steps to one side of the clock tower offer a quicker way down from the landing point to the beach, and both the the steps and the road will direct wanderers to where a horse rezzer is also available should clip-clopping around the town appeal.
Across the channel, and linked to the clock tower by way of a bridge, the north side of town has fairly packed itself into a small island, the buildings shuffling together shoulder-to-shoulder is if in mutual protection. Between them might be found narrow streets and alleys that – as is so often the way with old towns – suddenly burst forth into a square or walk raised above a beach, offering places to sit and pace the time and / or steps down to the sands.
Follow the raised water front here down to where it overlooks the moorings for boats, and you cannot fail to find The Blue Note, the club mentioned in the About Land description. Sitting within the remnants and façades of a number of buildings and with its very roof the sky above, this a a place ready to host both DJs and live musicians alike, its dancefloor sitting above a tropical isle in miniature.
Reached by walking through the town and passing by the church and another restaurant, visitors can make their way to the region’s art gallery. Sitting with cliffs on three of its four sides, the gallery was hosting a exhibition of photography by Ludi Tarus at the time of my visit, with its courtyard area sporting various 3D pieces. Just to the south of the gallery are two blocky promontories, a narrow cove cutting between them. One of these promontories is home to a public baths, and those seeking it out might also notice there’s a path edging its way around the cliffs below it, offering access to the cove.
The second promontory is the location to one of the setting’s rental homes. Overlooking another cove-like beach sheltering between the rocky bluffs, this house looks across the sands to another headland marked by more rentals, and with another path running through it connecting the two baches along its shoreline. To be honest, I’ve not sure if this aspect of the island is intended to be open to the public; while it links directly to the the gallery and its courtyard, the only means to reach the footpath and the beached appears to be by taking a walk through the gardens of the rental houses. I wasn’t keen on doing this in case I was trapsing across private property, so I simply cammed over and looked around.
Some of the cliffs dropping away to the harbour from the rentals and the gallery have waterfalls bursting out of them, suggesting the presence of a rocky aquifer. More to the point, for those who find it, there’s a stairway leading down to the base of some of these falls, where a bag of gifts awaits, together with the entrance to the cave mentioned in the About Land description.
Charming, quiet and with plenty of opportunities for photography, Petite Provence d’Annisss makes from a pleasing visit with plenty to seen and photograph.
SLurl Details
- Petite Provence d’Annisss (Petite Provence, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 