We left Camping International at Giens and made our way to Camping Bonporteau located at Cavalaire, a campsite that we found in our camping booklet. We only planned to stay there one night, however, we could have stayed there for weeks.
When we turned up and about to get out of our van, I unplugged my phone charger from the cigarette lighter, and sparks went flying. By pulling it out, I somehow blew the fuse of the cigarette lighter. This needed to be fixed as it was the easiest means of charging my phone and camera at the same time (and that we broke something on the van we were hiring). After we setup the car to relax for the day, we got the German instruction manual out to see if we could find the location of the fuse box on the car. We found one, however, it didn’t have the fuse for the cigarette lighter.
After being unable to read it, and being somewhat hungry and frustrated, we asked around the French caravan park to see if anyone spoke German and English and could help us. The first person to walk past was able to read German and speak English who was able to help find the fuse box. Her step-daughter was also a translator who could speak 7 languages! To cut the story short, we became good friends with her and her family.
It’s Magical
There is something really magical about this camping site, thus why I have to rate it as one of the best caravan parks to visit in France. Everyone is really friendly and knows everyone here because they come back every year, all at the same time. I met someone who has come every year since she was born – and she is 23 years old. Compared to other caravan parks we stayed at, most people kept to themselves, but not here.
It’s Spiritual
I wouldn’t call myself a spiritual person, but one morning and encountered something strange, something I’ve never experienced before. I woke up around 5:30am, it was quite dark, but the sun was slowly rising. I looked out the window and saw about 5 spirits (yes people spirits) hanging on for life to a tree (this is near where our new friends were staying). I thought this can’t be, I’ve never seen spirits before, so I closed my eyes, rubbed them (as you do), and looked again.
They were still there.
I had my camera next to me, so I took two photo’s while I am still half asleep.
After showing this photo to everyone, you can see faces within the tree. This is not what I personally saw, but it gave the creeps to everyone around. What do you see in the photo? Especially when you are talking about it at midnight next to the tree.
The Fires
A while back, this caravan park had a massive bush fire burn through, heading straight for the house you see in the background. All of the sudden, the fire turned, saving this house.
This is why I say this campsite is magical and is like no other:
- What are the odds of blowing a fuse, meeting a really nice family because of it (if the fuse didn’t blow, we wouldn’t have met them)
- Seeing spirits in a tree, taking a photo and seeing faces
- A bush fire turning when reaching the house
It’s something that is hard to explain, but things happened that were outside our control to make us have a really good time at this caravan park.
The Campsite
The campsite itself doesn’t have the facilities that other campsites have such as multiple restaurants or entertainment during the day. It does have a decent size pool, one table tennis table that you can’t play at night because there are no lights, and Wi-Fi that is charged at 3 euro’s for 30 minutes. There is a sandy beach 5 minutes away, and town shops just a small 15 minute walk away.
The beach is great for late night parties, snorkelling, of even jumping off cliffs as these teenagers where doing. I did attempt snorkelling, however, I wasn’t very good at it.
The FireWorks
On our last night there, there was a fireworks display happening in town – it was packed with people, and they put on a great show, in sync with recorded music.
Below is the same shot at night during the fireworks – just look at all the people!
We Stayed 5 Nights
We ended up staying 5 nights. We only planned to stay 2 nights max – and that’s what we told reception. We had to move because the spot we were staying at was booked, but we were happy doing so as we met even more people and families. We were actually quite known here, and as we left, we had a massive cheer squad when we left.
If I ever travel back to France during the summer, I will be defiantly will be staying here for part of my trip.