Jerry Sealy
Cassis, France

Mistral. My friend tells me there’s no leaving port today. Those hot, dry winds have blown in from the north, so we’ll be in Cassis for a second day. It’s too dangerous to sail. Secretly, I am relieved. My first few days at sea exploring the Côte d’Azur involved a nasty case of seasickness—not how I expected to be introduced to the Mediterranean.

So on that mistral morning, I spent my time on the deck of Clarity, docked in port, rocking, bobbing, and banging about. The winds howled. This is strange, I thought—a storm bathed in sunshine. The town of Cassis looked magical, each building washed in tones of salmon, lemon, and coral. Shutters painted cyan, crimson, and turquoise. The harbor water a royal blue. Even with the waves crashing, I felt intense peace. And later that day, a trip into town to explore the market. Pigeons, fresh rabbit, dozens of bins of olives—oil-cured, jet-black, with flecks of dill—and herbes de Provence. Varieties of peppers and eggplants almost too beautiful to eat. A stir of hunger—perhaps a meal to celebrate recovery? Bouillabaisse—the classic Provencal fish stew, rich with the freshest of seafood steeped in tomato, saffron, and fennel and topped with a mound of the most delicious, garlicky aoli on an oversize crouton. We opened another bottle of ridiculously inexpensive local red wine and toasted another day in paradise.

Jerry Sealy is the art director at TRAVELER.