CASSIS, France -- Blue, fringed with white. That's the dominant painters' palette in this charming fishing village of 8,000 inhabitants on the French Riviera just southeast of Marseille.

With a turn of the head, you see the Mediterranean Sea, its deep blue water tossed with whitecapped waves, the bluest sky plumped with fluffy clouds, fishing boats in proper navy colors and fishermen in the cooling shadows of white-trimmed blue umbrellas at the harbor.

Cassis (pronounced ka-SEESE) is dominated by Cap Canaille, an immense rampart that juts into the sea. Its red sandstone and limestone-streaked rocks date back 90 million years. The cliffs of this mountain are the highest maritime cliffs in Europe, reaching about 399 meters (1,300 feet).

In profile, Cap Canaille seems to be the geological cousin of the Rock of Gibraltar. Back from the cliff's edge, and dominating the high horizon over the village, is a 14th-century fort-like castle, now closed to the public. Get the camera, this is a postcard.

Cassis' magnificent local stone was mined in profusion years ago and, as a result, brought the fishing village the notice that led to its international fame. Now fishing and mining have been replaced with thriving wine-growing and tourism businesses.

French Riviera it may be, but don't expect sightings of moguls and starlets or hot nightlife. The tiny town attracts tourists, mostly French, who are interested in sun, sand and good food and wine. The Old Quarter -- and this is where you will spend most of your time and your euros -- is a listed Heritage site. The tiny streets and alleys have old mansions, shady squares and bubbly fountains. Houses in the village and harbor-front are painted pastel, and window boxes and street planters overflow with flowers and vines in riotous colors.

No wonder Cassis was a playground for the likes of French poet and philosopher Paul Valery, Winston Churchill, who painted Cap Canaille, and Virginia Woolf, who wrote, after her first time in Cassis in 1925: "Nobody shall say of me that I have not known perfect happiness."

I have to agree with her. My husband and I had the joy of living in an apartment on a hillside in Cassis for two weeks in early summer. The trip was memorable.

If you go, here are some things to know.

Your high school French is all you need, but fractured Franglish works fine. I trotted out my 30 basic nouns (bonjour!), all mispronounced I'm sure, gestured with enthusiasm and smiled a lot with good success. Euros are easy to use and ATMs are abundant. Dress is casual, with hot days and cool evenings, and when the mistral is blowing, you'll need a jacket.

The terrain offers good cardio exercise with its steep ups and downs, zigs and zags, twists and turns. Take good walking and beach shoes and hiking boots, too, if you want to explore.

Make your first stop the office of tourism at the harbor, and load up on maps, brochures and festival dates. The staff speaks pretty good English and will explain trail maps and the wine and hiking routes.

Here are some of the highlights in Cassis.

The calanques are inlets, and they can be considered to be Mediterranean fjords. Their geologic formation is in the form of deep valleys with steep, often vertical sides that are partly submerged by the sea. The white limestone cliffs, stretching from Cassis to Marseille, are a paradise for rock climbers and hikers from all over the world.

Hikers with loaded backpacks can be seen every morning heading to the trails. Some will take the one-, three- or six-hour marked trails. They've been warned to wear heavy shoes and carry their own food along with two liters of water per person. Most of them will stop on hidden beaches for private swimming and diving, trekking back to town before dusk.

Alert: It's a schlep even for people in excellent condition. The rest of us may opt to see the creeks (inlets) between the cliffs by sea. Tour boats leave the Cassis harbor frequently visiting three, five or eight of the inlets. It is a dramatic experience and a must-do.

Trivia note: At the first calanque, Port-Miou, is a now-defunct stone quarry. Its stone blocks were used in the construction of Mediterranean ports, the Suez Canal and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.

Oh, my, it can get hot, and the sun is intense. Cassis' largest beach is at the foot of the cliff on the eastern edge of town, just off the harbor. The sand and small pebble beach is family-friendly with showers, WC and a lifeguard.

Just a 10-minute up and down walk from town is smaller and intimate, topless-optional Bestouan Beach (the best one), with paperweight-size pebbles. There you will find a bonus add-on, because directly across the road from the beach is Pastis, an outdoor bar with long benches, Marimekko-covered pillows and hunky waiters.

Hiking westward toward the calanques are several hard-to-get-to rock slab "beaches" for nudists and naturists. These, as well as other remote beaches sprinkled throughout the calanques, do not have lifeguards.

Wednesdays and Fridays are market days when vendors gather on and around Place Baragnon, the town square. Clothing, baskets, jewelry and pottery are sold under tents on the side streets. But fresh goods? Oh, the cheeses! Soft and spreadable or ready for the knife. Creme fraiche and heavy cream are dipped from a tub and sold by the pint or half pint. There are Provencal olives, olive oil and olive wood bowls heaped with tapenades, green and black. Berries in tissue-lined wooden boxes, lavender honey, fougasse (the local, traditional flatbread), charcuterie and sweet biscuits. If you have cooking facilities, choose a plump chicken and the herbs to stuff it for dinner. If not, plan a wine-cheese-baguette-and-thou picnic. Immediately to the west (10-minute walk from the harbor) adjacent to Bestouan Beach are great rock planes, perfect for an alfresco picnic with a fabulous view of Cassis' harbor and the nearby cliffs.

Don sunglasses, face the sun and have coffee, ice cream or aperitif in any of the many cafes along the quai or harborfront. It is ground zero for the best people watching, sipping and tanning, all de rigueur in these parts. Guarding the harbor is a statue of Calandal, an anchovy fisherman, and a green-topped lighthouse.

There are always exceptions, but remember Tourist Rule 1: Eateries with a view don't have to work too hard for their tourist euros, and they often serve overpriced food that suffers the blahs. So when it comes time for dinner in Cassis, sometime after dusk around 8 o'clock, explore the streets and alleys of the old quarter.

By day, those narrow streets are home to produce vendors and shopkeepers. But when they close, restaurants pile tables, chairs, umbrellas, flowering plants and menus onto the sidewalks and open for business. Your chair may wobble on the cobblestones, but your dinner will be superb.

Before morning coffee, go to the boulangerie to pick up your baguette and pastries. Look for puffs filled and iced with lemon, lavender and violet pastry creams and fondant; almond-topped meringues can be topped with berries and whipped creme fraiche; croissants, layered and flaky, are plain or chocolate. In the restaurant, order Bouillabaisse, the essence of the Mediterranean and signature dish of Marseille, a boil of local fish served with toasts and a spicy mayo-like sauce, rouille. In the cafe, celebrate a rite of Provence and order pastis, a licorice-like aperitif that turns milky when cut with water. Now that you have to do at least once.

Cassis has 12 wineries, which make up the 400-acre Cassis terroir. The wines they produce were awarded the Appellation d'Origine Controlee label in 1936. The muscat grape vines, tucked into the hillsides and at the foot of Cap Canaille, produce world-famous blanc de blanc, peach-colored rose and rouge. The wine is almost impossible to find outside the region. (No, this is not the vegetal home of cassis, the black currant liqueur, which is a specialty of Burgundy.)

Along with traditional full and half bottles, many of the wines are available in just-right-for-dinner, 500-milliliter bottles. Every cafe and grocery shop carries them. To sample wines, stop by Le Chai Cassidian, a cozy wine bar (in an alley, of course) with all Cassis and the best of other Provencal wines.

By car, follow the wine route stopping to sip, shop, and linger to enjoy the views; allow two hours followed by a nap. By foot, it's a mere 20-minute walk to Le Clos Sainte Magdeleine, where the view is spectacular. The winery is named after Mary Magdelene, who spent the last 30 years of her life in a cave of a nearby town.

The game of petanque (similar to bocce) was invented in this area, and there is a petanque court next to the main beach. There are opportunities to sail, wind surf, scuba dive, fish, kayak, bike, ride horses and play golf. Unathletic types will find boutiques stuffed with Provencal fabrics, crafts, embroideries and souvenirs. There are several museums as well. Eglise St-Michel, a Romanesque church, is worth seeing; but why not just go to Mass on Sunday, kill two birds with one stone and hear excellent hymns sung in French.

For fashionistas: a French manicure nail polish kit (with nail templates and both white and shell-colored polishes) from the drugstore. And from the twice weekly markets, shop for these: for the pantry, olive oil and wine; for Mom, wool challis scarves and stoles; for the chef, an olive wood mortar and pestle; for the lingerie drawer, a lavender sachet in an embroidered linen pouch; for the patio, a provencal patterned tablecloth; for the coffee table, a plaster-cast cicada, the ubiquitous, noisy insect and the mascot of Cassis.

Talk about successful marketing!

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.