It is with a mixture of pride and shyness that we exclusively unveil the new Bandol visual, our new symbol. Behind this drawing of the setting sun, hides a very beautiful story, Bandolese of course, that we invite you to discover ...
under the Bandol sun
320 days of sunshine per year! This sentence is imprinted in my head. It's a strand of my DNA.
I had no idea how many sunny days other cities could have, but if this sentence was associated with where I lived, it must have been something dreadful.
I must have been a little over 6 years old. Twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, we went as a family to voluntary gymnastics. I have never really understood the meaning of this volunteer. Was there involuntary gymnastics ?! In short ! My brother, sister and I climbed in the back of the 4L van, cluttered with my father's tools. As I was the smallest, I had the best seat, on the drill body, behind the driver's seat. The other two were sitting in the wheel arches and could not see the road.
Twice a week therefore, we passed the Viaduct towards Sanary which was still at that time, the sister city of Bandol and not its competitor. I am a 50/50, 83110 by my father and 83150 by my mother.
On the way back, I could see, at the level of the Reserve, the banner stretched out, like an arch, a giant portal marking the entrance to the city.
It was a vermilion semicircle placed on a blue line, and these few words "320 days of sun". I read it over and over again with each passage, then one day it disappeared.
Forty years and a few later, when I started my mission at the Tourist Office, it seemed essential to me to find this visual. I looked everywhere. I've found nothing. I needed a trace, a frame, because my memory was fuzzy and I didn't want to approximate, out of respect for those who remembered it. But I couldn't find anything. I dropped the idea.
Two months after my arrival, 3, Vivien alleys, we undertook a great tidying up of the premises.
At the bottom of the reserve, over the years, a few motley objects had accumulated. In the middle of this junk was a 70's brown plastic office trash can. And on one side ... a sticker was placed.
It was the visual I was looking for, the one from my childhood. He was waiting for his rebirth.
Here it is today in its 2021 version, revamped but not too much.
I hope it brings back some good memories.
And for those who still don't know: With 320 days of sunshine per year, Bandol may not be paradise, but we are getting closer!
Where to get this visual?
Although we are a bit chauvinistic around the edges, we still decided to provide you with this new symbol, and not to keep it only for us!
So, to bring this Bandolais sun home, two options are available to you ...
Run and buy the magnet of summer. The essential of your holiday memories, produced in limited edition, only available at the Tourist Office. Selling price : €6.
Stay connected on our networks Facebook et Instagram. All summer, to thank you to be faithful to our dear city, we will organize contests and will notably be to win the official Bandol sticker. So be on the lookout and if you are not yet a subscriber, simply click here :
See you soon …
