Ile de Lerins - 2 day silent retreat

This weekend, I was lucky enough to experience my first ever ''Retreat'' on a very picturesque beautiful tiny island off of Canne with my dear friend K. It in fact was a belated xmas gift from her to me. We had often discussed how lovely it would be to go and seeing as we both live quite close to Cannes it seemed it was meant to be.

Now, I am not religious at all but K is and I knew it would mean alot for her to experience it from that point of view. I am so so grateful for the 2 days we spent at this wonderous place and I will be forever grateful to K for giving me the opportunity to do so. Merci ma belle K!!!!

This is the early morning/night view of the 'old fort' found alongside the Monastery where we resided for the 2 day stay. Myself and K had breakfast at 5am and off we trotted to see the day begin hoping for a spectacular sunrise. (Breakfast was served each day from 4.30am - 8am)

This is the hallway to the entrance of our rooms. It onlooked the church itself and we were a stone's throw away from the church bells - which strangely so were not annoying at all but were in fact soothing tbh!!. The monastery complex was so characteristic in architecture and as you can tell.....I couldn't put my camera down.

The accommodation was as simple as one would imagine but pleasantly set up for all basic needs. The one thing that struck me the most even upon first arrival, was the utter stressless environment surrounding us.

The island itself is tiny.  Only 4km in perimeter, no vehicles, consisting of the Monastery complex itself, 1 restaurant on the other side of the island and a small gift shop where the Monk's products were for sale. (It is only a 20 minute pedestrian small ferry boat ride from the Cannes port.)

The products for sale entailed religious artifacts naturally, but also Island Made Honey, Bee Pollen, Olive Oil etc and most importantly the Monk's Wine. (this is in fact how we came to hear about the retreat in the first place.....their wine has become quite popular over the past years and it IS a divine wine...it has to be said.)

They produce white and red wines and lemoncello and their very own green potent liquor.

Both mornings we were there, we awoke early to have our breakfast and then headed out to our already chosen spot to watch the sun rise. We had decided on the day of arrival to try and go silent for as long as we could to get the very most of our 'soul searching' stay. The only rules of silence put upon us by the Monks were that of silence in the church and during meal times in the communal food hall. As it turned out, myself and K remained silent for 1& 1/2 days.

This is K silently watching the sun rise the first morning. It was mighty cold but we were wrapped up warm and happily observing nature in our solitude. We both feel that our experience over the two days was very pleasurable and magnified  so much so for the silence and opportunity of self-reflect.

As you can see, I didn't put my camera down for a minute lol. I was simply loving everything about the buildings and views and nature.

I even took a walk around the famous vineyards. We walked alot during our stay and sat and read or wrote outside or even in the library which was open to the residing guests.

There were a multitude of seagulls and even resident pheasants exploring the land every where.

During my first day of silence and island exploring, I came across this little lagoon. I was led to it by a tiny natural foliage archway you had to duck through and this is the sight that met me on the other side. No one was to be seen, so I came here often and soaked up the sun on my face as I read in tranquillity or wrote.

The foliage as you can see varied greatly....I had to take a photo of this little lavander grove as it struck me unusual to see it next to cacti.

More architecural photos..... I did get a little carried away with it all it seems.

There were set timed 'mass' going on throughout the day starting from 4am to 7.30pm and you could enter these sermons at any point of the day. It was very interesting to see the Monks during mass and to hear their melodic readings. unfortunately but understandably photographs were  not permitted during the services.

As churches go....this one was very simple in decor and suprisingly warm inside.

K meditating on our second day's viewing of the sunrise. Sadly a vast cloud hid the initial rising of the sun, but the sun soon shone through for us a little later.

This view was in fact taken from the main land upon our arrival back to the land of reality from the short ferry boat ride. I simply love the way the sun was trying it very best to shine through for us at every angle.

The Monk's island made Liquor.

This is the entrance to the Monastery complex. I must admit, this is the first time I have ever seen palm trees outside a church.

Now I know this post is not very 'raw food' orientated as such but the one thing I have learnt over the years whilst being a raw foodist, is that the 'Mind, Body and Spirit' are all intertwined and true harmony cannot be experienced unless each part of that triangle is equal. Therefore, I consider this '2 day retreat' experience a vital part of my balancing act in obtaining  the equal terms for harmony.

The food provided was actually pretty good. Simplistic but tasty and not wanting to put anyone out, we simply decided to go as raw possible (which we were blessed with a salad every lunch time) and the rest, we remained vegetarian.  I won't bore you with my self revelations over this mini 'stress free idilic escapism' at the monastery, but I will say.....I learnt alot about myself and feel focused and encouraged once again. You take away with you what you feel you need or deserve from an experience like this and I for one, will never forget our time spent there in silence!! Merci K!!!