The Count of Monte Cristo

The author, Alexandre Duma’s, famous epic, The Count of Monte Cristo, was written and published serially in 1846.

In this book, the protagonist, Edmund Dantes, was wrongfully imprisoned on Château d’If off the coast of Marseille, France. After fourteen years in prison, he escapes dramatically by posing as the corpse of his recently deceased prison mate, Abbé Faria. Unknowingly, the prison guards throw Edmund’s body, which is wrapped in burlap, into the churning blue waters of the Mediterranean. Edmund escapes in dramatic fashion and swims to safety to begin his new life as the Count of Monte Cristo, seeking his Robin Hood-esque justice on those who did him wrong.

Immediately after my epic week in Kenya for the 2026 Rhino Charge (see blog-Rhino Charge!), I flew to Marseille. In trying to re-create, The Count’s heroic swim, I entered the Defi de Monte Cristo open water swimming festival. Purportedly, it’s the largest open water swimming event in the world 🤷🏼‍♂️.

Before my swimming friends arrived in Marseille, I popped off to Cassis, a small town on the coast in Provence, for a couple of days of post-Kenya rest and relaxation. I enjoyed walking around this quaint harbor town, wine tasting and importantly getting a “feel” again for the water with some easy swims along the beach. I love the Mediterranean waters.

From Cassis, I took a short Uber ride to Marseille, the second-largest city in France, where I would spend the next four nights. Since I have been engrossed in listening to “The Count of Monte Cristo” and I was doing the swim, I decided to sign up for a Monte Cristo tour. I am sure happy I did. The tour was just me and the guide, Fredric, an academic and expert on the book and Alexandre Dumas. We strolled through the Vieux Port, where Fredric pointed out various locations mentioned in the book.

He shared fascinating insights about Alexandre Dumas’s intriguing life and Marseille’s rich history. Fredric truly brought the book to life, making the experience truly captivating. The book is captivating and the audiobook is long, 43 hours! I still have 16 hours to go—I will get it done!

My friend, Tanja the German Mermaid, arrived on Friday. We met five years ago when we swam the Strait of Bonifacio from Corsica to Sardinia (see blog Buon Mare). With some other swimming friends, we’ve attempted to swim across Lake Geneva and still have some unfinished business with that body of water (see blog Unfinished business…) We are also part of a SwimTrek group that tries to get together every year or so. It was great to see her again and experience her sharp wit as it had been a couple of years.

Small world, there were also two other Bend swimmers in Marseille for the event. My friend Susie, who was in Majorca, Spain the week before for the Best Fest swim festival (I will do that one day), and Mike, whom I had never met before. Honestly, I think we were the only three Americans there—kinda cool.

As mentioned before, this event is very popular with the European crowd. There was an Athletes Village with shops, food, and drink, and an athletes’ lounging area. The bumping EDM vibe with a DJ was kind of a unique experience for me. The event was held over several days with different distances to choose from.

Tanja, Susie, and I competed in the longest distance, the 6k. We were transported by boat to the start point, the infamous Château d’If prison. While the number of participants isn’t given by distance, I would guess there were roughly 600+ wetsuit-clad swimmers at the start line. Some even had fins. Susie, Tanja, and I went sans wetsuit. At the very most, there were likely only ten “skins” swimmers. 💪🏽

The water was a refreshing 17°C/62°F. It was a bit brisk at first, but honestly, once you got going, it was a great temperature—for me. Per usual, the mass start was a bit chaotic. I like that. At about 200 meters in, I took a breath, and there was Tanja next to me. Amongst the chaos, it amazes me how you bump into your friends. The course had us swimming towards two big yellow shipping buoys and Marseille before taking a right and swimming along the coast towards the Prado beach area in the 8th arrondissement. There were some occasional swells and rocks to navigate around that kept things interesting. The water was clear and a beautiful blue.

I felt fine the whole time however towards the end it was began to feel a little long. We finished at the Plage du Petit Roucas Blanc and the athlete’s village. Susie was already there waiting for us. Shortly after finishing I felt a presence behind me and there was Tanja. We did it!

Post swim we hung around the village watching swimmers come in, listening to music, chatting and enjoying a recovery glass of wine (well-I did)—I love the French!

I believe I performed reasonably well in my age group, considering that everyone who finished ahead of me was wearing a wetsuit. I suspect that a 10-day Kenyan no-swimming taper might not be ideal for peak performance. However, does it really matter? Not at all! It was an unforgettable experience in a beautiful location, and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Susie, Tanja and meeting Mike.

I really like all aspects of these competitive open water events, especially the camaraderie. There will definitely be more of them in the future. I don’t think I am entirely out of the game with long solo distance swims, but I sure like hooking up with old swimming friends and meeting new swimming friends at these types of events, even more so. There will be more…I know (especially in the Mediterranean).

The party continued…Kenya, the South of France, and the next stop…Portugal. While I was in Marseille, mi esposa, Shannon, was practicing her Spanish in Spain. Along with my sister Linda, we decided to check out a new country, Portugal.

We all met in Portugal’s city of seven hills, Lisbon. We walked and walked for four days. We enjoyed Portuguese wine of all colors, listened to Fado music and had a fun tuk tuk tour of the city for historical background. The Pena Palace in Sintra is even better in person than the travelogue pics. We got there early to beat the crowds and it made a difference.

We rented a car an then headed east to the interior of the Alentejo region to the towns of Évora and Estremoz. The highlight of our time there was an e-bike tour in Estremoz that finished with a wine tasting at Herdade das Servas. Oh…and a very good dinner at Howard’s Folly.

From there through the vineyards and cork tree plantations we headed to the beaches of the Algarve. Our cute Airbnb was central to all the action in Lagos. Our day trip to Sagres was great. It is the southwestern most point of continental Europe. In the Age of Discovery it was the starting point for many of the great explorers from Ferdinand Magellan to Vasco Da Gama in the 1500’s. From the cliffs you just picture their ships sailing towards the horizon and the unknown.

An unexpected highlight was a couple hour boat tour of the limestone headlands and rocky outcroppings around Lagos called, Ponta da Piedade. We went around sunset and the colors and lighting were amazing.

After several day in Lagos we ended our stay in Portugal in the eastern Algarve in the white washed town of Tavira. Our home base for several days was a small boutique hotel called, Colegio.

The hotel’s interior design, from the rooms to the common areas, was meticulously crafted with an eye for detail. The food and service were exceptional, and the staff was incredibly attentive and accommodating. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I highly recommend it.

The The town was quaint, and the local beaches, accessed by boat or a small train, were a beautiful sandy white with turquoise water. I could have stayed there much longer.

Portugal is a diverse and beautiful country in many ways, with lots of pottery 😉. Not sure when we will go back, but I am sure we will, as there is certainly more to explore.

Returning back to the USofA we stopped in London. While our London stay was cut short we were able to catch up with our dear friends, the Powell’s. We enjoyed fish and chips and a couple pints at a traditional British pub and enjoyed a walk in the town of Windsor.

Four different countries, almost five weeks on the road, an off-roading car event in the Kenyan bush, an iconic open water swim in the Mediterranean, and enjoying new places and experiences with family— what more can one ask for?

I am fortunate. Looking forward to more adventure and long travel in the future. Just like the Count of Monte Cristo.