Getting to Marseille was a bit of an adventure. We checked out at a decent enough time, and
were looking at a two and a half hour long wait for our train at the central
Avignon station. We opted to take the
long way to the station, avoiding the gravel and steps of the little park we
usually strolled through.
Did I mention our bags are HEAVY? Like over 60lbs heavy? Even with wheels this was not going to be a
pretty walk. Our plan was to make it to
the train station and then hang out at the café and enjoy some coffee and
pastries. About half way to the station,
Francois pulled up in his mini van! He had
the morning off and was headed to our local coffee shop to see if we were
there. He graciously swooped us up, took
us to his house for refreshments and generally made our last hours in Avignon
special before dropping us at the door of the train terminal.
From there the story gets… icky. We enjoyed the train ride to the airport,
where we hired a taxi to take us to the fisherman’s shack we rented. At least that was the plan. All of the drivers except one threw up their
hands and refused to take us. The one
driver who was willing, loaded us into his smoking sweet Mercedes(no sarcasm,
it was Transporter nice) and started off.
50 feet later he told us his fare computer was not working
correctly. My initial thought was to get
out, he was trying to rip us off, but the price he quoted us was within 5euro
of what another driver had quoted so I assumed this guy was honest enough.
Off we went into the
worst traffic snarl I have seen in years.
What was normally a 20 min drive was a 90 minute horrific car chase in a
parking lot. We went from 15 minute dead
stand stills to tearing through downtown Marseille at over 60mph. No joke, Nita and I were both terrified. Damn that guy was good tho! He went through gaps that had less than 4
inches of clearance. Really. No exaggeration.
We drove through some really bad areas. Bad enough we both quietly discussed having
him turn back and leaving us at the airport.
Price be dammed, we wanted out.
We
hated this city on sight.
After getting to the shack, things took a turn for the better. The harbor is absolutely charming. Our apartment is tiny, about 150 square
feet. A sleeper sofa, small cooktop,
decent bathroom with a great shower and a fridge, everything we need for a few
days unwinding.
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| Our shack is down the little passage in the middle, through the blue gate in front of the aqua blue boat. |
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| From our gate back toward the pizza joint |
We took a walk out to look at the ocean, (its less than 50
feet from our door) and dammit, it’s all magical. Soft blue surf, rolling breakers, fishing
boats swaying in the wind, peaceful and pretty, just as advertised. Exhausted, we went to bed at 8pm after a 30
minute hike to the small market for food and drink.
Friday we did a little more exploring in the area. Not impressed, its rough around here. Some interesting seaside stuff, but off the
sea view road it’s a lot like the ickier parts of LA. Not my bag at all. We had a tasty lunch at the pizza and steak
house in the harbor(Very Good!) and went off for a nap. In the evening we opted to go back to the
same place, as the 2 Michelin Star restaurants in the harbour were fully booked for the next
3 months. Oops…
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| Our dinnertime view. Yes, that's a bride. One of 3 weddings we saw in the harbour |
Dinner for me was a steak and fries. Boring right?
But wait! The sauce for the fries
was a 4” section of beef marrow bone roasted with rock salt. Pretty sure I’m buying my cardiologist a pool
with that dinner. Nita had a whole
grilled fish that was pretty damn amazing.
We saw the boats that catch them daily, that’s kinda cool. We sat at the dinner table for 3 hours and
change, enjoying the sunset and generally having a relaxed meal.
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| Our favorite place for pizza, rose and bride watching. |
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| Reconditioned 1930's boat we saw folks working on every morning. |
Saturday morning we got up late, had some breakfast and
jumped on board a open top bus that tours the city. We bought all day tickets that allowed us to
hop on and off whenever and wherever we wanted.
For hours we rode, just taking in the city. Boy, were we wrong. While it’s damn big, this really is a nice
city. Like any other, there are places
you really should not go, but mostly it’s pretty charming. More or less what you see in the movies.
At 1pm or so the driver stopped in the Old Port section of
Marseille and dumped everyone out. There
is a half hour break at that point for the driver to regain his sanity and we
opted to run across the street for lunch.
Wow! We ate at a
tourist trap craphole seaside place overlooking the sailboats and had a really
nice meal. Finally, we both ate bouillabaisse
on the docks or Marseille. As food nuts,
that was high on our list of things to do. A gigantic soup basin of whole fish, mussles,
half a lobster, clams, cod, potato, carrots, and a broth thick enough to float
a brick on. Not a hint of fishy smell or
taste, it was unbelievably good. All for
under 30euro a plate too! If this was
ordinary bouillabaisse, I’m dying to try the fancy 120euro a dinner version.
So now we are back at the apartment, hanging out and
debating packing weight and distribution.
Our driver picks us up sometime early Monday morning for our 6:15
flight. Ack!
As soon as we get home I will post our end of trip
thoughts. This has been one hell of a
trip. Cant wait to do it again!
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