Marseille, Provence? Why not;)

We have visited Marseille twice now and we are slowly coming to terms with it. It is not like Paris, there of

course we would never rent a car but here we do. Kirk finally got the car he has been wanting to check out for so long.  A FIAT 500 and it was red. ( In FIAT stands for Fix It Again Tomorrow). He could not have been happier. I was just wondering how he was going to fit into it. Had to open the boot to get him in. We always get the smallest car possible. I use to think getting a big car was safer the only problem you can never find a parking space and most of the roads are not wide enough in addition to being two way when they only look big enough for one way. So the smaller the better. This way he is really looks good at parallel parking.

On our way to the flat we did some grocery shopping at the Intermarsh outside of town, trying to get better prices then at the small groceries in town. Our big challenge going to Europe is to try and manage cost. We hardly ever can make it through a day for less than 100 euros. So first things first we stop at a grocery store and plan our meals in and out. Two out and the rest in and only healthy food. No chips, muffins , crescent, baguettes, trying to stay on fruit, vegetables, cheese and meat. Not Kirks idea of good eating. We ended up with chicken  kebabs for two nights and shrimp cooked  with sun dried tomatoes, and fruit for breakfast.  He makes due because at lunch they feed him at the conference. He is convinced I am staving him at home.  Well got to the check out and our Weswap would not work. Just another hick up along the way. Called them directly and found out that our swap was not quite done as we waited at check out with 70 euros of groceries. Sorted it out and was only an hour late to the flat.

There is a mass of humanity in Marseille with the added complexity of one way circular cloverleafs that seem to go no where, plus the dreaded roundabouts(yea, like do not forget to go right in this country!) Downtown Marseille has a particular 1/4 clover leaf with a harbour in the middle which always catches us up. It sits almost in the middle of town, Marseille has this system of tunnels and clover leafs that keep you on your toes. We made it through it without having to do it more than once.

Our host was anxiously waiting for us. As she had an event to go to. We found out that the flat we rented was not available as it had plumbing problems so we were to stay in her flat. It was great and had the same view with a balcony. Then she was showing us our garage which was an adventure in itself. In the basement of an apartment complex which was not really big enough to drive in , thank goodness for the small car. Then she could not get her car out of the garage and asked to borrow our car. I was dumbfounded. We both said no but that we could drive her to her party. So off we went into the outer reaches of Marseille. We had two good looking French ladies in the backseat and Kirk was loving it, they were chatting away and he was in heaven. We drove by a statue of David in the middle of one of those roundabouts, amazing. We finally made it back to the flat and watched a beautiful sunset over Marseille.

View from our flat.

First day we were planning on a sailing trip but a Mistral blew in and there was no sailing to be had. To much wind, yea, I am a fair weather sailor, what is the saying "Don't put your self in a position to have to use your seamanship". First rule of sailing. Mine is more like don't go out if it is ugly! So we opted for a ride to Cassis to get out of the city to a small costal village. Should of known better, it was a Sunday and everybody and their brother had the same thoughts. Cassis is on a cove of the Med with steep cliffs up both sides. We ended up parking at the top of one and walking at least a mile down to the port in flip flops, I thought i was going to the beach not on a death march. Yes and we had to walk back up it to get to the car, then we saw the train come by that transports people up and down, figured that out  a little late.

The beach was the length of a 1/2 a city block and all of Marseille carved out a space on it. I could barely make it to the water to dip my toes in to find out it was colder than the North Channel.  Even though it was hot there was no swimming today. Only the crazies would run in then run out even faster.

Cassis is a beautiful village with loads of tourists. We strolled the board walk and picnicked, watched some old men bowling. Big tournament this weekend. Then we found a shaded cafe over looking the fuel dock, and harbor. Kirk had a beer and I had desert, I just picked one from the French menu and just hoped as usual that I would not get an egg on top of it. ( Every time I order anything in France I seem to get an egg on top, salad, burger, pizza, my French is very bad obviously!) The word on the menu was poire, and my batteries were dead, but I knew that was not egg in French, oeuf, one word I know well. ) I ended up with pears covered with ice cream, chocolate, whip cream and almonds.  I am so glad there was no egg! :)

For this part of the story just to let you know you can replace the word "Cool" for any 4 letter word you feel is appropriate for the circumstances. Now driving in France we needed to keep reminding ourselves to stay right as this is not a UK territory (although they tried many times)

Returning from Cassis we decided to take the major roads instead of the costal road, less jigs and jags. The unfortunate bit is that it brings into the city right at the clover leaf.  So we were trying hard to make sure we were in the right lane, not so easy .  We were trying to avoid the tunnel which goes under the harbour and to the wrong side of the bay from our flat. We were in 4 lanes and the gps giving us directions to merge this way then that way and stay in this lane then move to that lane, all going 60 mph.  All of a sudden Kirk says which way, I say that way and bingo we are in the tunnel. "Oh Cool"! We are headed to the airport. Just marital bliss at this point! As we were driving through the tunnel it was quite long much longer than we remembered. More oh cools!  Of course the gps has long since resolved into gibberish, with Kirk saying which of these 4 lanes do you want me in. Like I am suppose to know. Here comes the light at the end of the tunnel, not sure it is not another train or ....... its the clover leaf!!!! Oh Cool! Which lane. !?.....a couple of circles around the clover leaf and bingo we were headed the right direction. Looks like there is a tunnel from the outskirts of town directly into downtown and dumps you into the clover leaf. Learn something new everyday.  No stress today.... arg!

Last time we we in Marseille Kirk decided to have the dish that Marseille is known for, Bouillabaisse.  Not a bad idea, when in Rome... We went to the recommended restaurant. One thing you have to know is they do not serve dinner til 8:00. Everybody takes siestas, show up at 7:00 and nobody is there. We did figure this out by going there the first night and did get a reservation later in the week. You walk into the restaurant and right in front of you is an ice bar full of many fish staring at you. Ok that was enough to put me off. I like fish but I do not want to have them staring me in the face when I eat them. Then they sit us right in front of the bar. Needless to say I ordered mussels no matter how much the Garson tried to persuade me to have the Bouillabaisse. Kirk ordered the Bouillabaisse and was not disappointed, then he got the bill.  Well no more food for him that week. 70 euros for his dinner. Fish is good but not that good.  The next time we came to Marseille we went to a beautiful restaurant with a spectacular view of Chateau D'lf and their speciality was Bouillabaisse but he refrained. They did bring all the fish to the table to look you over before you ate them, argh... One of the group ordered wine and we shared it, ended up being 47 euros a bottle. I again had mussels, Kirk had shrimp. Hard to eat out and not get skinned alive one way or another.

The conference had a lovely dinner at the Yacht Club located in the harbor. As we walked down to the harbor we saw Phoenix at the dock. Come to find out there is a regatta this weekend for the PT52's. So the next day as I lounged on the balcony I saw them sailing on the bay.

I made the long trek up to the Palasis Du Longchamp from the harbor and visited the gardens and museum. They were repairing the fountains so there was a lot of dust and construction. Guess I will have to return to see them with water in them.

Found a great cafe on my way home next to a beautiful fountain covered by large trees. Perfect place to spend the afternoon drinking cold coffee and watching the tourist go by. It was quite a challenge to get cold coffee. Thank goodness for my iphone translator or it would never of happened. 

"Cafe Latte Glacier"

Also found a real interesting balcony arrangements, my porch is your porch! I wonder if you have to rent both flats?

Beautiful hot weather our whole stay. Really nice to get some sun time in.

Au Revoir Marseille!