Sunday, September 23, 2018

Sunday in France, pretty much the bain of every travelers’s existence. (BTW, if you are traveling into or out of France, avoid doing it on a Sunday. I once forgot this rule and was lucky to make my flight, even though I was over 2 hours early to CDG, as they had only one person stamping passports for people to leave the country. Many others on that flight didn’t make it and after a half hour of waiting for them, the captain gave up and left, now I don’t travel on Sunday). I started out at the fish market on the pier, which amounted to maybe 3 different tables selling a few fish, then decided to try and find some good coffee. All the better sounding shops and roasters are closed on Sunday (what a winning concept for a coffee shop). So after a walk and finding a nice plaza to sit, had coffee. Then the goal was to go to the African spice market, that is also closed on Sunday. So, quick pivot and hop the metro to the SNCF station for a train to Cassis (20min). Yet another not very good idea. Turns out everyone and their dog and their grandmother goes to Cassis on Sunday. There was also some kind of bike race going on creating enormous traffic jams. By a whisker, I made it into the Tourist information office before they closed for lunch. After securing the town map and the bus schedule to get up the hill back to the train station, it was a walk around the harbor where I found a great daily special on a seafood mixed grill. After that it was time to hike to the nearest calanque. For those not up on it, a calanque is a rocky beach or inlet, and Cassis borders one end of the Calanque National Park with Marseille at the other end. I followed the advice in the Rick Steves book and of the visitor center and walked what was supposed to be about 40 minutes to Port-Miou. While on the map this appeared to be a hike through nature, on the ground, it was mostly a hike along the side of the road through neighborhoods of Cassis. Eventually it turned into gravel with little shade. After about an hour of walking, remember it’s 90 deg. And no shade to speak of, I saw some nice rocky cliffs and a boat harbor, but no promised beach in evidence. I didn’t have a suit with me since I had planned to do this tomorrow anyway. Turn around, back through the gravel and burbs to Cassis. The best beach seemed to be the first one you came to before you left town. All in all, mostly a waste of an afternoon, probably should have done the tour boat or the Petit Train tour. I’m sure Cassis is quite nice when it is not 90 degrees and completely overwhelmed with tourists, but I’m grateful that I decided to stay in the center of Marseille. This has been an interesting trip because most of the places people told me that I would love, (Eze, Cassis) I’ve found to be just OK, and the places people told me I wouldn’t like at all, I’ve actually liked quite a lot (Avignon, Nice, Marseille). The biggest surprise being that Nice was very enjoyable. Marseille so far has not been nearly as dirty or rough as it is reputed to be, but please don’t tell anyone, it would be best if it stays off the radar. I’m sitting in an upstairs bar called the Caravelle as I write this, place has tons of character and looks out on the port. Pastis!

Pastis, the traditional drink of Southern France.Calanque in Cassis.

All Electric bus in Marseille.

Marseille from the middle of the harbor.

Dinner, St. Pierre in a butter sauce. Yum!