Our destination was Marseille. On the Mediterranean, about in the middle. Obviously French, but also with influences of the sea and Northern Africa. The Greeks arrived in 600BC and kind of took over from the Celts currently living there.
Our first view of Marseille from the Metro Station of Friday afternoon.I left work at 1pm on Friday and Bella had a flexi day. We had touched down in a foreign country by 5:30pm. Our first taste of France. We jumped on a bus, a Metro and then another bus, and we were out in the suburbs where our accomodation was. We sheltered under a bus shelter, while a torrential thunderstorm poured rain down for 5 minutes. We found our 'hostel' and were a little unenthused to find it was more of a one bedroom flat that they head crammed three double beds into. We had the main bed, that was right next to the kitchen and bathroom. We are unsure if this was better or worse then the other beds, which were crammed between the ceiling of the garage and apartment ceiling, in a kind of loft style, but with not much room. Both of them had about 30cms height above the mattress to ensure no sitting up in bed. Well, I guess what do you expect for 30 Euro in the suburbs. Unperturbed and hungry, we dumped a bag and headed out for dinner. Again, we were a little worried when everything seemed to be closed at 8pm on a Friday night, except for pizza places. As tempting as it was, this was France, not Italy and we resolved to find something a little more authentic. We stumbled upon a middle-aged couple heading into some doors, with lace curtains that looked about 20 years old. We followed them in with the hope of finding an alternative to pizza. It was perfect. Again, another apartment, but this one converted into a restaurant. They had about 6 tables in the living room and it was about half full. An elderly gentlemen was our host and put up with our bad French. He looked a little frail but this may have been extenuated by some thick framed glasses and fish bowl lenses. We ordered up some local wine and pointed at things that looked good on the menu. It was a Couscousierre (A shop/seller of couscous) and the meals were served in Tagines. I had a set menu with a soup, couscous with vegatables and lamb, and some other spiced lamb meatballs and little sausages. Bella had a whole chicken (smallish) with citrus and olives. Topped off by a plate of pastries at the end, which we nearly didn't get because the man was tapping his watch saying it's too late at 10pm, but the pastries didn't take too long to disappear. I think we spent more on dinner than the room, but it was a great first taste of France.
We awoke and headed out for some coffee and croissants. We followed the trail of people walking away from us with baguettes. We ordered up some croissants and coffee and got another bargain for under 5 euro. The coffee was an espresso in a plastic cup but it was kind of cool. And the chocolate croissant more than made up for it. Not that there was anything to make up for.
And then began our walking and eating tour of Marseille. The city centre is built around the port, which was especially busy because there was some regatta on. Lots of people wandering around in their team shirts and jackets.
The view from the Notre Dame de la Garde. The church on the hill in the first photo. The inside was impressive too. Have a look at the album below for more photos.
Moules Frites for lunch. Mussels and Fries. The mussels were marinated in a typical creamy herby way that the French do so well. With a couple of beers.
Chocolate Fondant with cream is perfectly acceptable as afternoon tea. And it was delicious.
And one more coffee.
We stayed closer to the city on the Saturday night. We flew out on Sunday lunchtime, so we stocked up on a few biscuits and pieces of nougat and headed back to airport.It was short but was great. Lots of good food. Learnt to be careful when ordering a steak, had a pretty red piece of meat, but it was still amazing. Bella grew in confidence with her French. And had a good dose of sunshine. Bring on Paris in 2 months time.
Click below for some more photos.
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| Marseille |
