Marseilles and the French Riviera

We left Paris for the bulk of our time in southern France and Barcelona from Gare De Lyon. The SNCF double-decker bullet train reached speeds of 315 k.p.h. It took 3 1/2 hours to reach Marseilles. 

When we arrived in Marseilles, we went to get our rental car. The clerk suggested we leave the car there, for the time being, and take the subway to get around; it wouldn't be easier than trying to park the car. We took the subway from Gare St. Charles to get our first glimpse of Marseilles.

The orange color of the Marseilles subway car really woke us up.

The first day in Marseilles, we walked along the harbor on the west side of Vieux Port not realizing that most of the  exclusive restaurants were on the east side of the harbor. That steeple over my head was is the Notre Dame De La Garde we were to visit later that day. 

Notre Dame De La Garde

From the hillside of Notre Dame De La Garde, you can see Marseilles and the Isle of If in the Mediterranean. It was the prison where The Count of Monte Cristo was incarcerated and escaped from to get his revenge on his tormentors. Visiting the island would have been a torment for Leona who gets seasick easily so we avoided the 25 minute ride there. 

Don't tell anyone the secret, but we left Marseilles that evening after dinner, took the subway back to Gare St. Charles, picked up our rental car, and drove to Aix-en-Provence. It is no secret that I drove a Jaguar XE during our stay in Southern France and Barcelona, but no one knows the real reason; truth is, the Jaguar was the only car available with GPS. 

The Notre Dame at dusk 

Marseilles at night. 

We left Marseilles that evening, not to return there for four days. The next day, from our hotel Saint Christophe in Aix-en-Provence, thirty minutes north of Marseilles by car, we walked to the open market mall for breakfast and then the farmers' market (see separate folder.) In the afternoon, we got on the highway and drove east along the French Riviera until we reached Monaco. 

We didn't spend that much time in Monaco; perhaps two hour; just enough time to pick up David Bowie's last CD in a shopping mall and take a few photos. The main reason we went to Monaco was to pick up the coastal route back west through Nice. The views along the Moyenne Corniche were fabulous, especially at sunset.  

Leona looks like she's in a Jaguar car advertisement; right? 

Eze, on the French Riviera 

Our first look at Vieux Port, Nice.

Nice was a bit disappointing at first, with nowhere to park and, at 6:00, all the restaurants closed, including La Vigna. We walked around in vein looking for an open restaurant to have dinner in. Leona's feet were killing here. We started to walk back to the car and I promised to stop in the first open restaurant. Lo and behold, the restaurant with the great menu, La Vigna, which was closed at 6:00, was open at 8:00; we had arrived too early. We went in and had a great dinner with fine locally grown wine. 

We had cappuccino in this restaurant when we first arrived in Marseilles, but these following photos are from our last night and morning in Marseilles after three nights in Barcelona. 

After finally finding the parking garage for the Radisson Hotel resting up in our room, we stepped out for dinner. We had gotten lost because the street outside the hotel was under construction. Ironically, while getting lost in west Port Vieux, we found the little nondescript shop introduced in Leona's tour book where she picked up the famous, overpriced Marseilles soap, at a local price. 

Up this mall on the east side of Vieux Port, we had a fine seafood dinner at La Daurade that evening; sea-salt encrusted baked sea bass, six assorted raw clams, escargot, local wine. After finally finding the parking garage for the Radisson Hotel resting up in our room, we stepped out for dinner.  

The cork from Chateau Simone we were given in La Daurade  restaurant didn't match the wine we had with dinner. The same waitress almost gave us the wrong bill until the English speaking waiter corrected her. The meal was a fine end to our stay around the Mediterranean in southern France and Barcelona.  

 Au revoir Marseilles. At 10:30 am we were back on the SNCF double-decker bullet train. By 2:00 pm that Sunday, we were back at Gare De Lyon in Paris for two more days and a night.