Overview
** MARSEILLE, FRANCE TOURS **
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I was only in Marseille for the day. I’d recommend a tour;
• Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille or Cathédrale de la Major, is a beautiful church that has Turkish influences
• There is a lot of shopping nearby
• Château d’If – if you ever read the Count of Monte Cristo this may ring a bell
• And then indulge in one of the many restaurants and try the olive oil chocolate
• Buy some soaps, there are spots everywhere and it smells amazing
It’s southern France, so it’s more Mediterranean and laid back, compared to Paris, in my opinion. I’d go back.
I just came from an extraordinary five day staycation in the South of France. With a full agenda we did some great spots of Marseille and Aix en Provence.
Day one, we arrived at the hotel “le Ryad”, a Moroccan style hotel with a beautiful garden ryad style. Rooms are nice and clean. They serve the breakfast outside, the staff is very attentive and they will give you a lot of information. It’s only 15mn walk for the train station Gare Saint Charles and le Vieux port / City center. Perfect location. Side note the metro station is Noailles and this part of the city is very “popular”. Get ready so see real people! So the itinerary started with a visit in “le petit train blanc”. This little shuttle only cost 10$ and it will show you the most interesting places of the city with commentaries (in French, English, Spanish). Departure from the Waterfront of the vieux port, the trip ends at “Notre Dame de la garde” where the most magical top view of the entire city is. The chappelle is also open to visit. Beautiful to see during sunset too. Back at the Vieux port there are several restaurants, bars, snack, places where you can relax and have diner. We also visited the soap factory open until midnight.
The second day we went for a catamaran tour on “les Calanques” this is a must when you go to Marseille. Absolutely gorgeous crystal blue waters in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. There are several options and boats from 30 to 100$ (it depends if you want to stop and swim during the cruise). The food is included in day tours and they try to respect people safety as much as possible. We had a blast but keep in mind that the Calanques waters are very cold (it’s not the Caribbean yo lol). The tour ends around 5pm so we decided to go to the beach “l’Estaque”. Only 30mn by boat (10$ go& return). L’ Estaque wasn’t the best beach honestly I think there are other nicer and closer beach by bus around Marseille. If you have a car it’s worth a trip next to Cassis.
Third day, the best for me was “les gorges du Verdon” OMG! I didn’t know that we had some Bali Thailand views in France. Simply Amazing (check the pictures on my IG @nandieeheart). So to go there first, you have to take a bus from Marseille (30mn only to Aix en Provence city center and ticket at 10$ go and return). Then you meet the agency* who will take you on a tour for the day. The visit we choose included a visit of l’occitane factory, the lavender flowers fields in Valensol, Moustiers Sainte village (meilleur village de France) and les gorges du Verdon. They give you an hour to go to swim in the famous lac de Saint croix. The gorgeous blue with the fresh lake water make us forget this crazy 2020 first half! I will go back there for sure but will stay for a day or two. If you are not too tired on the way back you can visit the city center of Aix and have diner there before going back to Marseille. I recommend “le four sous le platane” restaurant in Aix, good food and great terrace at only 10mn from the bus station (bus to Marseille until midnight).
Day four we had to take a liltle break lol. Starting the day by an Egyptian brunch at “la cantine de nour” for only 25$. Excellent service on a rooftop with cool music and tasty food. This is another must on the list. Just at 10 mn walk there is the famous “cours Julien” well known for the street art and graphs. An absolutely IG moment. Many restaurants with terrace also. We spent the rest of the day at the beach “Sunbathing” untill sunset, very relaxing too. Several transportation will take you to the beachs around (le Prophete, Prado). You can also visit the islands ” Frioul” and “chateau if” by shuttle boats.
Day five and last day we visited the Mucem, Museum of Mediterranean culture on the waterfront the views are incredible. They have several collections but you can skip it and just visit the building and take awesome pictures. At 10 mn walk from the Mucem, there is the commercial center “les Docks” a very modern mall with terraces and views on the vieux port. We had lunch there plus a little shopping session too. On the way back to the waterfront we made a stop in “Le panier” quarter. This is another
My friend and I just wanted to have a quick and quiet little weekend getaway. We ended up choosing Marseille for no reason other than it was a great plane ticket price. I’d never heard of this particular place and didn’t know of anything there. However, once I arrived it quickly became one of my favorite cities I’ve visited in Europe.
I can’t get over how extremely friendly everyone was. I’d heard rumors that the French are rude people, but that just wasn’t my experience. Maybe I’ll see it more when I get to Paris. Literally if you look lost for one second you’ll have multiple people coming up to offer you help. Now beware, they don’t speak of slick of english and I don’t speak a lick of French. That doesn’t deter them though. They’ll point, pull out a map, google translate, basically they’ll do anything to get you what you need. I even ended up going to Carrefour by myself. I was waiting outside for a taxi to take me to the airport. No lie at least 3 people walking by asked me if I was okay and asked if I needed them to give me a ride anywhere. Now I’m not tryna get kidnapped in France so I obviously declined, but it was the though that counts.
I highly recommend that you go to the Parc National Des Calanques. The hike to the water is about 1 hour. I can’t lie either, it starts off pretty slow and steady, but it definitely gets pretty challenging. Keep going!! It’s worth it. The views are just to die for. The water is a beautiful deep blue color. Theres a huge rock that you can swim to that people were cliff jumping off of. Bring a bathing suit, towel, sunblock, hat, book and lunch! You’ve got yourself a perfect afternoon. Don’t get too relaxed/tired because remember you have to hike an hour back. And somehow the hike back was a little worse. Probably because its mostly uphill.
I would also suggest doing the hop on hop off bus in the city. It takes you to all the important sights. They have a fish market down by the pier every morning thats fun to check out. Be careful when traveling. You’ll get a couple of overly friendly looks from French men and they have no problem approaching you aggressively and following you around until you pay attention to them.
I can’t wait to go back tot his quiet little town. If you’re in search of a relaxing weekend you’ve found your spot.
Calanques National Park- Amazing views!
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Visit Château d’If as it was the site of The Count of Monte Cristo
Palais Longchamp- Beautiful waterfalls
Notre-Dame de la Garde- Highest point of the city
Stayed here for 2 nights because we were trying to get as close as possible to St Tropez for the cheapest price. We did venture out while we were there…there wasn’t much to do besides bar hop & look at the nice boats. Friendlier people than the Parisians in my opinion, but I would think all beach towns are a lil more laid back. St Tropez was a good time as well just SUPER EXPENSIVE & a bit of a hassle to get to!!! I’m going to try Paris 1 more time simply for all the African men that I met on my last day in Paris. I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!!