Arles

I decided to not have a Special Feature Friday this Friday. Due to my daytime job, and because we are moving house soon, I do not get to spend as much time on my blog as I would like to, and instead of a Special Feature Friday I would like to write about a memory we made last summer.

Friends were over with their car, and we decided to go for a daytrip. This time we chose Arles, a city in the Provence of which I heard a lot. It is about an hour away from Marseille and makes from a nice drive on a spring day. We arrived in Arles and found an Provencal market very soon.  It is great to see the items sold by the salesmen. Olives, bread, vegetables, nougat, sausages and meat products. It was wonderful to see all these regional grown and made goods together!

Arles is an ancient city, the area was already inhabited at 800 BC. In 123 BC the Romans arrived and worked on the expansion of the city. Roman influences can still be found today in the shape of an amphitheater, built in 90 BC and a Gallo-Roman theater.

The arcades of the amphitheater against the blue sky. The theater is open for visitors and in summertime it is still used for bull fights. It has an whole history for it's own! The Gallo-Roman theatre can also be visited. Just outside of Arles there is a Roman aqueduct and mill. 

The city center breathes the air of the old Provencal streets, with the typical houses. Decorated with their beautiful doorways, practical wooden shutters and statues of Maria and other saints. Every summer traditional festivals are celebrated. Every 1st Sunday of July "les arlesiennes" will dress up in their traditional costumes and parade trough the city. 

The painter Vincent van Gogh lived in Arles some of the last years in his life. Some of his famous works where painted here, like "Starry Night over the Rhone", "Cafe terrace at night" and "Hospital in Arles". The latter two can still be found and viewed in the city. Above you can find a picture I took of the "Hospital in Arles", where van Gogh stayed for a while.

Arles is certainly worth a visit, and I would advise to visit in spring or Autumn. As summers can get very hot. If you don't want to miss the market it is best to go on a Saturday morning, as markets usually stop early in these parts. If you have the time it is advisable to stay a couple of day's to truly discover Arles. A train goes to Arles from Marseille. Close to Arles you can find the Camargues, a natural parc in between to arms of the Rhone. It is a river delta with wild horses and flamingo's roaming around. About this, I will write more next time!   

Îles du Frioul: île Ratonneau

This easter weekend we wanted to go to a new place, I have been curious for a long time about the îles du Frioul, 4 islands close to Marseille. Whenever I leave my front door these are the islands I see first. They look small and insignificant from Marseile, yet there is a lot to discover. One of the islands, île d'if we already visited on our first vistit to Marseille, it is a small island with a big fortress on it. Some of you might know it because it was the inspiration for a book by Alexandre Dumas, named "The Count of Monte Christo". It is a populair place for tourists and fans of mister Dumas. This island is great to visit, but I did not feel the need to go again. so we stayed on the boat to the next stop.

Île de Pomègues and île de Ratonneau are two islands connected by a mole. We chose to start at île de Ratonneau and then head over to île de Pomègues later. The islands are not big, and it should be doable to visit them both in one day. However once we started at Ratonneau we quickly found ourselves in a abandoned fortress. We have often been surprise about how easy it is to enter ruins in France, and this was another example. There was a walking path right trough the fortress, but it was easy to stray off and check out the rest. The fortress was build between 1886 and 1889. In 1944 the Germans started with adding canons to the fortress, but this work was never completed. 

 The fortress is a great place to explore. Because it is on the top of the hill you will get a great view on the bay of Marseille and the surrounding hills, as well as the city itself. We went in via the back, and when we left we went trough a big gate on the front. We had to descent quite a bit to get to sea level again, and when we arrived there we decided to have some of our lunch in a silent spot.

On the island you can find many small beaches to sit and swim. If you go in summertime it is certainly a good idea to bring your swimming clothes and a towel. The water on these shores is beautiful, and there is a lot of fish around, a diving mask might help you discover this world further. Unfortunately the weather for us was not really good enough to swim. After our lunch we decided  to walk on to the Hôpital Caroline. This hospital was build to quarantine people coming to Marseille by boat, when there would be suspicion of diseases like the pest or the yellow flue. It was built between 1823 and 1828. The buildings where destroyed in 1944 when Marseille was under attack by air. It stayed empty until 1971, when the islands where bought by the city of Marseille. Today there is work done to restore the buildings to their old glory. From time to time cultural events are organised. The buildings are not opened for public.

About this time we decided it was slowly time to head back, we had taken a lot of time at the fortress so there was no time to discover île de Pomègues. Instead we rested in the village, there is a little boulevard with restaurants and ice cream shops. It is a nice place to rest. The way back was not easy, it was very busy and there was no place for us on the first boat, so we had to wait for the second boat half an hour later to get back to the mainland. Still, I am happy we went and I hope we can go and visit île de Pomègues soon. 

  

A day in the Calanques

Just outside of Marseille there is a nature park called the Calanques. A Calanque is a steep sided valley that goes down into the sea. The nature park between Marseille and Cassis consist of multiple Calanques. The ground consists mostly of rock, hardly any soil can be found. this makes the vegetation in the Calanques rather particular. A lot of lovely smelling herbs can be found along the paths, including rosemary and thyme, as well as juniper, sage and myrtle. Different animals can be found in the Calanques, like foxes, rabbits and wild boars. In all honesty I have never seen these animals, but I am sure they are there, and you can find them if you head out very early in the day.

The rocky hills rise high above sea level, and you can either rise or descend. Both ways are gorgeous, and to truly discover the Calanques I would suggest anyone to take at least two days to walk around. 

When you decide to descend you will find little beaches and rocky shores, it is possible to swim, but the beaches consist of small rocks. I would suggest you take some shoes that you can use for swimming, because the water is cold and that does not feel nice on the feet in combination with the rocks. Especially in the summer this is a great place to go. I like to go early in the morning, when it is not yet hot, and rest the day on the coast, when the day gets colder again it is time to go home.

For the most beautiful views it is a better idea to rise,  the sea and the hills will give the feeling of greatness and always make me feel humble. There is so much to see, from the small people walking down the hills to the ships in the distance. The Mediterranean is always beautiful, and the rough hills make for an interesting sight. Along the paths you can find signs to follow the right paths, but in stores in Marseille you can also find maps with walking routes. 

We usually take the bus to the Calanques, after that it is another 20 minutes walk to get to the center point.

You can take bus 21 from Castellane or Point du Prado to Luminy. Make sure to bring enough water, and wear a hat in the summer. Sun protective cream is also very important! Keep the environment in mind and do not leave any trash in the park. The paths can be difficult and rocky, so it is best to wear proper shoes.

A sunny weekend

The weather has been great this weekend! The smell of fresh grass, sea and sunscreen are in the air wherever we go. Today we got up early, or what one would call early for a Sunday morning. We hired some bikes from the bike rentals that are everywhere in town. Marseille has this great system, with a special pass you can hire a bicycle for only 1 euro per week. So we got up and went down to the supermarket, over there we bought ourselves some lunch and installed ourselves in park Borély.

This is a parc is built around a chateau, it was created in the 17th century by a ship owner and merchant called Joseph Borely. Next to the parc you can find a botanical garden, with a nice collection of plants from different parts of the world, there is a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden and even a little bit of desert. A fee has to be payed to get into this garden, but is is affordable and a lovely thing to do on a pretty day, if you are into this kind of thing of course!

Today we only stayed into the public area of the park, where there is a lot of activity. Special carts can be hired to bike around as a family, people are roller skating and biking. Very often people come together to give parties for their child's birthday, they bring a pick-nick and games. It is a great day out for the children!

After the park we went to the beach and talked about opportunities for the future, things we want to do, places we can go. It seemed the perfect day for a discussion of this sort. This week I have seen a lot of people swimming, so I had to quickly feel the water, in my opinion it is still a bit too cold for a swim, but it is warming up, so it will get better soon. It was time to head back, so we got on our bikes again and got home within 15 minutes. I am very glad I finally tried this biking rent system. I was always a bit scared about biking in Marseille, but it is doable, people in cars take distance if they see you. The traffic is still hectic but that is a matter of paying attention. The photo below was taken close to our house, I do not think I could ever get used to how beautiful the sea is here! This picture shows a view on chateau d'if, where the famous book of the Count of Monte Cristo was based on. further in the back you can see îles du Frioul. We have not yet visited îles du frioul but I hope to do so soon!