Part 1

Wednesday 27 april 2016

Our Air France flight leaves  an hour later than planned, because there is a defect in the air conditioning. We have already boarded the aircraf and it is becoming warmer while we wait patiently for the KLM mechanic. According to the pilot is only one technician who is qualified for Airbus and he busy repairing another one parked next to ours . When the technician come, he resets the system, and we can finally take off. After an hour and a half we are at Aéroport  Marseille Provence. As our gate appears to be occupied by a defective aircraft we are diverted to a different gate. From our new gate we are driven to the correct one by buses. As France is still in a state of emergency in France, due to the attacks in Paris late last year, passport control have been reintroduced. That takes time. After that we can go to Hertz, across from the arrivals hall to pick up our car. That goes very quickly and we drive to a mall in Vitrolles to buy a SIM card  for  prepaid Internet from an shop belonging to the Orange network (pochette prêt-à-surfer).

Next we drive to Roaix, where a former colleague of mine has a holiday home. We will stay here one night. We are welcomed in the sunny garden. Around 7 pm we drive to Vaison-la-Romaine to have dinner. The brasserie L'Annexe on Place Montfort offers reasonably good food in a pleasant atmosphere. After dinner we do a short walk around Vaison and drive back to Roaix.

Weather: sunny, 18 degrees

Thursday 28 April 2016

After a pleasant breakfast we drive to Vaison-la-Romaine. We drink coffee in one of central square's café's. Then we visit the Roman excavations. There are two. Vaison was  a fairly prosperous city during the 1st century BC, and was called Vasio. There are two sites that can be visited on the same ticket.  The Puymon site has the remains of a temple of Apollo and the museum. In the museum an interesting movie is shown, which shows what Vaison looked like in Roman times by means of an computer aided animation. Behind the museum an uphill path leads to a tunnel. Through the tunnel we arrive at the theater. This is  pretty well preserved and is still being used for performances during the summer.

The second site La Villasse is smaller and includes a central square, shopping streets and a big house that once was home to a distinguished family, La Maison du Dauphin.

After the tour we have a drink on the town square before we drive to the Mont Ventoux. Only the road from Bédoin to the top is open this time of year up the Mont Ventoux. The other from Malaucène does not open until May for traffic. Before we start on our way up we have lunch in Bédoin at Le Relais du Ventox on a nice square. The way up is 14km long and leads to the summit at 1912 meters. Above 1500m we reach the famous lunar landscape that we know from Tour de France stages. It is busy with mostly Dutch cyclists who fight their way up cheered on by family and friends. Once up the summit the have their picture taken against the backdrop of the sign with the name of the mountain. At the summit is a relay transmitter for French TV.

Up here it is about 12 degrees, but the wind is not particularly hard, something this mountain is known for. We look around, enjoy the view of the surrounding area and the snowy peaks of the Alps in the distance. Then we drive back down and through Bédoin drive back to Roaix. Around 6 pm it's time to depart for Marseille. The trip goes smoothly until we end up in a traffic jam in Marseille. We lose at least about half an hour. Our hotel is beside the Old Port (Vieux Port). We have a room too small to swing a cat in at the Hotel Hermes. The bed is set against the wall and even then there is barely room to stand. For 11 euros per day we can park in the nearby car park. We eat in the restaurant Le Relais 50  at the hotel La Résidence, a few hundred meters down the Vieux Port. The Vieux Port is a lively area with restaurants, cafes and bars. At the end of the dock is a large Ferris wheel. The port itself is full of sailing and motor yachts.

Weather: sunny 19⁰C

Friday 29 April 2016

We have breakfast around 8am at the reception. The breakfast is adequate. After breakfast we take the car out of the parking lot to return it back to Hertz. First we have to refuel. There is a gas station, not so far from Vieux Port, but on the way there we miss a turn off and we end up in a (toll) tunnel, which leads us into a distant suburb. We have to go back and pay toll again before we get to the gas station. From there we need to drive to St Charles train station. Again through tunnels which means that we have to pay attention, because our SatNav loses signal in the tunnel and there are some underground intersections and turn offs. At the station we have to do some searching as the Hertz office is not easy to find. Once we get there, returning the car is as easy as the pick up. No check on damages, fuel status, etc.

We walk to the metro station and buy a 10-ride ticket from a vending machine of the RTM, the public transport corporation of Marseilles. It really is a 10-ride card and not a bunch of 10 one-way tickets like in Paris. A transfer - also by bus - does not count as an extra trip, so that is not bad at all. We take the metro line 1 to Vieux Port. When we come out the metro station we find ourselves in the middle of a fish market, where the fish is sold almost directly from the boat to the customers. Some fish are still alive and are attempting to jump into the dock again. We go to the hotel to bring some stuff from car to the room. Then we take a walk through the Panier district. Part of the district was blown up by the Germans in 1943, after it was used as a ghetto. After the residents were put on transport it all went up into the air. The area north of the place Lenche is still original. It is thoroughly renovated and filled with art studios, galleries, restaurants and shops. We see the old Charité - a former hospice, now a museum and arts center - and two other buildings that are not blown up: Maison Diamanté and City Hall.

From the quay of the Vieux Port, we take the tourist train to Notre Dame de la Garde church, which stands on a mountain at the highest point of the city, south of the Old Port. We take the scenic route along the corniche overlooking the Le Pharo, the palace of Napoleon III - who has never lived there. We also see the castle where the Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo is set. At the top of the hill in front of the church we have a beautiful view over the city. The church is from the 19th century. The 10 meter high madonna with child in bronze and gilded can be seen miles away. In the church many paintings show maritime accidents, house fires and road accidents, in which the believers owed their survival to the Virgin Mary. We get back to the train and drive back down to the hotel.

 We have lunch on the Place de Lenche at a reasonable restaurant with a happy go lucky waiter. In the afternoon we go for a drink in the Place General de Gaulle off the Canebiere street and from there by metro and bus to the Cité Radieuse, a building designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier in 1947. We have booked a guided tour . The guide is very long-winded and talks at length about things that we initially did not get to see. The building is a classic example of Le Corbusier's ideas on public housing. The 9-storey building was conceived as a vertical village, with homes, kindergarten, shops, library, theater, cinema, gymnasium and surgeries. We first go to the roof, which is in common use. Here we find the playground of the kindergarten and a todler pool. A running track of 300 meters and the theater. We go down a few floors to a 98 sqm apartment. The apartment is classified landmark and is in its original state. It consists of three bedrooms and a living room and kitchen. The construction is peculiar. A wooden box inside a concrete skeleton. Between wood and concrete is a layer of air, which is intended for insulation and warm air circulation for heating. The apartment is on two levels. Very narrow, and the ceiling is low. Based on inhabitants of 1.83 m tall. On the third and fourth floor are commercial spaces and a so-called winter garden or meeting area. Here are shops, studios, a hotel and a restaurant. The hotel rooms are not around the reception, but spread over the third and fourth floor. The building never touches the ground, but sits on stilts. Only the entrance is on the ground. The project was funded by the state as social housing for rent. In the 50s the state pulled out and sold off the apartments. They now sell for 360 to 400 thousand euros, depending on the size. The size and format vary by apartment. There are about 16 types, which fit in to each other ingeniously.

After the tour we take the bus and the subway back to the Old Port  where we drink a beer. We walk in the evening to the restaurant Le Passage on the other side of the dock behind Le Criée theatre. We eat outsdoor in the garden, which in spite of today's fine wheater, is a bit on the cold side. The food is fine, but the cold weather keeps us from taking a dessert. We drink coffee at the quayside and then back to the hotel room.

Weather: sunny and 18 degrees.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

After breakfast we walk into town towards the Canebière, the main shopping street. We turn right and end up in a working class neighborhood on rue Feuillants. The street leads to the Marché des Capucins, a vegetable and flower market. We continue and arrive at the Cours Julien. A tranquil oasis in the city with a nice square with a fountain in the middle. Around it, grafitti clad cafes with outside tables. We take a coffee and enjoy the beautiful weather. Then we continue through narrow streets towards the Place Jean Jaurès, also nicknamed La Plaine (the Plain). A gigantic square,that hosts   a crowded market on Saturdays. From here we head towards the Rue de Rome, where we take the tram.
We find the right connection and  end up at the Fort St Jean, which since 2013 is linked to the Musee des Civilations de Mediterranee, simply called MUCEM. A creation by the French architect Rudy Riciotti who was born in Algeria, that holds temporary exhibitions. Now there is one about the work of Picasso and his sources of inspiration. It's a great exhibition. Not so much his best work, but a representative selection, which shows his versatility. All art forms he practiced are represented: painting, sculpture, ceramics, collages, textiles, etc. In addition, examples of objects or traditions (mostly from Spain) which inspired him like bullfights, musical instruments, nature ...

After the exhibition we walk along the harbor to the Terrasses du Port, an upmarket shopping center at the quayside. It is spacious with the best fashion brands. Upstairs is a terrace with restaurants overlooking the docks. After our visit we go back by taxi and have a drink at the Old Port.
We pick up our bags at the hotel and take a taxi to the ferry departure hall for our crossing with Corsica Linea to Bastia on Corsica. After the bankruptcy of the former state-owned SNCM, the company continues under this name. We are way too early and have to wait for two hours. At 6pm  the embarkation starts. There is a platoon of the French Foreign Legion, which is traveling with us on board. A bus takes us to the ship, which we have board via the vehicle ramp. Not a very fancy to board. On board we have a decent, if somewhat dated outside cabin. We have a drink at the bar. A large part of the bar is occupied by the legionnaires. After that we dine in the on-board restaurant. The food and service are pretty good. Then we retire to our cabin.

Weather: Cloudy. In the afternoon rain

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