It’s about 750kms to Paris and the excellent French TGV took us there in three and a quarter hours. You’d probably spend that long at the airport just waiting to get through security 😀
We checked into the hotel and found a nearby pub for dinner. https://www.brasserie-ernest.com/ It was an interesting place, packed full of young Parisians having their Friday night drinks and playing loud ’70s and ’80s music like T. Rex and A-ha. These were the best fish and chips I’ve had for a long time.
We had about half a day in Paris so we spent some time checking up on Notre Dame, visited the bouquinistes along the Seine and wandering about the left bank near the Sorbonne, walking back to Montparnasse via the Jardin de Luxembourg.
The metro station we popped out at was quite old school. Cité station under the Île de la Cité, opened in 1910.Poor old Notre-Dame is still very much a work in progress. There’s a lot of information about the rebuild along here. They’ve done a huge amount in the five years since the fire.Reopening parts of it in December. How they are restoring the gargoyles and etc.Pretty sure these gargoyles are replacements.We were last here about a week before the fire, with Sue and Jared.We visited a couple of churches on the left bank, this was Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre which was built in the 12th century and is one of the city’s oldest religious buildings. Not quite finished yet?The inside. Understated but beautiful. The Sorbonne. I’d love to study there. May have left my run too late though!The French Pantheon was a copy of the one in Rome. Built 1758-1790 so a lot younger. Luxembourg palace in the Jardin de Luxembourg. We had a cup of tea and watched these guys playing pétanque. Very peaceful. It’s still a bit autumnal here but it was fairly cold, about 10°.On the way back to the Gare we walked past this Crêperie de Josselin. This is on the rue de Rennes in Paris and there are a whole lot of Breton crêperies.I was taken aback at the price of snails in Paris, €19 for a dozen!
That afternoon we took the train and bus back to Josselin arriving home about 8:30. Its nice to be back, it’s fun traveling around but it’s good to stop after a while too. It was a memorable trip down south and I’m very glad we did it.
We took a boat ride to Château d’If and Port du Frioul as you do. The Château is famous for being one of the settings for “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Dumas.
There’s a lot of yachts in Marseille!Château d’If Port du Frioul. We came here one other time with Sue and Jared and explored the island so this time we stayed on the boat and enjoyed the views.Port du Frioul. There’s a fort on the island and a few shops and cafes. Mostly it’s a port.The Château from the other side.
After the boat ride we took the bus to Le Vallon des Auffes. The Vallon des Auffes is a little traditional fishing haven in Marseille in the 7th arrondissement of Marseille. It is situated 2.5 km south-west of the Vieux-Port over the Corniche Kennedy, between the Catalans beach and Malmousque bay. It takes its name from “l’auffe” (“auffo” in provençal dialect), or “alfa”, a sort of grass used to make rope, braids, and fishing nets.
In 1927, the President of France Gaston Doumergue inaugurated the monument to the dead of the East Army and the far lands, a 5 m tall bronze statue of a woman with arms raised to the sky, facing the Mediterranean Sea. It was classified as a historic monument on July 23, 2009.The view out to sea was very pretty.The port is quite charming.I liked this old hotel on our walk back into town.This was a garden dedicated to some resistance fighters who were killed by the Germans in 1944.WORDS OF FAREWELL AND HOPE “During the Second World War, the Francs-tireurs and partisans of the Immigrant Workforce, the FTP-MOI, a Communist Resistance organization, were among the most active artisans of the struggle the armed in many cities of France, in Marseille, in Lyon, in Toulouse, in Paris.”
Once back in town we visited Le Musée du Savon de Marseille (the soap museum) and got some free samples.
I liked this Ferrari parked outside the soap museum. The soap business must be doing well!Let this be an awful warning. If someone offers to add radishes to your pastis, don’t let them do it!Our last meal in Marseille, very nice too.Farewell Marseille!
We arrived about 6pm and it was already dark. Walking through the city down to the waterfront and our hotel was cool. It’s a busy and multicultural place. Quite different to Nice, more interesting perhaps. It definitely has its grungy side but I’m sorry to say we mostly stuck to the touristy bits.
This is the street we were staying in, near the waterfront and the Opera. It was a great location, lots of apartments, restaurants, mini supermarkets, bakeries. You could live here easily.Our apartment was lovely. It’s great to have a kitchen when you’re travelling. There was even a washing machine/drier.We were very comfortable here.A lot of the locals ride motorcycles or scooters, they were all parked outside their apartments up and down the streets.Some quite styley bikes we don’t see in NZ like this Mondial.There were quite a few of these big electric BMW scooters about, which surprised me because they’re very expensive in NZ at least.The Opera.
Notre-Dame de la Guarde is a basilica built on top of an old fort and is the city’s best known symbol probably because it stands out so much wherever you are in the city.
Notre-Dame de la Guarde from the port. It’s an imposing sight. We took a hop on hop off bus and hopped off about here.It’s beautiful inside the Basilica.The ceiling. The outside has some history. Views are spectacular. You can see the forts at the entrance to the harbour here.
We enjoyed the hop on hop off bus which gave us some ideas of things we’d like to go and see. The rest of this day was fairly relaxed.
We went out for dinner at a reasonably traditional place, they served us bread and these dips with our drinks which was very civilized. The chick pea dip was quite spicy, as was that large chilli you can see there!Bouillabaisse is a traditional Marseille dish, one of the traditions is they cut up the fish at your table and add the fish and soup to your dish. Note the waiter’s stripey top.There was quite a lot of it! It was nice but not my favourite. Pauline had Gambas and pasta, I probs would have liked that better. Still, when in Marseille!
The next day we took the ferry across the harbour and walked to one of the forts and the MUCEM museum.
View of the fort on the other side of the entrance, from the fort on this side.There are various towers.View out to sea from the fort.Inside the walls.The modern part of MUCEM to the left, the Cosquer in the middle and another very flash church in the background.
“The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations is a national museum located in Marseille, France. It was inaugurated on 7 June 2013 as part of Marseille-Provence 2013, a year when Marseille was designated as the European Capital of Culture. In 2015, it won the Council of Europe Museum Prize.” (Wikipedia)
There were a number of exhibitions in the museum, including “Paradis naturistes” which was a history of nudism, and “Méditerranées” about Mediterranean culture. Interesting museum, worth a visit if you’re hungry and looking for the toilet!
On the way back we found a shop that sold stripey French tops. I’d noticed that some people in Marseille actually do wear these and this one is made in France so it’s even more french!
That was a good day out and we certainly had some exercise.
We foolishly were unaware that it was a long weekend because of all-saints day on Friday. As a consequence the trains were all quite full and hard to book. We changed trains in Milan and then headed to Genoa for the night.
Milan station, nice day there. While we were waiting for the next train there was a band rehearsing in front of one of their nice new regional trains. This was entertaining, he was singing S.O.S. by Abba. Somewhat unexpected for such a young feller.We liked this statue at the station in Genoa.
“Genoa (Genova) is a port city and the capital of northwest Italy’s Liguria region. It’s known for its central role in maritime trade over many centuries. In the old town stands the Romanesque Cathedral of San Lorenzo, with its black-and-white-striped facade and frescoed interior. Narrow lanes open onto monumental squares like Piazza de Ferrari, site of an iconic bronze fountain and Teatro Carlo Felice opera house.” – from some guy on the internet.
We checked in to our rather nice hotel, B&B Hotel Genova, Pauline had a bit of a rest and I wandered down through the old part of town to the port.
I’m not sure if this is the iconic bronze fountain but it is a fountain.The port is beautiful.People would queue to get into this gondola and then it was hoisted up so you got a good view.Too much queueing so it didn’t appeal to me but good idea.Cathedral of San LorenzoOn the way back the fountain was lit up.The architecture is impressive. It was a very wealthy trading city.The view from our hotel the next morning. Same same.There are offices and apartments in the arches of this bridge.
The next morning Pauline and I took a taxi to the central station and then walked back down to the port and through the streets of the old town and then jumped on a train to Marseille via Ventimiglia and Nice. The wheels fell off a bit when the train came to a halt about an hour from Ventimiglia due to someone being hit by a train on the track ahead of us. This was extremely unfortunate for the person obviously but a bit also for us. We sat there for about forty minutes or so and then they told us to all get off our train and get on the one on the next track across. However when we got to the platform we were told not to get on that train. All in Italian. Eventually another train came along and we all got on that one. It tootled along for about 20 minutes and then we were told to get off at a little place called Andora, and get on a bus. When we got to the bus it was a smallish taxi van and there were hundreds of passengers. A certain amount of arm waving ensued. Some people got in the van and it drove off leaving the rest of us wondering what to do. Eventually the police turned up probably because the single train crew member left to look after us was getting a bit nervous. The policeman said there would be a navette (small bus) every 15 minutes. This wasn’t going to work since it was still about 30 minutes to Ventimiglia from Andora and there were hundreds of us. While we were all mulling over what to do next the railway crew person suddenly announced that a train was now on the way to pick us up and could we all go back to the station. Cue cheers and clapping. Eventually we made it as far as Nice and stayed there the night. Too late to go any further.
I feel sorry for the person who presumably jumped in front of a train, but as it turned out Nice is a good place to get stuck unexpectedly.
View from the train along the côte d’azure.One of the little towns along the way.We passed through Monaco but avoided the roulette tables.This was the view from our hotel bar in Nice. It was a very flash hotel. Hard to find one at late notice.Nice near the Promenade des Anglais.View along the beach.It was warm, this dog was having a great time swimming.The plage.We stopped briefly at this bar for a comfort stop.The plage in the other direction.Statue of Jaques Chirac. I always liked him. Not sure why! The alliteration in his name maybe.The marché des Fleurs was very pretty. Lots of nice fruit and olives and etc.Streets in the old part of town.We stopped at this little cafe and had an excellent brunch.Colourful buildings.View from up some steps.View from the top near the castle.Back in the town, time to do some shopping.
We had a nice day in Nice and then jumped on the train to Marseille later on in the afternoon. It was an unexpected stop but we are glad we did.
Nice dinner at a Syrian restaurant in Marseille. The apartment we are staying in is lovely and well appointed, it even has a washing machine which is handy. We are here for a few days. I’m looking forward to exploring Marseille.
We stopped in Naples for a few hours on our way back to Rome, what an interesting city.
The streets of Naples. Often very narrow but lively.Lots of scooters everywhere. And fascinating courtyards.The Seven Works of Mercy by Caravaggio at Pio Monte della Misericordia.Just across the road from the Pia Monte della Misericordia is the Naples Duomo.In the Duomo, this priest was playing some delightful organ music while we were here. This is the smaller of the two organs.The larger.It’s a beautiful church.
Back in Rome, we stayed in an apartment in the Trastevere district. “A funky, bohemian area that clings to its centuries-old, working-class roots, it’s known for traditional and innovative trattorias, craft beer pubs and artisan shops, as well as simple B&Bs and budget hotels.” According to the internet. It was a good place to stay.
Trastevere. There was a lot of Italian army everywhere we went in Rome. Often with land-rovers.Cafes everywhere. This was our street. Botanical gardens at the end, there were green parrots in the trees. Not native.I liked this local bakery. Not just because of the Moto Guzzi!Since it was Halloween I bought us a couple of these biscuits. The streets were quite narrow and colorful. I liked this trike parked up outside someone’s house.The parking was innovative. We went to see the Pantheon. Very popular with tourists.Pantheon.I walked up the hill behind us as it had this nice fountain thingy and also a panoramic view of Rome. The vespa sidecar tourists just happened to turn up.As did the Italian airforce. I think they were practicing for a display.View from the fountain with added jets.
We enjoyed our time in Rome, the Romans were extremely nice. The food wasn’t too dusty either. Also the city is quite simply astonishing. We had an early morning taxi ride to the central station with very little traffic and some great views of the architecture. I’m glad we came.
We really didn’t know what to expect of Pompeii but it is astonishing. Much bigger than we thought but it was a small city I guess. It’s amazing how advanced the Roman technology was, how they heated the hot baths for example, and the sewage systems and water supply. You can still drink the water from the original Roman pipes. Incredible.
I liked this floor. The entrance to someone’s house.This is the smaller of the two theatres in the theatre district.The wooden stage is a replica of course.Typical street in Pompeii.The roof tiles in one of the baths.Inside the baths.The people here were lining up to see the bodies in those glass cases there. Personally I liked the wall decorations. The bodies are models of the actual bodies they found in the area. A bit spooky.Remains of one of the temples.I couldn’t resist taking a shot of these cats 🙂This morning we took the train from here back to Rome via a few hours in Naples. It’s a rattly old train and track but only takes about 30 minutes. Mount Vesuvius in the background there.
Goodbye to Pompeii, it’s been great. I’m very glad we came here.
Having arrived quite early in Rome we couldn’t check in to the hotel so we walked down to the Colosseum and back via the Trevi fountain but it was a whistle stop tour since we are coming back to Rome later in the week.
You can rent scooters and Citroën Amis from these guys for quite a reasonable amount. I’m not sure if I’d want to drive here though. But I would love to try an Ami out.There was a tiny vespa museum attached to one of the scooter rental shops, worth a visit. They also do tours in various quite cool vehicles. https://bicibaci.com/en/Not too bad a collection for a tiny museum!They’re still finding all sorts of interesting stuff as they dig up parts of the city. There’s a fair bit of digging going on for the new Metro C subway.These columns are also recent finds.The Trevi fountain was out of action for maintenance unfortunately. Still very popular though. Luckily there was an excellent icecream parlor here. It’s hot in Rome!
We staggered back to the hotel having walked about 15kms or so. There’s so much to see around every corner. Had a sleep since we’d been up at 5am, then we found a very nice dinner at the Osteria Macondo nearby. The people we have met here have been particularly nice I have to say. You’d think they would be well and truly over tourists but apparently not.
Very nice too.
In the morning we made our way to the Vatican for a guided tour. Even at this time of year there are a lot of people visiting the Vatican.
Walking through parts of the Vatican museum.It is quite frankly bonkers!St Peter’s Basilica. We did go in and it was quite as flash as you’d expect.St Peter’s square with obelisk and tourists.
I think if you’re in Rome it is certainly worth visiting the Vatican if only to see the Sistine Chapel but I remember thinking when I first came here in the ’80s that it was just mad and we both came out this time feeling the same. The amount of wealth gathered by all the many popes over the years. Crikey!
The Vatican gardens are my favourite part. Pauline took a lot more and a lot better photos than me so I’ve included some of hers here:
The Vatican gardensPod in a courtyard Amazing mosiacsMarble horses and carriageFloor!Part of a map. I liked the mapsIt is seriously a small world! A guy on our tour is good friends with a former student of mine!Inside the basilica. Bonkers!
Having “done” the Vatican we checked out of our hotel and jumped on a train to Naples and then Pompeii. Some swearing was required to figure out our Europass app. But we got there about 9ish. Long day!
We walked some way along the other side of the island and came across this interesting art. It was spinning rapidly.A view along the path.Back in Hydra on our last morning. These cats were waiting for their breakfast.A little later, time for a sleep.I spent some time watching the rich people trying to park their yachts, in the meantime the water taxis on the left here ran rings around them. Highly entertaining. There was a nation wide ferry strike while we were on Hydra which extended out a couple of days. We could have stayed but we had ongoing travel arrangements. Luckily we managed to catch this family owned and crewed boat that was still running across the bay to the mainland. It was a fun ride, quite rough and a fair bit of rolling but we both quite enjoyed it.Once on the mainland we had a three hour ride in a taxi van that we shared with some other people also leaving Hydra. It was a cool way to see the landscape. This was the view once we got over the hill, heading towards Athens.While driving through Athens I spotted this very cool Hillman in a gas station. I’d love to know its story.We had planned to get the ferry from Igoumenitsa to Brindisi but that was also canceled so the next morning we took a flight from Athens to Rome on this Aegean Airlines flight. Nice flight but we did have to get up at 5:15am to get there. Neither of us are great fans of that time in the morning!Much needed coffee in Rome.Probably worth the early morning start!
Monday we got up early and took the metro to the port of Pireaus and after some trouble finding the magic ferries terminal got the 10am ferry to the island of Hydra.
The views on the way were very pleasant. Arriving at the port.The view from our hotel room.
Leonard Cohen lived on Hydra for seven years in the ’60s. We are both big fans although perhaps Pauline more than me.
Pauline outside Leonard Cohen’s house.Leonard actually bought the house in the ’60s and it is still owned by his family.The house is in “Street Leonard Cohen.”There was a very friendly cat just nearby.We kept on walking up to the top of a hill, this was the view.Walking back down to the port.There’s some proper working boats in the port as well as the fancy yachts. No cars or even bicycles are allowed on the island, they still use donkeys and horses to move everything. Pauline was very keen that we would have a pool so we do. Very nice too.We went for a walk before dinner, there are cats everywhere. They do mostly seem very well looked after but I can’t help thinking an active desexing program would be a good idea.The port at sunset.Sunset.We went to a local Café for dinner and ordered far too much food but it was delicious. I liked these fried fish but we could have fed about 4 people just with these. The local cats did benefit though. The food here is excellent. We are both quite garlicy today after the tzatziki though!Too much!The port this morning. This was a clever name for this shop, based on a Leonard Cohen song. Notice the cats.We went for a walk along the island to this memorial seat for Leonard. This is the view along the path.The view from the seat. We bought some food from the bakery in town and had our lunch here.We looped inland to make our way back via this little church.
It’s a charming island Hydra, the Greeks all think it’s freezing because it’s only 22° but I’m definitely not complaining!
Pauline has never been to Greece or Rome and we figured now it’s a bit cooler in Josselin it would be a good time to go. Wednesday we took the bus to Rennes and the train to Paris Montparnasse, staying the night in Paris.
Staying in the 19th arrondissement we did have a view of Montmartre from the hotel but it was miles away. Nice hotel though.Next morning we took the RER to Paris Charles de Gaulle. I liked this warning sign on the doors. We didn’t intend to fly within Europe but getting to Athens via a train is quite a mission so we bit the bullet. As it turns out flying is also a bit of a mission these days. But the flight itself on Aegean Airlines was pleasant enough, then we took the subway to our hotel, which took about an hour or so.The hotel room we had booked had a faulty boiler so they moved us next door to an apartment on the 7th floor which has a view of the Acropolis so that was nice although stressful when we got there as they were full and the apartment wasn’t ready until the next day. All sorted now though.The apartment came with this welcome basket, not complaining!I did like this RX7 just around the corner. You don’t see many of these left in NZ, not as daily drivers.We did a bit of exploring the next day once we’d moved into the apartment. The local shops were quite something. We bought some figs and pistachio nuts here.Athens reminds us of Havana in that there’s a lot of beautiful but crumbling architecture everywhere you look. Its also fairly chaotic and dirty but definitely alive. I like it.This is the entrance to Hadrians library.There are cats everywhere, they seem quite well looked after but semi wild. They’re certainly well treated, we had one in the restaurant we ate at. Everyone was giving it leftovers and pats.This morning we took the metro to the Acropolis and had a guided tour. On the way up the hill we ran into this young Japanese guy who was clearly smitten by this handsome cat. It was very cute.Even though it’s not in season there were a lot of people at the Acropolis.Our guide Maria on the left there. We all had ear pieces which made it far easier to hear her. This concert theatre (Odean of Herodes Atticus) is still in use even though it’s over 2 millennia old. I wish they’d give us some advice on how to build a hospital that lasts more than forty years!View of Athens from the top.One of the temples. I kept feeling like I was in a Star Trek episode.I think this is the same temple from the other side.Back down again, this is Hadrians gate. The same Hadrian who built the wall in the UK.We went to a local cafe, Zen Athens Tradional House just across the road from us and got takeaways. The owner was a lovely lady who didn’t speak a word of English but she took a shine to us. The food was excellent. A very good day all in all.
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