I was supposed to be in Courchevel for the last weekend
of ski season but due to my best friend/Holiday Rep Monsieur X’s winter season
finishing two weeks early I was a girl with a flight ticket but nowhere to go. Oui! The easiest way to get to Marseille from the UK is
direct flights from most London airports with Air France, Ryanair, Easyjet and
BA. Moi - on the other hand arrived via Geneva as the train ticket return from
Marseille (£145ish) was still cheaper than booking new flights and you can’t
moan about a train ride though the beautiful Provence countryside.
My detour to Marseille took me 7 hours via
Culoz yes I never heard of the place either (it looked like a very nice field)
and Lyon arriving at Marseille St Charles Train Station very tired, hungry and
happy to be in the 2013’s European Capital of Culture. The last time I visited
Marseille was 7 years ago and I felt the city was much cleaner now than back in
2005, this was at 10pm and I was proved right the next morning. We stayed one night for 70€ at the Hotel Lutetia, 38 Allée Léon Gambetta, which is a few minutes’
walk from the train station. A small room modern and clean, the shower was big
enough for a small child and so was the lift – it could only take two people
standing side by side without bags. But the bed was so comfortable and we
couldn’t hear much (if any) city centre noise from outside just what I needed
after my detour.
After dumping our bags and a layer of clothing (it was so
hot) we brought a Metro/tram 24 hours pass for 5€ and headed to the free Funny
Zoo Park at the Palais Longchamp Park at the Cinq Avenue Longchamp Metro Stop.
This park is full of bright coloured animal (and random dinosaurs!) statues ‘living
in their original cages’.
Funny Zoo 'animals'
Then back into the City Centre and the Vieux Port where we saw more of these animals scattered around the city for its Capital of Culture year. After window shopping and taking more photos of the ‘funny animals’ we stopped off at the Marseille Football Club bar - L'OM Cafe in the port. For a Marseille Football Fan like myself I would have preferred to watch a match (I have caught the travel football bug after my Paris trip) but as they were playing away a trip to the club shop and bar was enough for me…for this trip.
Vieux Port
A few more drinks around the port before we took the
Petit Train tour to the Church on the top of the hill - Notre-Dame de la Garde, we past the island Château d'If - famous for being
one of the settings of Alexandre Dumas novel Count
of Monte Cristo Island (another film connection ticked). The tour lasted about 1 ½ hour and this
included 20 minutes stop at the Notre Dame de la Garde to take loads of photo
of the views of Marseille all for only 7€.
Notre Dame de la Garde
Heading back down the hill was very bumpy and steep and
once we reached the end of our tour it was back to bars to watch the sun go
down over the port drinking happy hour cocktails at the very busy Exit Bar on
the corner of Quai Rive Neuve and Rue Fort Notre Dame before dinner at the
nearby restaurant - Restaurant Le 13, 13 Quai Rive Neuve, Vieux Port, 13007 Marseille
for Salmon and Pasta for 13€ and a hell of lot of wine.
I wish we could have spent another few days in Marseille
(we went to Salon-De-Provence for an evening to recover) to see some of the
other exhibitions and events going on, however this weekend was unplanned and
it feels to me these sort of weekends are the best and this one was.
My Top Tip for visiting Marseille – The perfect hangover
cure after the day and night before – Steak and Chips at the Brasserie De
Joliette, 7 Place de la Joliette for 10€. The portions were massive!Useful Websites
http://www.restaurantle13marseille.com/
http://marseillecityofculture.eu/capital-of-culture.html
http://www.mp2013.fr/?lang=en
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