Resid'Artel Aix-en-Provence

Really beautiful train ride along the coast (which in a way it is a shame that the railway is right on the beach) Marseille is a bigger city and not so quaint but the port area is nice. Flew out of Marseille to Lisbon. I know not quite geographically logicall

... explore Marseille for an evening.

Marseille is France's most African city. Certainly just wandering the streets the influence is visible, with kebab joints scattered everywhere. Having survived the day on a croque monsieur and two Snickers bars, I'm ready to dig into some dirty street food. I spot one kebab place doing a brisk business, and I manage to wedge myself and my over sized pack in.

"Bon Soir!" the main behind the counter barks at me
"Merguez et ...

... to those who have lost their lives at sea. I’m not particularly religious, but places like that always make me feel calm, especially as you could sit in there for hours and keep finding new things. But after a long day, Lizzie summed up our adventure in one, very insightful, sentence: "Well, at least we can say we’ve been here, and that we’re never coming back."

Then last week, instead of going to a town, we hit the countryside! We went ...

Plan was to stay in Avignon but when we arrived we decided it was too big for us and after driving around the outide of the ramparts of the old city walls - very cool and the main thing we wanted to see - we made our way onwards to Fontaine de Vaucluse which is 20kms past Avignon. We arrived just before dark and found an Aire de Service at the edge of town where settled in for 2 days. The town ...

... t speak french: baguette, coffee, pan de chocolate, fresh squeezed oj, all fresh fresh fresh. Then we hit the market, vendors were begging us to try free samples of meat, cheese, honey, fruit, olives, you name it. Needless to say, we found our lunch for the day.
Oh; did I forget to mention it was Halloween? Not that it really matters, since the french do NOT really understand what halloween is. We decided to not even ...

So on the fourth day we finally have somewhere to live and therefore the internet, and with such an important device, my travel blog can begin!

Tuesday (the big day) went relatively smoothly, despite a broken suitcase, three bangs to the head (Lizzie said they always come in threes...cheers Liz!), and many a blister. Had a jacket potato, cheese and beans at the airport as a farewell meal (I'll miss beans) and then began our easyjet experience...always a ...

... t seem to function before finding a great little place called simply Le 16 which provided some truly excellent and truly French (meaning small portions) mid-haute cuisine. Following this our gracious hosts at the b and b, who also run a cooking school, treated us to wine and the best tart tatin we might have ever had. Rating 7 (except for the tart tatin which was a 10). The Camargue is a national park filled with swamps, giant mosquitoes, bulls, cowboys and ...

... out where our digs are. Oh, er we have to get on another bus - we had just travelled on one for the last 45 minutes so how far can this place be?? We then boarded the bus, and arrived at the train station - by this time panic is spreading within the camp as we have no idea how to get to the hotel. So we decide to get a taxi and in doing so fall for the oldest trick in the book. Our ...

... par la déforestation et par les chèvres. Il pleut et il pleuvra de moins en moins car on sait maintenant que l'on va v**s un réchauffement climatique mondial. En Afrique de l'Ouest, même sans la pollution des pays industriels anciens et nouveaux et sans le réchauffement climatique qui semble en découl**, on peut être sûr et c**tain que la sèch**esse va s'étendre et le dés**t gagn** si des mesures draconiennes ne sont pas prises rapidement. Un point qui semble à premi ...

... boutique shops and hit ANOTHER farmers market at Place de l'Hotel de Ville! I'm beginning to think Dave planned our trip in line with the Farmers Market tour - ha!. We grab some food for a picnic on La Rotonde near the fountain. Now this is what it's all about! We enjoy 1/2 a rotisserie chicken, pasta salad, focaccia bread, green olive tapenade and a 10-year old Chateauneuf de Pape bottle of wine (from ...