Bel Ombra Bandol

... with: &#8220;the world needs more fools like you.&#8221;<br><br>Even I fluxuate in my thought about what&#8217;s goin on. Most importantly, I live day to day and try to plan out what&#8217;s needed for the immediate future (i.e. food and shelter). Some days I;m on top of the world. I feel healthy and strong, and I&#8217;m exactly where I want to be. Other days&#8230;well today was a day I felt like a ...

NO MARSEILLE for us!!! The captain went by when we had 21 foot waves and winds of 50 gusting to 65. It was sunny but not good enough to dock in Marseille, so on to Barcelona we go. In spite of it, we had a great relaxing day and i had a 3 hour nap this afternoon. Naps are totally not my thing but apparently i was exhausted from our whirlwind schedule. Anyway, nothing exciting. We have seen numerous people in arm slings and just ran into a woman in a ...

Marseilles is a great city to get lost in. It may even be a great city to find yourself in. Streets branch off at acute angles that leave buildings on corners sucking in their bellies and hanging on for dear life. They probably mark the spots where some ancient forebear- let's call him 'Desmond&#8217;- manned a barrow in the marketplace and the rest is history. The grid plan came later or elsewhere. This is more like a ...

The ride back to Barcelona goes without a hitch, so there's nothing to do but wait for my overnight bus to Marseilles. Fortunately the bus station is lively and entertaining, especially with the new little Chinese dancing dolls that are all the rage in certain quarters. What will those clever little Chinese think up next? Six months ago those fling-'em jelly-blob dolls were all the rage, but I don&#8217;t see those now. It&#8217;s nice to see that &#8216 ...

I realized today that Marseille is mostly Muslim, it´s Ramadan and no one seems to be observing. This was most evident at a XXX peep show joint sandwiched between a middle eastern bakery and a take out stand. A steady stream of Muslim men in their traditional garb were exiting and entering the place each time I passed by. Oh for Allah´s sake...is not even Ramadan sacred anymore?<br><br>I walked back to the hostel and in the common ...

My ticket here on Ryanair (another decent flight) said France, all the signs were in French last night, but I definitely woke up somewhere else other than France this morning. About 7am I heard various muezzins calling all the muslims to prayer on the loudspeakers at the mosques. I didn't think anything of it at first and rolled back over and went back to sleep. About ten minutes later I woke up again and the chanting was still going on and it hit me...I am in ...

<li>Because of the bad weather, we missed our scheduled visit to Ile du Porquerolles and Ile du Levant. We were going to pull out the water toys and get some more time on the beach, but it didn't happen. Hopefully on my next visit to the Med, I&#8217;ll be able to see both of these islands. <br><br></li><br> <li></li>

... to do our first wine tasting event today at Domaine Tempier; The best wine in the Bandol Region of Provence. We wanted to rent scooters, but since this is the low season, there are no scooters to rent. We walked all around Cassis using our guide book and we found nothing to rent. We were tired, hot and a bit frustrated...well I was anyway. Finally Erica got the brilliant idea of heading to the TI (Information Touriste) and ...

... a small town on the coast between Marseille and Toulon. He said it was a pity I couldn't stay longer than two months, but it would cover their time in Bandol and maybe I could help to find my own replacement at the end of the summer. Several phone calls later, I was on the train to Bandol to meet a family sight unseen with whom I was to spend the next two months, and I was scared out of my wits. Thankfully, a risk that could ...

... traffic, were rather positive. It is a large city, and not very clean. But we didn't have much trouble finding a parking space near the Vieux Port (Old Port), once we got around the bad traffic. As we walked towards the Port we found an open air market selling a variety of fresh produce, lots of shopping streets with big and famous name-brand stores, and a picturesque harbor. We also found an Internet cafe, which seemed to be in short supply during our ...