Part 3 - Marseille and Arles

Wanting to see a little more of France, we left Paris on a bullet train to Marseille, a 500 mile trip that took only 3 hours. The train was fast, smooth and comfortable and I enjoyed watching the landscape change from the city to the fields of Provence, dotted with the occasional chateau.

Arriving in Marseille, we settled into our hotel at the Old Port.

This was the view out our balcony. I’m not sure why so many cities have added these Ferris wheels.

We wandered around the port, 

and found and rode another carousel.

The following day Peachie had us signed up for a 3 hour bike tour of the Calanques National Park. It will be easy she said. We will have electric bikes she said. It was absolutely terrifying.

We started out learning how to operate the electric bike. There were 3 modes - “off” for when you wanted to pedal unassisted, “touring” for when you wanted a gentle assist, and “turbo” for climbing steep hills. And then we started out of the city, riding with cars whizzing past us a foot away. When we reached the park we began to climb. The bike paths were steep and narrow and rocky and rutted. I was constantly in “turbo” mode which would kick in as soon as the pedal moved and the bike would lurch forward, skidding on the gravelly surface and often almost sending me off the path and down a ragged cliff.

I was always at the back of the pack (and to be fair, I had at least 30 years on the rest of our group) but I managed to chug along, scared to death, although there was no other alternative than to go forward.


But the payoff was spectacular

After stopping at numerous spots to take in the glorious views, we had to cycle back down.

I had to stop numerous times to stop myself from skidding or hitting large outcroppings but I finally made it with only minor bruises to my legs and major bruises to my ego as the rest of the group had to wait for me at the bottom.


I happily turned in my bike, grateful to be alive, and we wandered across the road where I had seen a beach. We had a lovely lunch at a picnic table in the sand while waiting for my heart rate to return to normal and then we waded through the waters of the Mediterranean,enjoying the fabulous weather.

The following day we rented a car and drove to Arles. As a huge Van Gogh fan this was first on my France bucket list. With the exception of cars, the city is much like it would have been in Van Gogh’s time.

We stopped and picked up a brochure for a self guided walking tour of some places he made famous in his paintings.

Hospital in Arles

This turned out to be the best stop, as others were difficult to find or the landscape had so changed as to be difficult to see the similarities, but still it was amazing to be in the same places where he had painted so many masterpieces.

Afterward we decided that since we had the rental car until 8 pm, we would drive to Cassis, a town east of Marseille that the gelato man had told us about, to take the recommended boat tour. Cassis is another French Riviera town in the Calanque region and a boat was a far easier way to see the unique limestone formations than that suicidal bike ride.

The waters of the Mediterranean are a stunning deep, deep turquoise.

Afterward we walked around the harbor and found a place to eat some savory ham and cheese crepes and then realized it was Halloween. All the businesses had bowls of unwrapped! candy (marshmallows and licorice bits) out for the kids

Sadly, a ts much as I would have liked to sit here all night, we had to return the car and get ready for our return trip to Paris.