Take me away to Marseille

Day 43 - Aix-En-Provence

At 10am it's already 25 degrees and we're on the bus to Marseille, public transport is pretty good around here we've decided to leave the car at the hotel and have a break from driving and parking.

The bus arrived into the back of the Saint Charles station and we exited walking down the famous grand stairs flanked by statues. 

We walked through the city down to the Le Panier area and visited the Vieille Charité, formerly a poor house, and now a small museum with art and artefacts from different cultures. K was chuffed to see a Greek vessel from 600BC that was very similar to one she had purchased at an antiquities auction in Abbotsford last year. She also had other pieces similar to those on display, both originals and copies.

We then walked on towards the port area to admire the Byzantine church before taking the lift to the terrace at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations where we took in the view over the Medditeranean. We could see Fort Saint-Jean to the left, and Notre-Dame de la Gard in the distance on the hilltop, Vieux-Port (Old Port), Pharo Palace.

We left via a maze of stairs and walkways through Fort Saint-Jean, with great views of the huge marina and port below, to where we could take the bus up the hill to Notre-Dame.

Wandered around the Basilica We enjoyed the great views over the red and cream buildings of Marseille, then wandered around inside the impressive Basilica.  

We finished off our sightseeing for the day by getting the Metro to the stunning Longchamp Palace, which interestingly statues of bulls instead of horses as it's main animals.

K's favourite sauce is bearnaise which is very difficult to get in Australia so whenever we're in Europe she buys a jar to take home. We had booked a restaurant so she was really looking forward to having an authentic French steak with real bearnaise sauce, unfortunately the steak arrived cold, thin, gristly and over cooked. Nothing like steaks back home in Australia, sometimes expectations are just not met.

Wrong bus ... right bus

Day 42 - Sainte-Maxime to Aix-en-Provence

Leaving Sainte-Maxime, we continued to follow the Côte d'Azur, during an extraordinary run of beautiful weather, high twenties in the middle of autumn. We think we've sorted the coffee issue, this morning we ordered a cafe creme which was a little more like a latte, but still not up to the standard of what we can get at home.

We stopped for lunch in the old town of Hyères, then drove to Toulon to see the beautiful Federation Fountain located at the Place de la Liberté, and Fontaine des Trois-Dauphins. The port town with ferries to Corsica and Italy had a Spanish siesta feel about it as the shops closed for two hours in the middle of the day, and there weren't many people walking around in the heat like we were.

Bandol is a pretty beach town where we decided we would make our last beach stop for an ice cream, before heading inland away from the Côte d'Azur and into the Provence region for the next couple of weeks.

After checking in to our hotel in the outskirts of Aix en Provence we decided we'd rely on public transport to get around. The bus stop was close to the hotel and after waiting for a while we decided we were on the wrong side of the road so we dashed to the other side and jumped on a bus only to find we were heading in the wrong direction! We jumped off at the next stop, walked back to the original bus stop and finally caught the right bus to Fontaine de la Rotonde, and one of the loveliest (and liveliest) eating and drinking areas of any city we've been in. 

Big boats and perfect weather

Day 40 - Sainte-Maxime

We caught the ferry to Saint-Tropez straight after coffee. The coffee in France so far has been pretty average, this time our cappuccino was tiny and full of froth.

The ferry to Sainte Tropez was easy and it wasn't long before we were walking past jaw droppingly large boats in the marina. We'd arrived ahead of the crowds so it was still quiet and sleepy. We wandered around the surprisingly small old town and M walked up and around the Citadel overlooking the town then meeting K by the waterfront and small beach. 

After a bit more exploring along the water it was getting quite busy and some larger tour groups were wandering around, so we decided we'd seen enough. On the way back we sat on the roof of the ferry, it was sunny and a nice temperature so we had a beautiful trip back to Sainte-Maxime.

We still had some planning to do so we spent some of the afternoon working out how we'd start heading home. We found that there were direct fights from Kazakhstan to Vietnam so we settled on a route from Bordeaux to Istanbul to Kazakhstan to Hanoi, no flights more than around 6 hours and covering some places we haven't visited yet.

Coastal drive

Day 39 - Nice to Sainte-Maxime

We've enjoyed our stay in Nice (well, most of it) but today it's time to move on and explore more of the French Riviera and southern France. M carted our three suitcases down three flights of stairs, while K ably assisted by holding the door open, then we returned our keys and caught the tram to the airport to collect our rental car.

A car is always a blessing but can also be a curse, it's great to have your own transport but driving on the other side of the road and managing parking in small villages can be tricky, though at least Google maps has taken the stress out of navigation.

We drove along the French Riviera coast road, planning to make various stops along the way but being a Sunday the difficulty of finding a car park near packed beaches meant we kept driving. We eventually spotted a car park at a roadside snack brassiere (with table service!) at Calanque d'Anthéor, where we shared a nice meal of fish and chips by the magnificent railway arches (sorry, forgot to take a photo but it was impressive), across the road from a sandy beach.

We continued along the coast, surprised by the red colour of the rocks along the coast and surrounding hills, which actually reminded us of the Northern Territory.

We arrived at at Sainte-Maxime, our base for the next two nights. Sainte-Maxime is directly across the bay from Saint-Tropez, connected by a 30 minute ferry ride. It's an economical way to see St. Tropez, and it's also a quieter place stay.

We explored the waterfront and the nice town centre, finishing up with a very nice meal at a bistro across the road from the beach while we watched the colourful sunset.

 

So you're telling me it can't be done ... ?

Day 38 - Nice

First task of the day was to buy a new phone, so we headed to Av. Jean Médecin, the main shopping street where M's research had located a couple of places to get a phone. After walking out of one store where the salesman wouldn't let us check the phone model on the box without buying it first (!?), we forked out for a new phone that had dual eSIM capability. 

Shopping done, we walked to the old town to explore Nice, which we hadn't had a chance to do yet. We walked down to Plaza Massena and along the Promenade des Anglais which followed the beach to reach Castle Hill. 

We had planned to take the lift to the castle lookout but after waiting for quite a while in the very hot tunnel we left. K found a seat overlooking the bay while M walked up the stairs to see the views from the top and also briefly explore the parkland around the castle.

We then walked back through the very busy, very touristy old town of Nice (which is kind of like many other large "old towns" we've visited), stopping for an ice cream along the way, then back to our apartment to set up K's phone and get her back online.

We spent quite some time on the phone with Telstra trying to get K's old phone number working again (which is why we'd purchased a dual eSIM phone), but we had to give up ... which was a little frustrating because we knew that what we were asking was possible, even though the "team leader" said it wasn't. It was the weekend though and we were working with the offshore team, so we decided we would try again during Australian business hours when we could get someone local to help us. 

Robbed!

Day 37 -  Nice

Trains on the line towards Monaco stop for an hour in the middle of the day so trying to squeeze on the 11.20am train was a nightmare, luckily we were only going four stops where we would then take a bus up to the hillside village of Éze.  

We had to wait about 40 minutes for the bus and of course by then the waiting crowd and the temperature had increased, so we were squashed onto the bus for half an hour of rolling around tight corners. When we reached the village there already seemed to be thousands of people. We joined the throngs to walk up and down stone steps with small stone dwellings that now functioned as tourist trap shops. 

After a short while exploring we had had enough and joined the line for the bus that would take us back down the mountain. We didn't want to risk another crammed train so we stayed on the bus to the end of the route, arrived at the more sedate and peaceful town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, which translates to "Beautiful Place on the Sea". Here they had an interesting street art exhibition of very expensive artwork, no prices listed of course.

We then caught the bus for what we thought would be short trip to the next bay and the town of  Villefranche-sur-Mer. Somehow though we ended up in a loop and were taken on a beautiful drive around Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the second most expensive residential place in the world, after Monaco. 

 

After passing the place where we'd boarded the bus, we finally arrived in Villefranche-sur-Mer to find a relaxed and charming vibe, more like what we'd expected to see on the French Riviera. We did a bit of exploring, finding one of the oldest covered streets in the world, then found a nice spot on the waterfront and stopped for a drink.

We'd had a nice day up until now, we just had to endure one more crowded train trip back to Nice. Up to now we'd been very mindful of our belongings as we knew that pick-pocketing was rife, keeping our hands on our phone in our pockets while in crowded areas. However ... as the train doors opened a large man hurried off the train and barged into K, and during that split second he managed to take her phone which was under her t-shirt and in the front pocket of her shorts, though it was sticking out a little, so we suspect he saw this and took advantage. K realised immediately and yelled "he has my phone" but he had quickly disappeared in the mass of people boarding the train. Up until now in our travel to lots of countries we've been lucky and not been robbed in this way, but not today.

So of course the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent trying to locate and then wipe the phone remotely, securing accounts and contacting the banks and Telstra, and working out where we could get a cheap phone the next day.

All that money doesn't buy you a proper beach!

Day 36 - Nice

We think we have the train system sorted now, using the SNCF app we are able to bypass the queues at the ticket machines. We waited on the platform for the train to Monaco, when it arrived it wasn't that big and it was already packed, which didn't bode well for the rest of the day. We had originally planned to go to Menton first, but decided Monaco which is busier would be better earlier in the day, which ended up being the right call.

The Monte Carlo marina was blocked off with fencing while marquees were being erected for an upcoming yachting festival, but we could still see that the harbour was full of amazing boats. We walked around to take the Bateau Bus Boat which for €1.50 takes you across the harbour in four minutes, giving the cheapest pretend cruise on the Port Hercules harbour. 

Where we arrived there was a cruise ship that was taking people onboard for the commencement of a new journey, it was an "ultra luxury" cruise ship where everyone had a suite and a personal butler. Of course everyone boarding also looked like they were over 70.

We walked along the harbour walls, getting good view of the harbour, ocean and nearby coastline, as well as people swimming and sunbathing in the tiniest "beaches" made of concrete and and rocks. The concrete beach was private, with entry costing €20 per day.

We turned the corner to see the magnificent Oceanographic Museum perched dramatically on the sheer cliffs of the Rock of Monaco (Monaco-Ville). Up until now we had somehow managed to miss the Monaco crowds but as we went up and down in lifts and escalators trying to find the public bus stop to the Monte Carlo Casino we encountered massive tour groups. We finally found the bus waiting at the stop and we took a lovely trip around the bay and up to the casino to join all the hundreds of gawking tourists in front of the beautiful and famous building. 

We'd seen enough of Monaco so caught a quick bite from a bakery before catching the train further east to Menton, which is only around 10km from the Italian border. 

Menton was a nice beach town, busy but nothing like Monaco. We headed down to look at the beach (another pebbly one) then walked into the old city, stopping for a drink and an ice cream before walking back to the station and returning to Nice. Fortunately there were plenty of seats this time and we had some great views of the coast during the journey.

Following the stars

Day 35 - Nice

We're using Nice as a base for five nights to take day trips to the surrounding areas. After much consultation with ChatGPT we decided we would travel to Monaco and Éze today, but when we arrived at the train station we discovered there was a train about to leave (oops ... missed it), and instead of the expected 15 to 30 minute wait for the next one, it was actually over an hour.

We quickly changed our plans and caught a train to Cannes instead. We walked down to the harbour, but instead of the expensive yachts and busy promenade we'd expected it was an empty marina, fences and barricades.

We walked up to Le Suquet, the historic old town of Cannes, which was much more interesting. 

We also walked past the Palace of Festivals where the Cannes Film Festival awards are held each year. Cheesily there is a red carpet on the stairs so that tourists can pose and pretend they are a star (no, we didn't do it)!

We continued walking to the next bay, La Croisette, marvelling that once you passed the small public beach the rest of the beach couldn't be seen as it was entirely covered with umbrellas and very expensive restaurants.

We jumped back on the train towards Nice and got off at Antibes. We immediately felt that Antibes was much more our scene than Cannes and Nice. After walking down to the harbour (full of huge yachts) we walked along the wall to the statue Le Nómade. It's an 8-metres tall seated human figure made of interlocking letters.

We then walked into the old town with artist's studios on the other side of the wall. In the first studio K immediately recognised the bronze West African female figurines as being the same as those she bought in Ghana and Benin in January 2025. Although K's lack of French made communication difficult connection was made and understood through the sculptures.

We missed our train back to Nice as we discovered too late that we were on the wrong platform. We caught the next train and this one was an express train that we hadn't paid extra for, but all the inspectors did was tell us to move out of the first class carriage!

Nice place you have here

Day 34 - Swords (Ireland) to Nice (France)

We returned our rental car, happy that the fuel light was flashing and the display showed "---" km left, as we'd pre-paid a tank of petrol when we picked up the car.

The flight was delayed but we finally landed in Nice after 3pm. The weather was 26 degrees and sunny,  nice change from Ireland. We caught the tram from the airport into town, then walked for about 10 minutes to pick up the keys to our apartment which is only a block or so from the beach. Unfortunately we had to lug our cases up the stairs to the third floor, but at least we only have to do that once. 

Around 6pm we wandered out to walk along the beach promenade, it's a rocky beach but there were still a few people sunbaking. The promenade was wide with a lot of seating either side, and there were lots of walkers, runners and cyclists. 

We stopped at a bistro for a drink before heading back to the apartment for dinner.

"Peace" wall

Day 33 - Belfast (Northern Ireland) to Swords (Ireland)

We'd booked a 10am walking tour today so we made our way to the City Hall where our guide greeted us. He started with an explanation of the history of Belfast and some background to the Republican vs Unionist conflict and where Belfast is today. 

As the tour progressed the guide pointed out sites of interest and also provided further insights into the political situation. Our guide emphasised repeatedly that the Belfast of today is very different to the Belfast of the past, but we also learnt that there were still parts of the city where a "peace wall" had been erected and where gates at each end of the wall were locked at night. He did stress however that those areas were completely safe to visit ... during the day anyway. 

We finished the tour by the docks at the "Salmon of Knowledge", a fish sculpture that commemorated the return of salmon to the River Lagan after more than 100 years of heavy pollution. 

We headed back through the city and revisited some of the key sights we'd passed, including the grand interior of the City Hall. We had lunch at the Crown Liquor Saloon, a 19th century pub that had been decorated inside and out by Italian workers moonlighting from their day jobs building the cathedral. 

We sat in one of the booths, closed the doors and enjoyed our Irish coffees (well, once the loud Americans in the neighbouring booth departed). 

We took the advice of our guide and drove to West Belfast to visit the closest peace wall, between the areas centred around Falls Road (Republican) and Unionist (Shankill Road). We could see that Shankill Road was strung with UK flags, and as we approached the Falls Road area there were many politically themed murals, many relating to the local conflict and those who had lost their lives, but also referencing other historical and current conflicts around the world, such as Cuba and Palestine. 

We walked to see the wall, also painted with murals, and the double gates that were closed each night, then walked back into the Unionist area where we'd parked our car. There the theme of the murals changed to support for English rule and the English army (Union Jacks, memorials to British soldiers who'd died).  

We left Belfast and drove back into Ireland to our hotel only 10km from Dublin Airport so we could return the car and catch our morning flight to France.  

Sunday sunny Sunday

Day 32 - Derry to Belfast

Blue sky, no wind and 19 degrees, what a lovely day in Northern Ireland.

We started the day by visiting the Free Derry Museum to improve our knowledge of The Troubles and the shocking Bloody Sunday massacre, the museum was small but well worth the visit.

From Derry we it was an hour to the Giants Causeway which features roughly 40,000 interlocking hexagonal columns of volcanic rock. There are similar rock sites all over the world, like the Organ Pipes near Keilor, but nowhere near as extensive.

It was a good walk from the visitor's centre down to where we could walk over the columns that stretched to the sea.

It was also very crowded, possibly the busiest place we've visited in Ireland, but as the site covered a large area it wasn't too bad.

We finished the day by driving to Belfast for the night. We walked to the pub street in Commercial Court, which was quite busy with people enjoying their Sunday, in fact the patrons were so loud we had to move seats a couple of times.

Was that a gun?

Day 31 - Donegal (Ireland) to Derry (Northern Ireland)

It looked like our run of great Irish weather had come to a stop just a couple of days too early as we woke to strong winds and rain. The national highway took us through Barnesmore Gap on the way to the Grianán of Aileach, an old ring fort on the top of Greenan Mountain. There were spectacular views to the west towards Letterkenny.

From there we drove to the most northern top of Ireland, Malin Head, fortunately by now the weather had cleared, the wind was still very blustery and there were light showers but it wasn't very cold. A large "Eire 80" was written in white stones on the point, a restored aerial marker that was used in WWII to signal both Allied and Axis pilots that they were flying over neutral Irish territory. M walked as far north as he could, following the trail down past the Eire 80 sign to the edge of the mainland where there were some great views. After that we stopped in Farren's Bar, the most northerly pub in Ireland, which was crowded with families enjoying a Saturday lunch. 

We drove on to Derry and walked the city walls, some of the best preserved city walls in Europe. The walls were very wide and gave good views of the city.

About halfway around we came down from the wall and crossed the Peace Bridge, then returned and completed the circuit. At one point we heard what we thought were gun shots, but they were just kids playing with fireworks. We wandered down Waterloo Street, which was lined with pubs and already starting to get rowdy, must be Saturday night in Ireland!

A bit slack if you ask me

Day 30 - Westport to Donegal

We drove for an hour or so to reach Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, one of the most significant prehistoric landscapes in Europe. It is the largest and oldest collection of Neolithic tombs in Ireland, with over 30 surviving monuments dating back almost 6,000 years. We were taken on a tour of the stone tombs by a very knowledgeable guide who made the history of the area very interesting. 

Many of the tombs have been destroyed or damaged by farming, while others are underground and there are no plans to excavate. The largest tomb was surrounded by a recently constructed stone cairn, the guide explained that though the tomb may have had stones over it, it would have been nothing like what they had built.

M had hoped that we'd timed our travel to be able to drive across the sand to Coney Island but when we arrived there was a car that appeared to be stuck, and there was water covering the sand, so we decided not to risk it. However, we did watch a small car come back at speed in a wake of water, another car took off for the island, a third started and then turned back.

After a look around Sligo we drove to Gleniff Horseshoe which isn't a horseshoe at all but a gap. On the right was the striking Benbulbin mountain with its sheer sides and imposing lines on the Sligo skyline.

We briefly stopped at an old mill site on our way to Mullaghmore Head, a famous surfing destination with some of the highest waves in Europe. However, today there was no wind so the waves weren't that large, but the lack of wind apparently made it good for another adventure sport -  slacklining. We watched a guy hook himself up to an stretch of rope between the cliffs and make many attempts to stand up. He managed to get up a number of times but he couldn't quite stabilise after that. It was apparent he was getting more tired and it was taking him longer to get enough energy for each new attempt, regardless it was fun to watch and there was quite a group of onlookers by the time he called it quits.

Hello Bubs!

Day 29 - Galway to Westport 

We popped in to the old town of Galway to grab a coffee and we were in luck with our cafe as the barista was a young girl from Queensland who made the best coffee we've had since we left home. It was drizzling as we walked around the quiet cobblestoned tourist streets, taking in the underwhelming Spanish Arch before jumping into the car and continuing on our way.

Cong was a very pretty village on our route, and as we drove through the Connemara region to Clifden we passed lakes and rocky slopes, nice scenery which would have been even better if the sun was out!

As we left Clifden we finally saw a couple of Connemara ponies (K's old horse Bubs was part Connemara) and we took the panoramic Sky Road to see views of the coast. Unfortunately we arrived at the highest view point at the same time as rain and cloud which quickly obscured the vista. However, now being experienced Ireland travellers we knew if we waited long enough it would improve, and after 10 minutes the rain and cloud dissipated and our wait was rewarded with a wonderful view of the Atlantic Ocean and coastal islands.

The road through the Connemara National Park brought us to the grand Kylemore Abbey set on a picturesque lake with large gardens and more bus loads of tourists than we'd seen anywhere in Ireland. We decided to skip the interior of the abbey opting to view it from the outside, after which we visited the large gift shop (selling lots of expensive woollen clothing).

We continued through the national park and arrived in Westport for the night. We took a walk around the town, settling in to a nice quiet local pub for a drink (no Irish troubadours drowned out by singing Americans here) before dinner.