Days 34 & 35, 12-13 May Aix Marseilles & Nice with St Paul de Vence tour

 Day 34 Aix en Provence, Marseilles

We were up around 7:45 am this morning, although neither of us slept very well for some reason last night. But excited to get out and see a bit of France. We haven’t been here since 2012 I think it is.

Got our group numbers and down to the bus– My goodness, the port has grown since we were here last, it is now massive. Because we had purchased a transfer to Aix with the ship, We didn’t have to sort out the numerous options of shuttle’s further down the port. Really glad we went out of Marseille this time as we came last time and it was probably hindered a bit by being soaking wet and freezing then. But lucky today it was 19°, although we had not packed jackets so we were actually quite cold being in short sleeves and jandals.

The bus took about 30 mins to get to Aix en Provence - It is the city of fountains. The tour guide dropped us right by a large central fountain which was quite beautiful and all the Streets are tree-lined, it is such a lovely pedestrian town. Only the locals can get in by my scooter or car, so it is mostly people walking everywhere. We went up to the Central Square where they had a fruit and veggie market – what a difference to what we get at home, it all looks so beautiful. We got a little lost, so I asked a young guy with a child if he could point us in the direction of the market rules which he did and walked us down there he said it is very expensive to live there and to own property. In fact we saw most properties were around €1,000,500. I was surprised how well I did today, with my very basic French nouns, but was able to communicate pretty much everything we needed and good manners of merci, bonjour and au revoir go along way to getting help.

Our transfer gave us about 3 1/2 hours to wander around which is what we love to do – we were quite cold as I mentioned, so we wandered around until we finally found a store and bought a sweatshirt and a jersey that were on a nice sale. Most of the shops here are very boutique and expensive – this one was called monoprix ! which Graeme pronounced as mono-pricks!! 🤣🤣.  He should know better given he follows the F1 Grand Prix 🤨😃. 

Feeling nice and warm now, we went out and wandered around for quite awhile and then found a small shop selling beautiful toasted baquettes – the cheeses were delicious and there was a large queue, which showed how popular it is. Then we wandered around some more looking at the beautiful architecture – we are struck by how quiet it is here, and help polite all the French are, given they are known to be rude sometimes. We found it quite different this time – although they smoke everywhere, but at least it wasn’t cannabis like in New York City! The clothes are always immaculate and beautifully tailored, along with full make up and heels. The men are beautifully dressed to and are very fashionable.

We found another square, which had lots of eateries so we sat down outside in the sun and enjoyed a couple of pints of beer – mine was cherry, very sweet and nice. They are about €7.50 for 500 mls and then you also give a euro or two as a tip – well we did! So they are about the same price as at home. We went looking for the crepe shops but it was siesta time,  so we ended up getting a couple  tiny little doughnuts which were very nice..

Then we found another pub and had a smaller beer exactly the same as before, as we sat in the sun– Because why not?! Wondered around again, and then went and sat in front of the fountain in the sun, it was lovely. It was hilarious when a golden retriever dog came, trotting across the road on its own with no owner – they usually put them out to go to the toilet under the trees, so you never stand on the bark! But this dog came on its own with no one and padded over to the fountain, climbed in and had a little paddle, then got out and left!!

Back to the bus which was good timing as it had started to rain big fat raindrops – apparently they have very little rain here so they would be quite happy. we had a quick trip back to the port and back onto our ship, Enchantment of the seas. We did 13,000 steps today, so he probably worked off the beer – just! What a lovely day👏😊

Day 35, 13 May – Nice and St Paul De Vence

Today is a tender day, as we arrived into the port of Nice, France. It was a little confusing around getting tender tickets and it was a complete debacle on our last cruise on quantum of the seas, so we were expecting it to be really messy - but in fact it wasn’t bad at all. We didn’t get up really early as they said don’t go and get the tickets and then not be ready, so we went down about 8 o’clock and only waited probably 20 mins or so and no massive queues at all. Off onto the tender and bounced around the coast headed over to the port of Nice! Again, this port is all looking much newer than our last trip– I think a lot of money has been put into the international ship ports over the last few years.

We were off by 9 am and it was a beautiful sunny day – forecast to be a high of 17 and a bit cold, but it didn’t turn out that way at all of course! We didn’t even get the threat of rain in the afternoon it just got better and better. We walked all the way from the port round to the city, enjoying all the architecture and the colours around us. The buildings are so incredibly beautiful and well preserved. All very old, with shutters and Juliet balconies!

Wandered along the streets up to the square – they have beautiful black-and-white flag stones over a massive area which adds to the ambience along with the fountains and statues. Popped into a couple of shops and just had a wander around – gosh their polished floors are incredibly slippery. We were joking about skating on our jandals!

Speaking of jandals – I had kept thinking about my jandals breaking before we left for some reason and had checked them thoroughly, then they have been coming into my mind again a few times over the last week and sure enough today – I stepped up on a curb and caught my jandal a tiny bit and the toe just snapped off completely, leaving me in the street in bare feet!! Oh, no, what a disaster and all the sidewalks had been hosed, so were wet and dirty – given the way they smoke and the spit you see around on the ground sometimes, I wasn’t keen on walking in bare feet, but as luck would have it thank goodness 😅 about 20 steps away, were several souvenir shops, both of whom who were selling jandals! €6 later I was fixed. Yay and what a relief! The French dress so beautifully can you imagine what they would think seeing me walking around in bare feet ha ha🙀.

We went and bought a Bagette and a croissant – the bread here is so beautiful and doesnt make you feel bloated, so suspect it is not chemically engineered wheat to grow faster, like we have on our side of the world. I just had mine with tomato and mozzarella – they have drizzled some sort of olive oil in the bread - it was absolutely divine. Graeme said his simple croissant was really delicious as well. Walked a few more kms, then we sat on some famous blue chairs that looked out over the ocean on the promenade des anglais – there is a great long line of them you can sit on - the concept came from the white chairs that used to be there in post-war times, was very pleasant. There was “the race without an end” going as well today where they had staggered lines and people of all ages sizes, age and creed – running and walking. I think the idea is they keep going until there is only one left. It had been going 69 minutes when we got there and people were going well. It is amazing how many people were running for fun or walking along the promenade the entire time we were there, outside of that race.

We decided it was time for a little more walking, then stopped at a shorefront cafe and Graeme had an espresso and we shared a sugar crepe then we walked back to the port ready for our 12:45 pm tour. We had really ummed and aahhed about which one to do as we had done Monaco before, so picked the Nice and St Paul de Vence tour (pronounced varnce). We were so glad that we picked this – the very French lady tour director, who rolled every ‘Rrrrrrr’ she pronounced  :-) was very good. We went for a coach ride around Nice which was great as our feet were quite tired by then and we didn’t have to get off the bus at all. She took us around the most oh-la-la art nouveau houses. Most have been changed into apartments but were absolutely beautiful. Then we followed the promenade as far as it went out of Nice. It went for kms, out past the airport where they were row upon row of private jets. Much like the rows upon rows of incredible super yachts that were moored in the harbour.

It was only about 20 minutes and we were at the mediaeval village up in the hills. St Paul De Vence is the most perfect postcard medieval village which has a walled fort-like appearance which was intentional in the medieval times where they would always have guards to ensure their safety up on the parapets.

It reminded us a lot of Carcarrsone and Mont St Michael, both also in France. We wandered around with the tour director, just looking at all the beautiful tiny walkways which are of course just pedestrian width. She said we were lucky as the crowds haven’t really started yet despite it being a Saturday so we were able to walk around really freely. She took us up on the parapet wall and also through a small cemetery where are all the family crypts were above the ground. 

To buy property here is about 2.5to €3 million! We decided to go off and find ourselves a nice beer – we found a beautiful place overlooking the entire valley, and had a couple of pints – they were €10 each, but the view was worth it alone! Then we went and walked back through the town, coming across a nougat shop which had the most massive blocks of nougat, which they cut to order. We decided to get a summer berry fruits slice and the guy cut a piece with a huge cutter – I only wanted half of it as it was quite big, but he wanted us to have the whole lot and Graeme was keen – I knew it was going to be expensive… €31 later! But oh my god it was amazing and he put half of it in a vacuum seal bag so we could take it away with us overseas. Then we stopped in a sweet shop where they had big cubes of different flavoured marshmallows and they were the softest we have ever had almost like turkish delight in flavour and well worth the €15.

Walked back to the bus and the driver took us back down the hills, he was by far the smoothest driver and deserved the tip we gave him. Back onto the second to last tender over to the ship as it was 5:30pm by then and we all had to be back on board at 6 pm. Back in and tidied up – Graeme packed his bag and mine was done last night as we have a full day tomorrow and don’t want to be packing late at night as there will be quite a bit to do anyway given we have a 6:45 am departure the following day! Just keeping on top on my blog while I remember details, and download photos takes quite a lot of my time🤓.

Because it was such a beautiful evening, and we had yet to leave the port, we went up to the windjammer cafe, got our dinner and took it back to our room. One of the other passengers had told us that the staff have to pay for nicer food and internet, which we knew – we later found out they pay usd$4 an hour for it, which is more than passengers pay and the other passenger also told me that while they get basic food none of the things like the cookies are included that we can just take as we like. So when we went up for dinner, I grabbed a bowl of cookies and took it back for the cabin attendant to share with his colleagues – he liked that! He has done us a fantastic monkey tonight with his towel folding, so I showed Mohammed the post I put up on the enchantment of the seas fb page, showing his folding skills and told him what a star he is! It has been a busy and fantastic day today!

Nice:

St Paul De Vence: