Rather than writing too much this time about the history of all the locations we visited, whenever possible I've included links that you can follow to learn more about the various places if you want to do that. The ferry to Scotland is not too far from us, in the town of Larne. We had some difficulty finding a taxi that would take us to Larne early Monday morning. I had to call five different companies on Sunday before finding one in Larne, of the few that was open and willing to start work early enough on Monday to pick us up at 7:00AM. He arrived 20 minutes late, after phoning me twice, having difficulty finding us. Our cottage sits right on the edge of Garron road which is the coast road from Larne all the ... read more

Another rainy day at Garron Point but I'm keeping our little wood stove going to keep the cottage nice and cozy. It did stop raining for a while so we went for a walk out of our back door and climbed around on the shoreline rocks during low tide. There's a little park next to us with a few signs explaining the history of the area and our cottage. These four cottages were built around 1850 and were originally coastguard cottages associated with a lookout station on Garron Point. Within a short time, it was raining again so we headed back inside to dry off for a while. Later in the afternoon it cleared up a bit again so we decided to head off walking north along Garron Road to see what we could find. We ... read more

Starting from the Old Port (Vieux Port) there is a little tourist train you can take for a tour around the city, instead of the usual Hop-on, Hop-off bus. It takes you up to Notre Dame de la Garde, driving along on the seaside road, past the forts, the Pharo Palace and St Victor’s Abbey. Along the way up the hill to the basilica, you can see the beautiful “marseillaises” houses perched on the hillside. It gradually climbs to a total height of 162 meters from which the “Bonne Mère”(The Good Mother) watches over the people of Marseilles. This is the only stop where you can get off and you have 30 minutes before it returns to take you back down to Vieux Port. Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally Our Lady of the Guard), is a ... read more

The old part of Aix (pronounced like the letter X) is all class: its leafy boulevards and public squares are lined with 17th- and 18th-century mansions, punctuated by gurgling moss-covered fountains. Aix marks the spot where Roman forces enslaved the inhabitants of the Ligurian Celtic stronghold of Entremont. In 123 BC the military camp was named Aquae Sextiae (Waters of Sextius) for the thermal springs that still flow today. In the 12th century the counts of Provence proclaimed Aix their capital, which it remained until the Revolution when it was replaced by Marseille. The city became a centre of culture under arts patron King René (1409–80): painter Paul Cézanne and novelist Émile Zola are its most famous sons. Our guide Victorine picked us up this morning at 9:00 for the half hour ride to Aix-en-Provence then ... read more

On our walk to the beach the other day, we discovered Elyssa, a great little Tunisian restaurant facing the south side of the harbour at Vieux Port. The owner is a lovely young woman who open it just last September after gaining experience at her father's restaurant, in business nearby for the past 40 years. The service was friendly and attentive, the food was great and very affordable. Chris had the Tajine d'Agneau and I had Couscous au Mechoui (lamb). and we paired that with a house Rose for a total cost of around 42 Euros. Highly recommended! As Marseille is the birthplace of bouillabaisse, we looked into what price some of the best restaurants are offering this dish for. Based on local recommendations and googling for info, we learned that we would be paying at ... read more