Aix-En-Provence

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Our last night in Nice was non-descript aside from an absolutely delicious meal at a little place in the Old Town called 'Le Resto'. I couldn't resist doing the menu, given that for around 20€ I'd get 3 courses, so I started out with some nice crisp bread with an anchovy pate and an olive tapenade for spreading. Both were excellent. For my main dish I opted for the Ravioli Niçoise, choosing to lean a little toward Italy and check out some of Nice's pasta offerings. This dish was incredible - the little pouches of dough almost melted in your mouth and were doused in delicious oil and herbs, primarily fresh parsley. Inside was beef and who knows what else, but whatever it was was awesome. For dessert I had a tiramisu-inspired chocolate mousse - very good but nothing to die for. After our meal we stopped for more lavender ice cream and then retired for the evening. A few hours after falling asleep I woke up feeling extremely nauseous and proceeded to have a nice little round of vomiting. Good thing Kelsey and Alex slept through it! It was horrific, but whatever. Good times.

The next morning we headed to the train station and awaited our bus to Aix. The trip itself was painless, and got us into the city before noon. What ensued next was a wild goose chase of a hotel search - for some reason we couldn't find reasonable prices in any desirable locations so instead settled for something on the outskirts near public transportation. Indeed, it was easy to get to the center via bus in a few short minutes, but for whatever reason it took an hour to find it on food. When we finally arrived it was a shithole and our floor was under construction. Vom.

Shaking off our discontent, we boarded the 1.10€ bus and arrived in the city center in 5 or so minutes. No longer on the Mediterranean, we were now fully immersed in autumn and surrounded by beautifully colored leaves. The city itself was much larger than I expected - not quite the quaint Provençal center of art and learning I had anticipated, but still a beautiful little place. We arrived at La Rotonde, the central roundabout, and made our way down the main thoroughfare, the Cours Mirabeau. Our first stop was to grab a sandwich and inhale it since we hadn't eaten since waking up some 6 hours prior, but then it was off to the 'Deux Garçons', the most famous café/brasserie in Aix. Built in 1792, it was frequented by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Émile Zola and Ernest Hemingway. Though we later realized the inside was quite fun, we settled for sipping our café crèmes outside and people watching.

Given how few young people close to my age live in Andorra, the fact that Aix is a major student hub was absolutely blatant. Young (and attractive!) people were everywhere - it was quite hard not to succumb to temptation. Anyway, the rest of the afternoon was spent meandering through the bright colored streets of the old town. One of our goals was traditional good from the market in the place prêcheurs, but unfortunately it wasn't on - we'd have to wait until the next day.

What we did accomplish, however, was eating a number of calissons, Aix's most famous confection. They are not unlike marzipan, but consist of a smooth, pale yellow, homogeneous paste of candied fruit (especially melons and oranges) and ground almonds topped with a thin layer of white icing (thanks, Wikipedia!). While I prefer straight up marzipan when I'm in need of an almond fix, these were quite good. On our second day I had the opportunity to try a lavender calisson, also quite tasty but a little overpowering on the lavender front.

Shortly after we visited Le Musée Granet - unfortunately, however, the works of Cezanne advertised on the outside of it were in the sections of the museum currently under construction. Boooo. Next door we visited the large St. John of Malta church and then popped into an interesting old book store right across the way.
The rest of the evening took us through the city's winding streets as we went in search of boots for Alex, but to no avail. We eventually settled for being really classy and savoring some roasted chestnuts and beer while sitting by the fountain near the Hôtel de Ville. Having had our fill there we enjoyed a cheap dinner of Falafel at a little Arab-run place and watched the end of the Barça-Kazan game with some locals. After heading back to the roach motel we called it a night.

Day two began with a lovely "Belle Epoque" breakfast at a place in the old town followed by more meandering. Sometimes its nice to just take it easy and not have any plans, but in the end I feel like we kind of jipped Aix and didn't explore it to its full potential (Don't hate me Uncle Bruce & Bryan! I shall return someday!) We nonetheless did make it to the aforementioned market of traditional things where I bought a whole bunch of wonderful-smelling soaps that I'll be bringing back for Christmas. Back in the place Hôtel de Ville I hoped to snap some photos of the beautiful architecture in the daylight but of course magically that morning the entire plaza was full of all sorts of construction vehicles doing God-knows-what. Awesome.

We ended our time in the city at a lovely little café with delicious coffees and hot chocolates right alongside the fresh fruit, vegetable, and fish market. Literally catching a random bus by the skin of our teet, we were in no time whisked away to Marseille...

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Photos

Horrible Hotel
As if the walk to get there wasn't telling enough, here's the main sign

Comments

[Bryan]

Aix me manque
You know I love Aix, so I'm glad you're going to give it another try. Why the hell did you stay in a shit-hole?! ;-) Peut-être on peut y aller ensemble en mai/juin...

[Bryan]

Oh
..and some of those photos are absolutely gorgeous

[Dad~]

Uncle Bruce wants to know why you didn't contact him about Aix before you left. I'd like to try those calissons.