A Pastis or Two Seriously Improved My French

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You wouldn’t be inter-railing if you didn’t spend at least one night on a train, so I travelled overnight to Marseille. After a two hour wait, there was then a train to Aix and, when I eventually managed to track down a pay phone that took cash, I met up with my cousin who went to university here and has since made it her home. Provence is incredibly laid back - as is made clear in the book “A Year in Provence”. It was great to take it easy, drink Pastis (a local drink that tastes a lot like Pernod or the Greek equivalent, Ouzo), eat great food and watch everyone else do the same.

My cousin really looked after me and showed me all the sights of Aix and the rest of Provence. She took me out in the car for a day and we visited many of the local villages, including Roussillon, which is built on and out of red stone, and Gordes, which is set on a picturesque hill. It was a shame about all the satellite dishes though.

Aix-en-Provence itself is apparently famous for its fountains as it has more than anywhere else in the world.

Her boyfriend couldn’t speak much English back then and I could speak even less French, so my cousin had to act as interpreter. Our communicating generally got better in proportion to the amount of Pastis we had drank.

After three very relaxing days, I got the train back to Marseille and then I caught the TGV back to Paris. Unlike the last time I went Inter-railing, I could now afford the ticket supplements!

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Photos

Gordes
The town on the hill.

Roussillon
Another Provence town, set on the orange rocks.

Roussillon
More of the orange rocks.