îles du Frioul, Marseille

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îles du Frioul, Marseille! Words are not enough to describe the beauty and serenity of this place. Holidaying in the south of France is a much sought after vacation. So, while I was in the country, I decided to give it a shot. I made a day trip out of it on a Saturday in October. I took the TGV from Lyon Part Dieu to Marseille. My plan was not to explore the city but to see the calanque. What is a calanque? You will see for youself in the photos I post here. I had rather a panic attack at Lyon Part Dieu since I could not find the correct car I needed to board on the train to Marseille. So I plunged headlong into the closest car to avoid missing my train. I found a seat and soon enough realized I was in the wrong coach. I was terrified a ticket checker would fine me for it but I needn't have worried. Nobody checked my ticket.

I arrived in Marseille, a little shaken from my panic attack that morning. I walked down to the waterfront occassionally straying from my path if a building with interesting architecture caught my eye. At the waterfront, I walked around for a while until I found a little cafe where I had crepes. Yum! If I haven't mentioned this before, let me mention it now. I ate good stuff in France. My hostess was a good cook and even when I ate out, it was genreally amazing. No food experience is a bad experiene in France and that is my firm opinion! Coming back to Marseille, I ate and then I wondered how to get to the calanque. I'm the kind of person who does just a preliminary research when I go to a new weekend getaway destination and then I leave it to luck and my own presence of mind to get me to where I want to go. Doesn't sound very systematic but that's me! I found a boat company that ran boats to and from the calanque on the pier. It was there I discovered that the place where the calanques are located is called îles du Frioul. I bought my ticket and boarded the boat. It was a 25 minute boat ride to the island. This isalnd primarily consists of a few shops, restaurants and bars and the calanques themselves. You walk around the island and see the sights. And walk around the island I did. Let's just put it this way. When I posted the photos on facebook, people had a hard time believing this place even existed.

The clear skies, the sea glittering in the sun, bluer than blue itself! It is so serene and out of this world, you need to go there to believe it exists. It was one of those moments in my life I knew was rare and may not happen again. Traveling to different countries is not unimaginable. But to witness the sea in that shade of blue, is rare. I'm going to leave it to the photos to do the talking from here. Before I take your leave, here's a little something.

If you want to know what a calanque is here's a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calanque

My next post will take you out of the Côte d’Azur and to a completely different region of France! Stay tuned to find out!

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