Thursday, August 25
As we were to be docked in Marseille from 8am to 11pm we decided to do a tour to St.Remy de Provence which was scheduled to take 5 hours. It was an early start (for us!) to be ready to leave by 8:30, but we made it and our coach set off to take us to this charming village in Provence.
St.Remy de Provence is the birthplace of Nostradamus and a village that Van Gogh spent a year in during his recovery and in which he painted some of his more famous paintings. Our guide Christelle took us for a 45 minute walking tour around the village, showing us St. Martin Church and leading us along winding cobblestone laneways and the road that encircles the village. This road was shaded by centuries old plane trees and everywhere you looked was like a picture postcard.
During our free time we checked out other parts of the village and loved being back in Provence. A coffee stop at one of the cute cafes, sipping coffee and people watching was great. The buildings here had great character, and the ones converted to shops were very classy. We definitely want to return to this area as we just didn't have enough time here.
The coach returned us to the ship where we had a late lunch and then caught the shuttle provided to the old port in Marseille. It was very hot today so we didn't walk too far, but were impressed by this part of Marseille which has been cleaned up since we were last here in 2007! Marseille was the European Culture Capital in 2013 and obviously a lot of money was spent in cleaning up the town and building new infrastructure. There were a lot of modern museums in the port area, and the Fort Saint-Jean has been integrated with them via walkways. This fort dates back to the 17th Century and had great views in every direction from its location at the entrance to the harbour.
It was then back to the ship to freshen up for an early dinner with Alan & Sharon, and afterwards we saw our Irish comedian friend George Casey from the Prisendam do his show - he is very funny.
As we were to be docked in Marseille from 8am to 11pm we decided to do a tour to St.Remy de Provence which was scheduled to take 5 hours. It was an early start (for us!) to be ready to leave by 8:30, but we made it and our coach set off to take us to this charming village in Provence.
St.Remy de Provence is the birthplace of Nostradamus and a village that Van Gogh spent a year in during his recovery and in which he painted some of his more famous paintings. Our guide Christelle took us for a 45 minute walking tour around the village, showing us St. Martin Church and leading us along winding cobblestone laneways and the road that encircles the village. This road was shaded by centuries old plane trees and everywhere you looked was like a picture postcard.
During our free time we checked out other parts of the village and loved being back in Provence. A coffee stop at one of the cute cafes, sipping coffee and people watching was great. The buildings here had great character, and the ones converted to shops were very classy. We definitely want to return to this area as we just didn't have enough time here.
The coach returned us to the ship where we had a late lunch and then caught the shuttle provided to the old port in Marseille. It was very hot today so we didn't walk too far, but were impressed by this part of Marseille which has been cleaned up since we were last here in 2007! Marseille was the European Culture Capital in 2013 and obviously a lot of money was spent in cleaning up the town and building new infrastructure. There were a lot of modern museums in the port area, and the Fort Saint-Jean has been integrated with them via walkways. This fort dates back to the 17th Century and had great views in every direction from its location at the entrance to the harbour.
It was then back to the ship to freshen up for an early dinner with Alan & Sharon, and afterwards we saw our Irish comedian friend George Casey from the Prisendam do his show - he is very funny.
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