I travelled with some friends from Marseilles’s main port to the nearby Calanques. The Calanques are narrow inlets on a tall, rugged, limestone island. We took a ferry from the port of Marseilles to the island’s port and spent about twenty minutes hiking over stone, no shade, on a hundred-degree day and still, somehow, the view ta the end was worth it.
We sat for a couple hours, the boys swam, I sat on a towel under an umbrella looking out at the sailboats as they pulled in and dropped anchor, those aboard laughed and swam and had drinks and looked free of troubles. My feet and hands were sore from using them on the hot jagged ground on our journey up here. And I was uncomfortably hot but not comfortable getting in the water.
It was beautiful, truly beautiful. And worth the long journey.
The day started with a stroll through Marseilles, stopping in shops, spending almost two hours in one huge homegoods shop, and finding some little sandwiches for lunch. We then spent several hours getting to and enjoying the calanques before returning to the main land to drink many beers at a public square.
I love it here!