The next morning after Barcelona we arrived in Marseille.
Our tour took us by bus from Marseille to Aix-en-Provence.
Aix-en-Provence is a very charming town, full of history. We walked along its narrow streets and squares, and admired the old fountains, saw many fine shops, and the girls went a little crazy buying French cosmetics at impressively good prices.
Lots of historic things to see as well.
The Aix Cathedral has parts that date back allegedly to Roman times, and was allegedly built over a Roman Temple to Apollo and is built on the old Via Aurelia - a road that - you guessed it - leads to Rome.
This is the entrance to the earlier part of the building with the main part of the cathedral towering to the left.
In more recent history, the people of Aix commemorate their liberation in World War 2:
Aix, in addition to historic buildings and streets, also has a lovely and lively farmer's market with local produce that made for a very tasty lunch:
They also have bakeries with a sense of humor:
While wandering by the cafes and stopping for some beverages, we got to admire this very nice Moto Guzzi motorcycle:
We then headed back to Marseille and had a short time to wander around the old port.
The port has a bust of Ethymenes, the Greek seafarer and explorer from Masallia, which is now modern Marseille:
We also saw the Marseille's Arc De Triomphe built in 1837:
Then we headed back to the new port, and the ship, and onwards.
2 comments:
Aaron,
That's our first stop also. Thanks for the pics and descriptions. We'll probably do much the same.
Less than two weeks to go.
juvat
juvat: Very cool, Aix was one of the nicest places we visited and is a very nice place to spend time touring and wandering through. Just remember most places and shops do not have public washrooms - find the nearest bar or cafe you can find if nature calls, and expect to need to buy something for use of the facilities.
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