August 30, 2017

Marseille

Bienvenue a Massif des Calanques & Cassis

A few years ago, I visited French Riviera and I was completely amazed by the beautiful villages of Eze and Saint Paul de Vence. Since then, I could not find any place in France that would give me a similar travel experience. Now, after visiting Cassis and Massif des Calanques, I have found another beautiful part of France that I would recommend to anyone want to make the most of a short-term summer trip.

Day 1

Cassis is located between Marseille and Toulon and is one of the best-kept-secret Mediterranean fishing ports. It is full of tiny pastel-coloured houses and picturesque sidewalk cafes. Another reason that Cassis is well known is for its creme de cassis that we did not try but we did try and amazed us was Tuna Tataki, baguette and seafood in every version.
Even that Marseille as a destination itself did not meet my expectations the stunning Calanques certainly did. To reach these isolated beaches we needed to hike for approximately 1 hour across the highest sea cliffs in France, the Cap Canaille. These cliffs are made of limestone and include narrow paths and steep stairways.

Day 2

On our last day in Marseilles, we took the boat to Vieux Port to Chateau d’If. This beautiful place is known for a fortress-prison where Alexander Duma’s in 1844 wrote his famous novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.
On the roof of this prison, Andrey and I started giving a concert to the poor tourists that could not stand our singing. That was a lot of fun:-) The acoustic of the place on the top is really amazing. Just stand in the middle of the terrace and try to speak loud you will feel the vibrations of your voice all over the place!