We relaxed some more around the apartment until 7am, when we left on long walk #1: up to Notre Dame de la Garde and environs. First we wandered around the streets of Marseille—well, it felt like we were wandering but actually Jeff was crafting a perfect loop using his impeccable internal compass. We remembered to start our GPS watches about a mile into our walk. It was fun to record our longer walks on this trip, so we could remember where we had been in town. Jeff’s accurate mental map led the way. It is fun and handy to travel with my own personal Jeff-positioning-system Jeff-PS is way more fun than plain ole GPS.
While we walked, we talked and talked and admired charming narrow streets, a variety of architecture, and wide city views. Jeff decided that during this trip, he would speak no English-- only French to me when we were outside of our apartment, to help me get better at speaking French. I did my best to respond in French as well, and by the end of our long walk, my brain was effectively French fried. I could barely string two words together! Learning a foreign language is so strange like that—I go along GETTING it so well up to a certain point, whereupon I suddenly slide farther back down into the pit of incomprehension. It’s one step forward, five steps back. Thankfully I still felt overall French improvement after our travels.
Notre Dame de la Garde is on top of a tall rocky hill high above Marseille, with steps leading up to it on two sides. The city view from the top was sweeping. The sun was rising from behind the hills, lighting the tips of buildings below in orange morning light. It was fascinating to stand there and watch the dark patches of the city turn orange and slowly light up. Some narrow roads were bordered by such tall buildings that the bottom of the trench between buildings stayed in the shadows all day. We walked five miles before 9am!
That tiny island in the middle is the island of If, home of the Chateau D'If (the famous prison fortress).
Our selfie game was a tad rusty at the beginning, but the sun lit up the basilica's walls in the friendliest yellow way.
Bonjour, Marseille!
Descending the other side of the Notre Dame de la Garde hill, we saw a full-on colony of cats. Cats were everywhere in the street, on walls, in windows, behind trashcans. It smelled weird and the cats eyed us with half suspicion, half hope. It was a relief to leave their hungry stares. On our way back to our apartment, we stopped at Lidl (a grocery store) and got 2 pastries and a baguette. We ate our pain au chocolat (chocolate filled croissants) and massaged our sore airplane muscles. Then we fell into the abyss of sleep for two hours of the deepest sleep of all time. Jet lag is serious business.
Normally when we travel into far-off time zones, we try to force ourselves to be awake during the day and sleep at night, but this time we relaxed that rule and it felt wonderful. We knew from experience that we weren't going to adjust in one day anyways, and after all, adjusting to a time zone 9 hours different than our home wasn’t too important when we were only staying there a week. We’d just have to switch back again when we got home! Of course, we still ended up adjusting to the time zone more than we expected to by the end, but it was nice not to torture ourselves at the beginning!
At noon we dragged ourselves out of bed and got our running clothes on. We bought bus tickets with moderate difficulty (thanks to a temperamental ticket machine). We jumped on a bus out to Le Parc Nacional des Calanques. A calanque is an inlet, or a narrow cove of water branching off the sea. The Mediterranean Sea has a whole bunch of calanques along the French coast. The Calanques National Park is actually inside the Marseille city limits, which is why we were able to take a bus to the trails. Talk about convenience! The bus ride was long, curvy, and just crowded enough for there always to be someone who needed a seat more than us. So we stood on the swaying bus, gripping the railing for the full 40 minutes. The bus ride was a workout in itself!
The section of the park we ran in was GLORIOUSLY sunny, with clear blue skies and wide views of the deep blue Mediterranean. The famous seasonal Mistral wind was strong, but the sun did its part and we were not even close to cold: Jeff ran in shorts and I ran in short sleeves! The trail was rocky, with long stretches of uphill. Every now and then, Jeff sped up and ran ahead to get some kinks out of his legs. Then he slowed down and came back to run with me again--what a good man, sticking to our running date so kindly. The white cliffs, bright blue water, and happy warm sunshine were absolutely beautiful. I fell even more in love with France while we ran. It was a heady, giddy feeling to be jogging along sun-drenched clifftops less than 48 hours after we left snowbound Seattle. It was the most vacation-y feeling we've ever had in our February travels--a complete novelty not to be freezing our faces off! I felt as though I had been living in a cold dark cave for the past two months and that bright gentle sunshine was therapy for my entire being, both mind and body. Vitamin D is a powerful force.
Calanques National Park was one of our top three reasons for choosing to visit Marseille, and it was well worth the trip. I could've stayed on those cliffs and gazed out at the dreamy Mediterranean all day. A beautiful view speaks peace and wonder to my soul. It sounds kind of silly when I write it like that, but that's how I felt. I find natural beauty to be deeply moving.
We started out running in the trees. Jeff has this sixth directional scent, and when we got off of the bus, he found a small footpath in the trees. We ran along the path until it connected with a bigger path, which led us to the park itself. If I had run alone, I probably would still be out there in the calanques, meandering around trying to find my way back to the bus stop.
The first time the trail opened up to a Mediterranean view, we laughed out loud in joy and awe. This place is REAL! And it's paradise in February.
A nice passerby saw me balancing our camera on a rock and offered to take a picture for us.
Boats moored waaaay down in the calanque.
The water was unreal.
When we climbed up to this viewpoint, we both said "Jay would hate this!" hah, our boy does not like heights.
Top of the world!
Looking back towards Marseille.
We took turns running down this patch of trail for pictures. I hardly ever look like I'm actually running in pictures.
Jeff, on the other had, looks all intense in running pictures. Maybe it's my budding photography skills.
Seven miles later, we were back at the bus stop clambering aboard another triple long bus. It was 3:30pm and I was getting really hungry. Jet lag had tricked me into not eating lunch before we left for our run, and I was feeling it. By the time we got off the bus 40 minutes later, I was in desperate nauseous weak hungry shaky Shaina mode. We walked the half mile back to our apartment and I sank my teeth into some more Extra and Yop, then had some baguette and Brie. My nausea and shakes faded. I sound like an addict...I guess I'm addicted to food? I sure can't go too long without eating. Nothing like another reminder of why I don't fast anymore!
We showered and rested until 6pm and then headed out again, this time for an evening walk and dinner reconnaissance. Our plan was to walk the 1.5 miles to the urban beach and watch the sunset, then go get dinner. We left a tad too late to see the actual sun setting but arrived in time to see the deep orange and pink afterglow lingering over the Mediterranean. We admired the colors reflected in the water lapping the shore, then turned our backs on the stiff breeze and walked to a kebab shop for dinner. We ate our kebabs back in our darling little studio apartment and then commenced operation stay-awake-till-9:30pm.
Sunset on the Mediterranean. Light on rippling water is mesmerizing.
Night skyline: Marseille has an observation wheel too, just like Paris, London, Seattle, etc...
Notre Dame de la Garde peeking over the top of the fortress.
Big meaty kebabs filled our hunger nicely. We are all about enjoying local cuisine when we travel, but this time we just did what we felt like doing instead of feeling obligated to make sure we tried a new food every day. We hoped to try authentic Marseille bouillabaisse (fish soup), but alas, it never happened. Another time.
Day one was done. I decided that each day of this trip was basically three separate days. For example, on Tuesday, February 12th, first we went on our long morning walk and took a long nap afterwards: day one. Next we went on a run at the park (sandwiched by two long bus rides) and came home to eat, shower, and rest: day 2. Finally, we went on a leisurely sunset walk, got dinner, relaxed, and went to bed again: day 3. Linear elapsed time in France: 6 days. Real-feel elapsed time: 18 days. Yes!
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