The oddly named “Winter Holidays” during
the first two weeks of March gave me ample time to see all the bits of France
that I had yet to see, and the rest. My targeted area, the Côte d’Azur.
After a 9-hour train journey, I arrived at
my first stop of the trip, Marseille.
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| Marseille |
Marseille
splits opinion amongst French natives. Some tell me to avoid it all together,
others tell me I absolutely must visit. It is a huge city, but in my opinion,
very little of it needs seeing and most of it needs avoiding. The area around
the Vieux Port is very nice, with
plenty of great places to eat at a reasonable price, and plenty of good bars. But
other than that and the Basilica which hovers above the city, there really
isn’t much else worth seeing with the exception of a few monuments dotted in
and amongst some dodgy areas of town. Forty minutes up the road, is the
university town of Aix-en-Provence,
which is a student and fashionista
haven. Its’ comparisons to Paris are justified. It seems like the place to spend a term or year abroad
as an American art student, which is odd because there was only one museum, Musée Granet, which can boast any sort
of art collection, but I must admit it is some collection. The Atelier Cézanne was a huge let-down.
After being told it was a 10-minute walk from town, we set off, only to find
the slope increasing with every step. Eventually we made it to the quaint
little cottage, which you can imagine would have once boasted fantastic views
before the installation of an apartment block next-door. The steep entry fee
is, for most, entirely unjustified. You pay about €5 to see the room where
Cézanne painted a few of his paintings, complete with plastic fruit, false
furniture and the obligatory silent movie in the corner. The gardens are free
to enter but not really much to see. Overall however, the town of Aix itself, is a lovely place to stop for a few days. A widely suggested day trip is the seaside
village of Cassis, which is small but pretty. Unfortunately it
rained the whole time I was there but I can imagine that the harbour can only
be prettier in the sunshine. However, if you’re not there to taste the wine or
trek up into the hills, I’m not really sure why you’d be there as a tourist. We
lunched there, soaked up the sea air, and left.
That seemed like enough. Along
the coast towards the Italian border, Cannes
offers little hors saison. Perhaps my
impression of Cannes was dampened by the fact that it poured with rain for the
few hours I was there, but even still, when I asked at the tourist office what
there was to do, she struggled to offer a viable alternative to sitting on the
beach. Considering the film festival is world famous, I was expecting some sort
of museum or exhibition at least. But I was told that you can only visit the Palais des festivals through guided
visit and the next one was on the 20th. I was there on the 9th.
So after a walk up to a church with a good view across the bay, I carried on to
Nice, which as a place is annoying because the perfect adjective to describe it is, nice.
I had 2 full days in Nice, most of which was spent sunbathing on the pebbled
beach. The Promenade des Anglais is
packed with runners, cyclists and even elderly power-walkers, but there is
still enough space for a leisurely stroll. I think that there is a lot more to
Nice than I discovered, but the bits I did see where beautiful and I can
completely understand why so many people retire to the area. I also managed to go to a football match at Stade du Ray. Nice vs Montpellier. What an incredible atmosphere. Unwittingly I bought a ticket right in the middle of the 'hard-core' section and so was on my feet trying to learn the songs for the entire match. Nice won the match 2-0 in the end and I was very glad I went.
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| The beach at Nice |
Reluctantly, I
boarded the TGV and headed north to Lyon. Lyon
surprised me. I knew basically nothing about it and so naturally I imagined it
as a large industrial hub with little to offer to a tourist. How wrong was I? It
turned out that my plan to “do” Lyon in a day was very ambitious, and by the
end of it, I had to chuck out my shoes after some serious walking after a hike up to the Basilica and Roman Amphitheatres that overlook the city. Having
thouroughly enjoyed my brief visit I hopped back on the TGV and got to really
experience the ‘GV’ part. You see, between Nice and Lyon, even though the
journey is over 4 hours, it stops too regularly to get up to top speed. Between
Lyon and Paris however, there were no stops and so the train really opened up
which was fun. The couple across the table from me kanoodling for 2 and a half
hours was not fun, neither was the two hour wait for an RER to arrive. Snow had
plunged the city into chaos. However, Paris
was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I probably needed an extra day
in the city but I had to make do with just the day, so I did. As a student from the EU, you can see all of
Paris’ best bits for free, so I did. My desire to keep all costs to a minimum,
and anticipating an expensive soiree, I boycotted the metro in favour of
walking. The fresh layer of snow that had fallen overnight made this tricky,
but at least I wasn’t stuck on a metro platform along with most Parisians. The Louvre,
Invalides, Champs Elysees, Tour Eiffel and the rest made it a day to
savour, and it was topped off by a well-deserved bière à la pression. Having
experienced the good and the bad of the SNCF, when I discovered that I could
fly to Madrid for less than it would cost to get a train back to Fumel, I duly
obliged, and landed in the glorious sunshine of Madrid. Having visited the city
on numerous occasions, when a friend suggested a day trip to nearby Toledo, I thought why not? Although
Toledo is half a day at most, the sunshine made that half-day ever so pleasant
and I would recommend it to anyone in Madrid with a spare half-day.
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| Toledo Cathedral |
Madrid,
as always was a great place to be for a few nights. The hostel we’d booked into
was one of the best I’ve stayed in, and the customary pub-crawl was one to
remember as we ended up in a cracking bar/club in the backstreets that a city
guide would never recommend.
Returning to Fumel for the final stint of my year in France, I looked back on an amazing two weeks' holiday, but realised I wasn't exactly well-rested and refreshed. Yes, I had a little time on the beach at Nice, but other than that, it was jam-packed with action. All in all, this was an incredible trip.
Yes, there were times when it was a shame that I was travelling alone, and yes,
it was rather expensive. But hey, I’m being paid a great amount to do very
little, and I can now say that I’ve “done” France.
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