Marseille is the last stop on the 2017 French Adventure Tour. I left the car at the rental place and was able to persuade the fellow to waive the charge for topping up the tank. This was due to the fact that I had saved their car from ruin, by disobeying instructions to put diesel in a purely unleaded vehicle. That was a nice final interaction with Europcar which I highly recommend since they provide high-quality cars at a very good price. I saved 150 euros over the price of the same car category at Hertz.
Tomorrow’s schedule is confined to a ferry ride on the Mediterranean to the Château D’If and a bowl of authentic Bouillabaisse for lunch.
Edmond Dantes – Appropriately named after the protagonist in “The Count of Monte Cristo,” this ferry takes people to the Château D’If which is the prison featured in the same book by Alexandre Dumas.
CHÂTEAU D’IF – The château was a fortress and later a prison located one and a half kilometers offshore in the Mediterranean Sea. It was built in 1521 on the orders of King Francis I who saw it as an important location to defend the coastline against sea-based attacks.
Count of Monte Cristo
Edmond Dante’s Imagined Cell
The hole through which Dantes crawled to commune with his friend in the adjacent cell.
The cell of the Man in the Iron Mask – Likely pure legend.
Returning to the Vieux Port.
The only thing kids like more than bubbles are enormous ones.
MIRAMAR – Home of the $75 bouillabaisse. Originally a peasant’s dish, they’re charging seventy-five dollars for a bowl of seafood scraps soup. I decided to bite the bullet to experience this classic dish of Marseille. After investing in an eight euro liter of water I spent 25 minutes waiting for a waiter to show up to take our order.
Upon his arrival, I slipped him a ten euro note and informed him that I would be dining elsewhere in a place that would respond to my needs in a more expeditious fashion. With that, I stood up and left the restaurant. That’s my table on the far right. Seriously if you’re going to charge $75 for soup, you might want to take a person’s order before they come to their senses.
My 18 euro friendly lunch alternative.
Animal Rights Protesters
Marseille was a relaxing end to a whirlwind road trip through some of the prettiest regions France has to offer. Tomorrow I will be taking the train to Barcelona, and the hop on a bus for Andorra which is a small independent country on the border of Spain and France.
Recent Comments