509 - Join Us in France Travel Podcast

Category: Provence

Discussed in this Episode

Marseille
Old Port
Le Panier
La Corniche
Radisson Blu Marseille
MUCEM (Museum of Civilizations of the Mediterranean)
Fort Saint Jean
Grotte de Cosquer
Frioul Islands
Château d'If
Calanques
Rond-Point du Prado
Prado Beach
Borely Park
Pastré Park
Notre Dame de la Garde
Cantini Museum
Museum of Decorative Arts

[00:00:15] Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 509, cinq cent neuf.

Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture and flavours of France.

Today on the podcast

[00:00:30] Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a conversation with Elyse Rivin of Toulouse Guided Walks about her recent weekend in Marseille. She enjoyed the sun, the sea, and the culture of course, and she gives fantastic recommendations for how to spend a very pleasant two days in the second largest city in France.

You should listen to this episode because you’ll hear Elyse share an authentic local experience, give you practical travel tips and cultural insights, of course, this is Elyse, as well as make a list of exciting activities in Marseille and how to enjoy the local cuisine. So if you’re ready for some relaxation and recreation in the South of France, this episode is for you.

Podcast supporters

[00:01:16] Annie Sargent: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or take a day trip with me around the southwest of France in my electric car. You can browse all of that at my boutique, joinusinfrance.com/boutique.

And remember, Patreon supporters get the podcast ad-free as soon as it is ready. Click on the link in the show notes to enjoy this Patreon reward for as little as two bucks a month.

The Magazine segment

[00:01:50] Annie Sargent: For the magazine part of the podcast, after the interview today, I’ll discuss how the Paralympics are going to do so much to help Paris step into a brighter future.

Elyse Trip Report

[00:02:10] Annie Sargent: Bonjour Elyse.

[00:02:11] Elyse Rivin: Bonjour, Annie.

[00:02:12] Annie Sargent: We have a fun recording today about a weekend in Marseille, which you just did, didn’t you?

[00:02:18] Elyse Rivin: I certainly did.

[00:02:19] Annie Sargent: You went and got some sun, got away from the Toulouse rainy weather.

[00:02:23] Elyse Rivin: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I got away from the Toulouse rainy weather. This was two weekends ago, so this is really, really recent. The weather there was absolutely glorious. And then I came back here to our horrible heat. It went from the rain to the heat. This is summer in Toulouse. We love Toulouse. Come to Toulouse.

Come and take one of my visits. Come and visit everything but don’t come in July and August if you can avoid it. Really.

[00:02:50] Annie Sargent: Agreed.

[00:02:51] Elyse Rivin: It’s a bit rough here in the summertime. But actually I just wanted to say I’m very excited because I feel like I’m doing one of your trip reports.

[00:02:58] Annie Sargent: That’s right!

[00:02:59] Elyse Rivin: This is my little trip report for a weekend in Marseille.

That’s right, trip reports are good. You’ll see.

You’ll be good at this.

So basically, it was a two and a half day weekend.

I took the train from Toulouse and arrived in Marseille by noon, which is really nice.

There’s a four hour train.

[00:03:15] Annie Sargent: Oh, that’s better than I thought it would be. I figured it might be longer than that.

[00:03:19] Elyse Rivin: The irony is, of course, it’s longer than the train from Paris to Marseille, which is a much greater distance, but that’s because we don’t have the bullet train.

[00:03:28] Annie Sargent: No TGV. Yeah.

[00:03:30] Elyse Rivin: But there are two or three times a day, there are direct train lines without having to change or anything, that go right from. Actually, I believe it’s the Bordeaux-Marseille train.

[00:03:41] Annie Sargent: Ah, okay.

[00:03:42] Elyse Rivin: But, you know, I got it at eight something, and then I was in Marseille train station by a little after 12. It was fine, it was really direct, no problems. On time and all the rest of it. And of course you can do the same thing literally coming from Paris.

[00:03:58] Annie Sargent: Uh Huh. Yeah. Yeah. And Paris, it would be three hours, perhaps.

[00:04:02] Elyse Rivin: Three hours. The reason I went is because I had a member of my family ending a vacation that she had taken in France, and she was going to be in Marseille for a day, my cousin. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and I thought, I do have a friend who lives in Marseille, and I thought, and I love Marseille, so I thought, oh, good, good reason to go. So I got there at noon, and had a lovely half day Friday, and then, of course, the evening, and then I had a full day Saturday, and then I had Sunday, just about till about five o’clock in the afternoon.

[00:04:36] Annie Sargent: Okay, so yeah, you had a good day and two days and a half.

[00:04:39] Elyse Rivin: Yeah, exactly. And it was a chill weekend. There was activity, but I saved the beach part, the sea and beach and park part for Sunday. And that was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

[00:04:50] Annie Sargent: Okay, well, I want to hear the details.

[00:04:52] Elyse Rivin: So, so, okay. So…

[00:04:53] Annie Sargent: Do tell.

A little about Marseille

[00:04:54] Elyse Rivin: You know, for people, I don’t know how many people have actually gone to Marseille.

I mean, I know Marseille has a bad reputation. There’s a part of Marseille that’s absolutely beautiful. And Marseille is a huge city, of course, it’s an enormous city. And it’s really all, it’s long. It goes basically north-south. It’s counterintuitive, in the sense that when you look at a map of France, you see the Côte d’Azur, which is kind of going east-west, but the actual Bay of Marseille is a long bay that is north-south. And so, there’s a whole stretch of it from the center, which is where the old port is, going south, that is where all of these activities are. And the entire coast has been arranged so that there are these wonderful beaches, and coves, and activities along the beach.

European City of Culture

[00:05:40] Elyse Rivin: And in the last 15-20 years, in spite of what other people may have heard, it’s really been made into this absolutely wonderful place to visit. And of course it was European City of Culture a few years ago, and…

[00:05:54] Annie Sargent: Explain what that means.

[00:05:56] Elyse Rivin: It means that a city is designated as being the representative of culture and different traditions.

I don’t know how they choose them, to be honest. I have no idea what group or commitee…

[00:06:09] Annie Sargent: There must be a vote because I’ve seen placards and things asking for people to vote for a specific city.

[00:06:18] Elyse Rivin: And in order to get that label, they had to do a lot of spiffing things up. And this is when they undertook the huge, huge work of building the old port, which is very beautiful and picturesque.

And of course is really, from the beginning, you know, Marseille is the city that was started by the Greeks as what they used to call a

It was basically a place for trading, and this is going back over 2000, more than 2000 years. But everything centers out, radiates out from there. And I don’t know how many billions they invested, but they redid the entire wharf seaside area, that goes basically from where the cathedral is, which is just north of the old port, down, they invested in the building of these two fabulous new incredible museums, which is part of what they did.

They invested in, in cleaning up a whole part of this area, and so it’s all extremely user friendly. There are walkways everywhere. And it really, I have to say that I was amazed because I, this is the second time I’ve been back in the last eight months, just how wonderful it has become and how really user friendly it has become.

[00:07:23] Annie Sargent: That’s really good to know.

[00:07:25] Elyse Rivin: It’s really good to know. So, my suggestion is, and this has to do with my experience, I’ve been to Marseille many times, but if you’re going to go, and I think it’s worth two or three days actually. Obviously the thing to do is to look for a place to stay, close to the old port.

[00:07:39] Annie Sargent: Uh huh, yeah, yeah.

Seafront Hotels in Marseille

[00:07:41] Elyse Rivin: There are lots of hotels.

There are high end hotels. There are two or three that really are on the edge of the old port on both sides, the north side and the south side.

[00:07:51] Annie Sargent: Right, those have the nice view on the port.

[00:07:52] Elyse Rivin: They have a great view, you know, one is this Radisson Blue that, and the other one is where actually my cousin was staying, which is literally, you walk out the door and the water’s right there. You have a bunch of smaller hotels, you have the Ibis, you have lots of Airbnbs.

[00:08:06] Annie Sargent: So Ibis would be moderately priced.

[00:08:09] Elyse Rivin: You know, in comparison to the other things. Of course, that is one of the things that’s happened since the renovation of old Marseille, is that of course, that means the prices have gone up. Interestingly enough, I was surprised to see that the restaurants have not increased their prices too much.

Again, there are many, many, many restaurants around the Old Port, but the hotels have gotten pricey. A lot of people do come for a couple of nights, and apparently, that so it makes sense, you want to stay in a really nice hotel that’s air conditioned, that’s right next to the old port, and so that’s, you know, they managed to get the prices up that way, you know.

[00:08:45] Annie Sargent: Right. Right. And in Marseille, it does make sense to have an air conditioned room. Because, you know, yeah, it can be warm, very warm.

Coastal walk, La Corniche

[00:08:52] Elyse Rivin: I mean, the weather was glorious, it was probably in the low 80s, sunshine, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was really one of those absolutely magnificent weekends. And the sea, of course, is absolutely splendid.

And you have that light. One of the reasons I love Marseille is that the reflection off of the, the Mediterranean, and it’s already white, you know, really is like a white city. And the way they built the, there’s this area called the Corniche that goes down a few miles, follows these curves. A good chunk of it is walkable, and they’ve set up benches the entire length of this walkway.

It’s a few miles of walkway. Part of these benches are covered with mosaics that are very colorful. Each bench is paid for by a school, an association, or a family, and it has as a motif the sea of Marseilles. And I did part of this with my friend, not with my cousin, but they’re adorable. They’re just absolutely adorable.

It really takes away this feeling of why would you go to Marseille? No, no, no. There’s a whole half of Marseille that’s absolutely wonderful.

[00:09:54] Annie Sargent: Right. Right. Hopefully some of these benches are shaded as well.

[00:09:57] Elyse Rivin: Not really. No, no, not really. So that’s the only problem. Of course, you know, there are areas where the beaches are down below, and then there are areas where the beaches are actually flush with the walkway.

[00:10:10] Annie Sargent: Right.

[00:10:10] Elyse Rivin: It depends on which beach because a whole bunch of different beaches, which beaches have, you know, parasols, which beaches have this and that.

But the walkway itself, no, unfortunately, no, this is not, there are no trees right there. This is really the coastline, you know.

Le Panier

[00:10:23] Elyse Rivin: But to begin with, so the first afternoon, really stuck to the old port, and went to this area, it’s not very big. It’s called Le Panier, which means the basket.

And it’s right behind the old port on the north side, so it was really right there, literally right there. And it’s this very small, dense area. It’s hilly. It’s got these narrow little windy streets. It’s very, very, very Italian in aspect. It used to be a while ago very poor, it’s the oldest part of Marseille, it’s historically the oldest part.

And because in the last 25-30 years, they took the old convent there and turned it into a contemporary art museum and they set up art studios nearby, a lot of artists moved in and then they started making these lovely little cafe places and bakery places and it basically got gentrified. So there are still some little streets where you have the families that have lived there for a long time mixed in with this kind of like gentrification.

I kind of like that, that mix, you know.

[00:11:31] Annie Sargent: That sounds like a fun place to visit.

It’s really a fun place to visit, you know. And you walk around and, you know, I’m a sucker for bakeries and there, and then I go into the Contemporary Art Museum, which is very interesting. It’s really a nice museum. And it has permanent exhibit, and it has lots of temporary exhibits, and it has a lot of performances and concerts.

Marseille as an art scene

[00:11:49] Annie Sargent: Marseilles has become extremely dynamic in its art scene as well.

That’s great.

[00:11:55] Elyse Rivin: Fine arts school. But, that isn’t the only reason. A lot of artists just moved there and so it has become very, very dynamic in terms of the art scene. And then from there, because of the way it’s situated, and you’d have to really look at a map to understand that what I’m talking about is, you have the hotel right on the water, and then you walk 10 minutes and you’re up inside this area called Le Panier, and then you visit this area, and then you visit this museum, and stop for a coffee, whatever.

The Mucem, the Museum of Civilizations of the Mediterranean

[00:12:24] Elyse Rivin: And then you can go out going basically to the west. You take another little street down and you wind out, wind up on the big, big, big avenue that has recently been built. That’s right across the street from the huge wharf side where you have the MUCEM.

[00:12:41] Annie Sargent: Huh. Yeah.

[00:12:42] Elyse Rivin: And the MUCEM is the Museum of Civilizations of the Mediterranean. That’s what that stands for.

[00:12:49] Annie Sargent: Right.

[00:12:50] Elyse Rivin: And several years ago, I had tried to go when one of my sisters was visiting, and we had been staying for two days in Aix, and like idiot, I should know better, we wound up going to Marseille the one day of the week it was closed.

[00:13:04] Annie Sargent: Uh oh.

[00:13:05] Elyse Rivin: I have since been able to go back, and twice have been back, and this was the second time I’ve been back, and it’s absolutely wonderful.

[00:13:13] Annie Sargent: Why?

[00:13:14] Elyse Rivin: Well, first of all, I love the building. I mean, it’s huge contemporary architecture that is really interesting. It’s enormous. It’s right on the water. If this is, you can’t even imagine what it’s like.

It’s got this enormous esplanade around it. And then inside, it has lots of different kinds of exhibits. And we saw one exhibit that was about fashion from the different ethnic traditions of certain countries around the Mediterranean. That was a huge exhibit that was absolutely gorgeous.

We saw another exhibit that was about food traditions. So a lot of the exhibits have to do with kind of multicultural things, but they touch on food, culture, fashion, art, music. You have rooms that have musical instruments. Each few months they change the display, and then there’s a permanent collection of certain things, down below there are objects they have found coming out of the sea. So you get a little bit, it’s not a natural history museum, it’s not an art museum, it’s its own thing.

Yeah. It’s an ode to the culture of the Mediterranean.

Exactly. The cultures.

The cultures of the Mediterranean. And then you go up to the top, and you have this rooftop cafe kind of restaurant, which is like, you know, I was like…

Yeah, you know, yeah, fancy…

[00:14:34] Annie Sargent: She’s looking uppity right now…

[00:14:35] Elyse Rivin: Yes. I’m looking uppity. I got my uppity look on. You know, it’s like, very, very high end glass of wine, your spritz, you could get a coffee. I actually got a cappuccino, and I thought, I was laughing thinking, this is going to cost me a fortune. It didn’t cost me much more than any other place actually, but the place is one of these, you’re up high, and so you have a view out over the Mediterranean.

And there’s a walkway. The way they built this, this is what I find wonderful is that they conceived of this whole area so that everything is interconnected. So that’s one of the things I like the most about it. There’s a walkway that takes you, I guess, built out of concrete.

I’m not even sure I paid attention, from the rooftop cafe, and it’s like a, it’s like almost like a bridge, you go out over the water, and you have a view of the museum, you have a view of the old, a check of the old port. You have a view of the islands out in the sea. And if you continue, it takes you to the Fort of Saint Jean of the, the Knights of Jerusalem.

And so you can actually, almost do like a circuit all the way around. Now, I, on the day, on Friday, I didn’t do that part, I just did the Mucem. But you can actually spend hours just going from one part to the other and they’ve made it so that it’s accessible every which way.

I find that fabulous, you know.

Underground Parking

[00:15:58] Annie Sargent: So the cars are nowhere to be seen?

[00:16:02] Elyse Rivin: Underground parking.

There is an underground parking, and it’s a big one. So for people who, for instance, fly in, which of course is not what I did, if you fly into Marignane and you rent a car, of course it’s, you know, downtown Marseille is probably a mess to get into in terms of traffic and circulation. But people should know that there are two huge underground parking areas that are right there, and so you can park easily.

[00:16:27] Annie Sargent: Right.

It’s the getting in and out of the old dense part of the city that can be, you know, gets bogged down. But you can do that. And if you’re doing that as a way of doing a stopover in Marseille before going to Cassis or Antibes, or further along the coast, then that’s where you would park.

Right. So yeah, don’t even try to drive around those little old city streets. You will die. Well, or you will get blocked by bollards or something.

[00:16:55] Elyse Rivin: Exactly.

Tips for Parking in Large Cities in France

[00:16:55] Annie Sargent: If you drive into one of those big French cities, because you must, then just go directly to the underground parking garages. And you will have to pay for whatever, however long you stay there. 30 Euros a day is normal for any sort of place like that, in 2024 anyway. But don’t try to park anywhere else. If you have a accommodations that tells you that they have parking, ask them, is it private parking reserved for me exclusively, or is it like street parking, you know, good luck to you. Because that doesn’t work. And also you need to ask them, are there bollards in the way? Because as a visitor, you’re not going to get theremote control that you need to lower the bollards.

Only taxis have this, Ubers do not, local residents have it, emergency services have it. But you will not. So, that’s a really important thing to check. But the streets are made so that you can go to the underground parking garages areas. That’s how it’s designed, so if you’re not parking at the end of the metro line and taking the metro into the city, which would be free parking usually, most of the time that’s free parking. Because then you use your metro card to exit and it lets everybody know that you use the metro, it’s free for you. But if you don’t want to do that, then drive in, go directly to the underground parking lots and pay for parking.

Sorry, but this comes up so many times in the Facebook group that I have to repeat it ad nauseam because Americans don’t seem to understand that we don’t have big parking lots that are free in France. In the cities you have to pay.

Well, I guess in America it’s the same, right? If you go to San Francisco, you wouldn’t expect to…

[00:18:48] Elyse Rivin: Or New York, it costs a fortune.

No, but certainly, we’re talking about an old city with narrow streets, and you don’t want to have to deal with them, period, you know? And everything is one way, except for one or two of the big boulevards, you know?

[00:19:00] Annie Sargent: Yes, yes.

[00:19:01] Elyse Rivin: The big avenue that they now have, that leads to these underground parking areas is a two way thing, but still, you don’t want to have to deal with that.

That’s just not what you want to spend time doing, you know. Exactly.

Eating out in Marseille

[00:19:13] Elyse Rivin: Eating, okay, I don’t have a particular name of a restaurant to suggest, but, around the old port, now the old port is not that big, filled with beautiful sailboats, of course the Belem was there when the flame came in and that was the other big deal, so they’ve left part of the structure, this was just what now, a month and a half ago?

[00:19:31] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Olympic flame came by boat.

[00:19:34] Elyse Rivin: My friend who lives in Marseille came down to the port and sat on the grass to watch the boat come in, and she said it was just absolutely wonderful, you know, it was just, she said it was a big friendly kind of event. There are hundreds of restaurants around the old port.

And also, there are two big open squares that are on the south side of the port, not the Pannier side, but just on the other side. We’re talking about something that takes ten minutes to walk to, literally, not more than that. And they all have seafood, and they all have fresh fish, and they’re all fine. I mean, there are, I’m sure there are some people who would look for something that’s listed as a, you know, an almost starred restaurant.

And I’m sure that there are, but you don’t have to worry. And they have really relatively decent prices. You don’t have to worry about that either. So I would say that you don’t have to worry about where you go to eat, look at the menus, you know, check it out.

[00:20:29] Annie Sargent: It’s more important to find a place that has a table that you will enjoy. Like, perhaps that table is in the shade and that’s what you’d like, perhaps that table is, I don’t know, has comfortable chairs. That’s what I look for. Shade and chairs.

[00:20:42] Elyse Rivin: Shade and chairs, yeah. It’s interesting because the big square that’s very Italianate, that’s behind the southern side of the old port, has lots of places that I’ve been to for lunches at other times when I’ve been to Marseille. But any of these places, you’re absolutely right, what you want to do is pay attention to where the sun, is if you’re doing this in the dinner time, it’s not as complicated as at lunchtime, you want to be in the shade at lunchtime.

[00:21:06] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah. And they will pretty much have similar offerings for similar prices. And they all try desperately to stand out as the one that you must go to. And so they have people write blog posts, and reviews, and whatever. But really, that is not something you should worry about. Just go with your nose, and your eyes, and where you’re behind is going to be comfortable for a few hours.

[00:21:34] Elyse Rivin: Absolutely. So, that was Friday.

[00:21:37] Annie Sargent: Okay. Beautiful Friday.

How long to spend in MUCEM?

[00:21:39] Annie Sargent: How much time would you say you spent in the MUCEM?

[00:21:42] Elyse Rivin: At least two hours.

[00:21:45] Annie Sargent: Okay. Did that feel like you were rushing or?

[00:21:49] Elyse Rivin: No, I could have spent a little bit more, but this is the second time I’ve been. The first time I went, I actually spent a little bit more because it was an exhibit that was very, very big. And, you know, sometimes I just want to sit for a minute and then keep on going.

I know, I’m not good anymore, to standing for three hours without having a sit.

You can also go out and come back in on the same ticket.

So, if you want to, you can do that. I mean, there are some people that take a lot of time. You know, people have different ways of dealing with museums as well.

Some people just go through very quickly. And then it depends on the exhibit. So, I would say two hours is a decent amount of time.

[00:22:28] Annie Sargent: So is it mostly visual?

[00:22:29] Elyse Rivin: Yeah. Although there’s some text. The exhibit that was smaller that was about food and some recipes was kind of fun. There was a little bit of text in English. Most of it was in French, but they had papers that you could take that had recipes on them.

[00:22:45] Annie Sargent: Ha ha ha I like that.

[00:22:47] Elyse Rivin: And then they had tasting things like they had herbs and they, it was mostly about different things coming from Africa. There was smelling and then there was like little kinds of like woodsy herbs that I’d never heard of before, you know, so, they must do a lot of scholastic groups, and things like that.

Do you get to touch a lot or smell a lot?

No there was this particular food thing yes, but the other ones there was really about the traditional folklore, fashion no, you didn’t touch anything.

[00:23:16] Annie Sargent: Right. And the music, do you get to hear the musical instruments?

[00:23:19] Elyse Rivin: No. You just look at them. They do have special events. I mean, I wasn’t there for one, you know? So when they have special events, they actually have concerts. And so they will, they do sometimes use the ancient instruments and things like that, but…

And then they had some mechanical stuff downstairs. I have to say that, you know, it was the part that I didn’t pay attention to, I just don’t… Well, there was like these old cars and then there was like these old tractors and things. And I kept thinking, I’m not sure what they were really doing there.

[00:23:50] Annie Sargent: Well, perhaps they are tractors of the Mediterranean. I don’t know.

Move over John Deere, we got our tractors, who knows? So, you are not interested in tractors?

But anyway, no, I’m not, I’m sorry, I’m not interested in tractors.

I am shocked Elyse, shocked!

But I thought it was cool, I love the whole thing. There are places you just decide that you just like whatever the atmosphere is in them and everything. And it’s big and airy, and everything is, seems to be set so that it’s really easy to circulate around and come back out and, you know, all of that.

I’m assuming they have cafes and…

Absolutely. Well, the big, of course, there’s the big rooftop one. Then there’s a small one that’s on the ground level with the wharf, where you can get something and you can actually walk outside and then all these benches. They have all these benches outside. It’s really everything about it is user friendly, really user friendly.

(Mid-roll ad spot)

[00:24:42] Elyse Rivin: So the next day, Saturday, go back to the same area.

[00:24:49] Annie Sargent: Yes, because there’s plenty to do there.

Grotte de Cosquer

[00:24:50] Elyse Rivin: There’s plenty to do there. And do something that, Oh my goodness, it was so much fun. Went with my friend to the reproduction of the Grotte de Cosquer.

[00:25:04] Annie Sargent: Ah, I would, I’m really looking forward to that one, personally.

[00:25:08] Elyse Rivin: So I did not know what to expect. So what do we have? Everybody knows about Lascaux and the fact that they’ve reproduced it, and then they have Chauvet, which you’ve been to, and I have not. Cosquer is an underwater cave. It was not an underwater cave, in prehistory, it was, there was no water.

The water was not, was far away. And in the beginning of the 1990s, two professional divers found this cave. They knew that there were caves, they were actually exploring caves, but what they did not know and what they didn’t expect to find was caves that actually had drawings, and paintings, and engravings on them, underwater!!

And it became a phenomenon because they realized that the, obviously it was the change in the climate that had made the waters rise. And so, how many thousands of years ago were these actually done? Well, of course it makes it harder to date them because they were underwater, but in relation to other things, they can’t have been earlier than at least 15-20,000 years before.

So, over the years, what they have done is they have studied them. They have done the same kind of thing they’ve done with Lascaux, which is do these, you know, reproductions with all the scientific measures and everything. And lo and behold, on the same esplanade as the Mucem is another building.

Actually, it’s kind of like you go in to buy your ticket, and you look around and you, there’s a kind of building there and you think, Okay, where’s the cave? And what happens is you buy your ticket and you go into this building and they take you down this elevator. And you go down to into what is actually the level of where the cave would be under the water. And you sit in this little boat…

[00:27:02] Annie Sargent: Oh!

[00:27:03] Elyse Rivin: And the boats are set up so that it’s four to six people in each little boat. And the boat takes you around through and you get…

Like you’re in the underwater cave.

It is totally wonderful.

[00:27:19] Annie Sargent: Oh, yeah, I would love that. I would love that.

[00:27:21] Elyse Rivin: And they’ve managed to do, I mean it’s like Lascaux, they’ve managed to reproduce the walls of the caves with all of the engravings, and the drawings. There are over 400 of them that were actually, the reason they stayed is because this part of the cave was sealed off for thousands of years.

It wasn’t washed away by the sea water. And so you do this thing where you go around, and so you sit there, and you go around and, Oh, it was so much fun. I can’t believe it.

[00:27:51] Annie Sargent: Are the boats like on a rail underneath so that they… yeah.

[00:27:56] Elyse Rivin: They do these like fake waterfalls, so you have the water, the water is next to you all around, you know, and you see everything. You feel like you can just go out and touch it, you know, like that.

[00:28:05] Annie Sargent: So, it’s like a Disney ride, but with prehistoric paintings.

[00:28:08] Elyse Rivin: But prehistoric paintings, and there are audiophones with different languages.

So you get the explanation of every single stop, of what you see, and they tell you where to look, and if it’s up above or next to you, or whatever, because it’s everywhere.

And I don’t remember, but I think the visit takes about an hour.

[00:28:25] Annie Sargent: So it’s pretty… it’s in depth.

[00:28:26] Elyse Rivin: Oh yeah, it was wonderful. I mean, I would go back tomorrow. It was just the most, it was just the most fun thing. And then you come back up on the elevator, and it turns out that you take another elevator and you go up another level, and there’s a museum of prehistory that explains everything. What you just saw, besides all of the animals that would’ve been living there and what the land looked like and everything. So there’s this other part that’s all museum and then there’s a part that’s bookshop and shop that’s wonderful. Huge with all kinds of books and then reproductions of things.

And it was just a wonderful, wonderful experience.

[00:29:07] Annie Sargent: I need to go, I need to go do this.

[00:29:09] Elyse Rivin: And on top of everything else, down on the street level, on the other side of the building where you go in for this, there’s this cafe restaurant that is basically a kind of cafeteria style, but that has high end food that is absolutely delicious. So the whole experience is wonderful.

[00:29:28] Annie Sargent: Yeah.

[00:29:28] Elyse Rivin: The whole thing.

[00:29:29] Annie Sargent: So did, were you able to buy your ticket in advance or did you buy it at the door?

[00:29:34] Elyse Rivin: We bought it at the door. Now it may have been because we went relatively early. Because they do have a limited number for, but it’s like every 20 minutes, or every half hour. And I saw that there were some people by the time we got our tickets, there were people not very far behind us that were in line, and they were basically told in two hours or in three hours, you know, so you can buy the tickets in advance.

[00:30:01] Annie Sargent: That might be better, because that way you can time it however you’d like.

[00:30:06] Elyse Rivin: Yeah, I would suggest that on certain days, and especially if it’s holiday weekends, and things like that, you’re better off, especially if you’re more than one or two people. Because families, they would just put together in the same little boat.

Right,

It’s just like a Disney ride. It’s like a Disney ride. I couldn’t get over how well done it was, to be honest, you know. At first I was like, oh, it’s like a Disney ride, you know, I was like, I was very skeptical, but it’s, but it was really, really, really well done.

It’s as well done as Lascaux, I have to say.

[00:30:38] Annie Sargent: As well as Lascaux? That is quite the bar. Yeah.

[00:30:42] Elyse Rivin: I mean, every little reproduction of every bump in the walls of these underground caves, and they give you the explanation of how the divers found the places, you know, and how they tested them and everything.

It’s really a wonderful experience, I have to say.

[00:30:55] Annie Sargent: Do you remember how much it cost?

[00:30:56] Elyse Rivin: I, yes, I believe, oh, I did, I add it in my notes. If I’m not mistaken, it’s a little pricey. I think for adults, it’s 18.

[00:31:03] Annie Sargent: Oh, that’s not so bad. I was… 30 is still okay. Yeah, that, fine.

[00:31:08] Elyse Rivin: I’m pretty sure it was 18 per adult, and I think there’s a family price for two adults and two children as well. And children under, I think 17, it’s 11 Euros, or something like that. There’s a reduction for children.

So that was in the morning, going toCosquer.

[00:31:25] Annie Sargent: Cosquer, you almost said Costco.

[00:31:27] Elyse Rivin: Your favorite place. Yeah. Cosquer, Cosquer.

[00:31:29] Annie Sargent: No, honestly, I would prefer going to Cosquer.

[00:31:31] Elyse Rivin: Yeah, right. Yeah.

[00:31:33] Annie Sargent: I mean, I’m not that crazy.

[00:31:34] Elyse Rivin: It was really wonderful. And it’s funny because of course the weather was glorious, but still, this was just such a fun and wonderful thing to do. And then the afternoon after a nice little lunch, not a big lunch, but a nice little lunch there, took a boat ride.

[00:31:47] Annie Sargent: Aha, another one of my favorite things to do.

[00:31:49] Elyse Rivin: Another. Oh, another boat ride.

[00:31:52] Annie Sargent: Not underground.

[00:31:53] Elyse Rivin: But in fact, in between, I shouldn’t forget that we walked and went into the fort, the Saint Jean fort. You can get to the fort through the esplanade, that is where the Mucem is and where the Grotte de Cosquer are, or out on the avenue, and what they’ve done is they’ve renovated this fort, which basically is from the 1100s, that was originally created by the Knights of Jerusalem, before they went on a crusade.

And then it was redone by Vauban for Louis XIV. And then of course, it fell into ruin.

And so it was basically rubble and a little bit of wall. It was in the last 35-40 years that they’ve done this fabulous job of putting together, so you have part of the walls that are really the ancient walls, and then part of them that have been more or less rebuilt, but you can’t really, I mean, you can kind of see it, but it’s, they invested billions in doing this whole area because it’s really well done.

[00:32:51] Annie Sargent: Perhaps just millions.

[00:32:52] Elyse Rivin: Yeah, maybe millions, maybe. But you can walk from the Mucem, there’s these passageways, it’s fabulous because you can, you don’t have to go out on the street, you can go on the street if you want, but you can go through this other way, and then there are two or three places where you can go inside, and you see what the courtyards were in the medieval Citadel.

And look at the old walls and the vestiges, and there are two or three rooms. One of them has a little bit of a shop. So you get the dose of really old medieval fortifications at the same time. And then you go out and you go a little further along the port and you go back towards where you have the excursion boats. And you have several choices.

You can take a boat to the Island of If.

Which is in the novels, of course.

[00:33:38] Annie Sargent: Alexander Duma, of course. Yeah.

[00:33:40] Elyse Rivin: To go see where the Count of Monte Cristo was held prisoner.

Yeah.

Islands of Frioul

[00:33:45] Elyse Rivin: You can take a boat to go to the two islands of Frioul.

Which are interesting. From a distance and just kind of look like rocks, but basically there are two tiny little villages.

There are a bunch of restaurants and there are some beaches.

[00:33:59] Annie Sargent: Okay.

[00:33:59] Elyse Rivin: So you can do that. Or there are also some excursion boats that leave from the old port takes you to the Calanque.

[00:34:09] Annie Sargent: The Calanque are gorgeous but the boat trip is a bit longer.

[00:34:13] Elyse Rivin: But all of those are contingent on the weather,

[00:34:15] Annie Sargent: Uh huh.

[00:34:16] Elyse Rivin: So, in fact, surprisingly, of course, there are days when the sea is rough and they will not go out.

That’s just a question of luck.

[00:34:25] Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:26] Elyse Rivin: So, I did Frioul. It’s the second time actually. It’s kind of fun. These two islands are, they’re, it’s interesting, it’s like a pile of limestone in the middle of the sea. But you do have some places where you can sit on the beach and then there are some, a few cafes, and there are some vestiges of old stone buildings. I don’t know if they’re fortifications or what. But I like the idea of taking a boat out. And from there you get a view of the whole old port and the hills on both sides with the cathedral on one side.

And Saint Marie des Graces on the other side, and it’s a view of Marseille that’s absolutely fabulous.

[00:35:02] Annie Sargent: Very nice, very nice.

[00:35:04] Elyse Rivin: And that boat ride takes how long? Well, get on and off. I mean, I got off. I got off on the island. I think the boats are every half hour, and you just have to know when the last boat back is. So you don’t get stuck, you know,

No, yeah, don’t get stuck.

[00:35:20] Annie Sargent: Sleeping on the beach.

[00:35:21] Elyse Rivin: Not my idea of a good time. No, no, but it’s basically a get on, get, you know, a step on, whatever you call it.

[00:35:27] Annie Sargent: Hop on, hop off.

[00:35:29] Elyse Rivin: You just have your round trip ticket, and you just know when the last boat back is.

[00:35:34] Annie Sargent: Okay, so you can bring your picnic if you want.

[00:35:36] Elyse Rivin: Yes, absolutely. Most people do bring a picnic.

[00:35:39] Annie Sargent: And can you swim?

[00:35:40] Elyse Rivin: It depends on the day, and depends on the current. There are these little beaches. There are these, there’s some rocky stuff, and then there’s some beaches. Unless you just want to wet your feet, you’re better off being a good swimmer, cause you’re really out in the exposed water, you’re not in a protected zone.

The first time I went, actually, I went with my nephew. And he couldn’t have cared less. And he just jumped into the water, you know, and I was like, old auntie, you know, watch out, you know. But it was fun. It was really beautiful. And you can do the Calanque, but you do only the first one. This is not the same as if you go to Cassis and you do, there are boat rides from Cassis where you can do two or three Calanque on the same ride, because it’s a much longer ride. But you can do it from the old port if you want to. And that’s longer, that’s a few hour back and forth boat ride.

[00:36:25] Annie Sargent: Yeah, and the cost on that more or less?

[00:36:29] Elyse Rivin: Honestly, I didn’t check to see what the cost is on the one to go to the Calanque. But the other one, if I remember correctly, is about 16 Euros per person. It’s not a lot. So that was really a full day and still being at the old port.

[00:36:44] Annie Sargent: Right. Yeah, you still haven’t left the area.

[00:36:47] Elyse Rivin: I haven’t left the area. I haven’t gone to a church. This is one, this is new, you know, I haven’t visited a church this time. It’s been water and seaside and old port, and of course, you know, when you have glorious weather like that, it’s just absolutely wonderful.

Parks in Marseille

[00:36:58] Elyse Rivin: Now, and the next day, thanks to my friend who actually lives in Marseille, I went to a couple of places that I’ve been to before, but I also discovered two other places that I didn’t know. And they are two parks, and it turns out that there are some fabulous, very, very big parks in Marseille. And so this was going down south along what is called the Corniche, which is the drive that takes you along the coast. It’s a few miles of coastal driving.

[00:37:28] Annie Sargent: So she had a car.

[00:37:29] Elyse Rivin: She had a car. She came and got me at the old port. I do know, because I did look it up, you can go to any of these beaches by bus. You can take a bus straight down the Corniche, which is what it’s called, and you can stop, and there are a whole bunch of beaches along the way.

So, going south, you get to an area, I’m not sure exactly in distance, but you go past the part where it’s really built up, where you have lots of houses that are perched up on the hills that face the sea. And then you get to the area of what is called ‘The beaches’, and there’s a whole series of them, they each have a name. The first one is a small one, which is where the beginning of all these benches with mosaics are, and it’s called Prophets Beach.

Rompoint du Prado.

[00:38:09] Elyse Rivin: I have no idea why it’s called that. I should check it up, but it’s a small one, but it goes, you go down below, you’re still high up, up above. You’re like up above, almost on a cliff. And then you take these steps down. And it’s a small cove with the sandy beach, but it’s not a very big one. But then you go further south and you get to the area around what’s called the Rond point du Prado.

Okay.

And that is one of the major stops that you can get off from the bus, and there you have a whole series of beaches that are several miles long. With beautiful, sandy beaches, with coves that have been set up so that it’s a bit of protection from the open sea. And grasslands with benches, they’ve done a job that’s absolutely fabulous.

You can swim there, you can bike there. And in whole section of it, there’s a bunch of restaurants and a bunch of snack bars, and there’s a huge ferris wheel. And there’s all this activity there are even playgrounds for children. And there are a couple of spots where you can actually rent a bike. So it lasts, it goes a few miles long along the coast. And it’s really beautiful. And it’s really beautiful, clean beaches.

The Borely Park

[00:39:20] Elyse Rivin: And lo and behold, right across from there, especially at the one that’s called the Prado Beach literally across the main avenue, that goes north south, you have one of the entrances to one of these two parks called The Borely Park. B-O-R-E-L-Y. And this is a park that has the botanical garden, has the Museum of Decorative Arts, it has a mansion from the 1700s, and it has a Chinese garden, an English garden, a French garden, it has a restaurant, it has a snack, and it has a place where you can rent bicycles.

Wow. That sounds like a fun place.

Gorgeous. It’s all green. It’s 17 hectare, which is about 40 acres.

[00:40:07] Annie Sargent: Mm hmm.

[00:40:08] Elyse Rivin: It’s got trees. It’s got everything. It’s got little ponds. It’s got everything you could wish for. And it’s literally across the avenue from the beaches.

[00:40:19] Annie Sargent: Wow. And so if you wanted to rent a bike, you could just, and explore the whole park, you can do that.

[00:40:23] Elyse Rivin: You can do that.

[00:40:23] Annie Sargent: Or explore along the Corniche. Exactly.

[00:40:26] Elyse Rivin: Exactly. And then, takes a little bit more time because you need to do this either by car, or with a bus. My friend took me to a park that I, this Borely I had been to before. I did know that it existed and it’s very beautiful. It’s very green and it’s got these gorgeous French gardens, and English gardens and everything.

But then she said, we’re going to go someplace else, you’ve never been here before. And we went further south, a little bit further south, not much further because then you get to an area called Madrague, which is technically part of Marseille, but was once a separate village. We’re still on the same avenue going along the coast.

[00:41:01] Annie Sargent: There’s a very famous song called La Madrague, do you know the song? It’s a Brigitte Bardot song.

[00:41:09] Elyse Rivin: Ah that’s right.

That’s right. But that’s, isn’t that where she had a house for a while, I think? Or that she… that’s the name of her house, actually, in Saint Tropez, I think.

It may be.

Anyway, so my friend takes me to this area and I’m thinking, what are we going to do?

And she says, wait, you will be surprised. And sure enough, it’s a park called Pastré Park.

[00:41:34] Annie Sargent: Okay, how do you spell that?

[00:41:36] Elyse Rivin: P-A-S-T-R-E I put it in capitals, but it’s with an accent actually.

Pastré. Pastré.

And guess what? It’s a piece of land that is humongous. It’s 112 hectare.

Okay. That is a lot.

It is a park that is both a Municipal Park and part of it is actually part of the beginning of the Calanque. It was given to the city in 1975 by a Countess Pastré. Thank you very much.

[00:42:07] Annie Sargent: Merci Madame Pastré! Madame la Contesse.

[00:42:10] Elyse Rivin: Who had a mansion in the middle of this huge expanse of land. All of this land belonged to her family. I don’t even know how many generations back it belonged to her family. Part of it is manicured. There are ponds, there are walkways. There’s a Hippodrome. There’s an irrigation canal that is actually kind of cute because it has a walkway that goes along with it. And all of this is the part that’s closest to the big avenue. And then you continue walking inside, and you wind up being in the wilderness. In the wilderness. In the Mediterranean wilderness, with the Mediterranean trees, with the white cliffs right there, and you can go hiking up into the mountains if you want, if you want to get really away from everything. And when we were there, right behind one of the buildings that was, we call the dependency of the mansion, you know, one of the other buildings, they were doing a demonstration on the different kinds of trees, and the different kinds of plants, and what was edible, and not edible.

They have these nature activities in the park all the time. And there were these three people showing how they use the wildflowers there to make honey. And apparently, every weekend they have these activities that are like nature activities and things like that.

[00:43:28] Annie Sargent: Sounds like a lot of fun.

[00:43:29] Elyse Rivin: It was a lot of fun. So we spent, basically, my Sunday was going to the beach.

I didn’t go swimming. I put my feet in the water. I think you have a picture of me with my little toesies in the water. I was too chicken. I should have been able to, it was warm enough, but I was really too chicken to go in the water. But we did the beaches. We did a long, long walk. We did a really nice long walk.

And then we had a lovely, lovely, lovely, but more expensive lunch. So this is what’s interesting. I had one of my favorite things, which is a huge, enormous pot of fresh mussels, not just your basic moules marinières. There are two or three restaurants in this near the Prado beach that specialize in fish and seafood.

The prices are much higher than in the old port.

[00:44:18] Annie Sargent: Which is strange?!

[00:44:19] Elyse Rivin: Which is very strange, but the portions are enormous.

[00:44:23] Annie Sargent: Okay.

[00:44:24] Elyse Rivin: I was tempted to get a piece of fish. I saw somebody being served a huge Dorade that was enormous, you know, and it was, the plateau was just fabulous. Because I was thinking, wow, look at these prices, you know!

This was our big meal for the day on Sunday, anyway, we were going to treat ourselves. But the pot of mussels was twice as big as normal, and they had all these kinds of sauces, and everything. And had a rosé with it. I mean, it was just, you know, this is my idea of a Sunday lunch, you know?

Yeah.

[00:44:50] Annie Sargent: You said it was more expensive.

Quantify. How expensive?

[00:44:54] Elyse Rivin: 30.

[00:44:55] Annie Sargent: Yeah, that’s, that’s not expensive, really.

[00:44:57] Elyse Rivin: But for mussels?

[00:44:59] Annie Sargent: Yes, okay. For mussels it is a bit, but you know, I mean 30 for a nice Sunday lunch…

[00:45:05] Elyse Rivin: The fish was between 30 and 40.

Okay. But the mussels was a little bit of a surprise, but still, it was wonderful.

I mean, it was just wonderful. And so we did our morning, really long walk back and forth, wet my feet, went from one end to the other of these long beaches. Looked at everything, watched everything with a Ferris wheel. I mean, had this long lunch, we sat around, took our time with the coffee, sat there, and then we went to this other park. And more walking, of course, when I go to Marseille, I have to walk.

[00:45:39] Annie Sargent: Right, right. Well, yeah.

[00:45:41] Elyse Rivin: And it was a real wonderful surprise. And then we’d made this quick stop just because I’ve been to Marseille so many times in this area, that’s this Mandrague area, which is really, you know, once was a separate little village, it’s now technically part of Marseille. Just because there’s a place where you can go down to the water, but it’s no longer a nice flat, sandy beach, it’s a bit rocky and everything. But I was kind of interested to walk down there, and just take a look, and get a last view of the sea before going back up, to go back home.

[00:46:12] Annie Sargent: Inland.

[00:46:14] Elyse Rivin: Inland. Inland.

[00:46:16] Annie Sargent: That’s what happens to me when I leave the beach as well. I’m always sad to leave the beach.

[00:46:21] Elyse Rivin: I have to say, first of all, it was a gorgeous weekend. And the water is magnificent, and really clear, and it was blue and turquoise. And the light was gorgeous. There’s a different light being next to the sea. And it was, yeah, it was a wonderful weekend. I like my life in Toulouse, but boy, it’s so wonderful to be by the sea, you know?

[00:46:43] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah. I hear you. I hear you.

And the food is great as well in that area, you know, you have a lot of, I mean, the Mediterranean food is, you can’t really beat that.

[00:46:53] Elyse Rivin: No, you can’t. And I have to say that at one point we stopped and because it is apricot season, I’ve been buying apricots here, but we stopped at some place where there was a vendor, and bought some apricots there that were from the region right around, just north of Marseille. I have never had more delicious apricots in my life.

[00:47:13] Annie Sargent: There you go. Yeah.

[00:47:14] Elyse Rivin: They were big and juicy, and I thought, it must be the sea air, I don’t think it was, actually, no, it was just so it was a lovely, lovely, lovely two and a half day weekend. And I really recommend doing a stop in Marseille to everybody who’s going to go into that area.

[00:47:32] Annie Sargent: Right, and if it’s your first time going to Marseille, of course you should also go see the cathedral, Notre Dame de la Garde. It’s gorgeous. That would add another half a day. But you didn’t go on this weekend, because you had been before, I mean, yeah…

[00:47:47] Elyse Rivin: I’ve been before and I…

[00:47:49] Annie Sargent: And you had no prayers to…

[00:47:50] Elyse Rivin: And I had no prayers, I didn’t have to worry about, no. And there is, you know, there are a couple other things.

There’s this lovely small museum that’s three blocks from the old port called the Cantigny Museum.

That is a museum that usually has temporary exhibits that change all the time. I’ve been there other times that have had nice exhibits. This time I did not go. You have that, you have the Decorative Arts Museum that is out in the Borely Park.

You can actually explore a little bit more of the old downtown area. And you can go up to the two churches, interestingly enough, the cathedral on one side, and then the other church that’s devoted to the, to sailors that’s on the other side, they’re up on these hills, you know?

And then just walking around the old port and looking at the boats. It has a great atmosphere to it, you know.

Tips for a Cruise Stop in Mare

[00:48:36] Annie Sargent: Yeah, hooray for Marseille. You’ve made me want to go. I mean, I have been to Marseille, obviously, but not, I haven’t ever spent a lot of time. We did a cruise stop once, and there are probably some people who will listen to this who are stopping as a cruise stop.

So the cruise ships, they dock at an industrial port, but usually the cruise companies will set up buses that will take you into the city. Or there’s possibly, I think we did a city bus, come to think of it with my husband, because to me, taking a city bus is not a big deal. But I think most of the cruisers paid royal Caribbean for a transfer into the city.

Yeah. But either way you go into the city, you go to the old port, and then you could go to the church if you want to, The Petit Train Touristique will take you all the way up to the top, because it is kind of steep.

Or you could go explore the Mucem and the Cosquer. Probably only one or the other, in a half a day.

[00:49:35] Elyse Rivin: If you only have a half a day, absolutely only one or the other, right.

[00:49:38] Annie Sargent: And to me, it would be Cosquer

[00:49:40] Elyse Rivin: But if you don’t have that planned ahead, you have more chance of just going into Mucem and then walking around visiting the fortifications of Saint Jean, you know.

[00:49:48] Annie Sargent: Yeah, that’s true, because Mucem, you probably don’t even need to reserve, you can just show up.

Thank you so much, Elyse.

[00:49:55] Elyse Rivin: You are quite welcome, Annie.

[00:49:57] Annie Sargent: You are very good at these trip reports, you have to do it again.

[00:50:01] Elyse Rivin: Merci Beaucoup.

[00:50:03] Annie Sargent: Au revoir.

Thank you, patrons!

[00:50:10] Annie Sargent: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that, you can see them at patreon.com/JoinUs.

A special shout out this week to my Join Us in France champions, Dan Dempsey, Paula Park Fitzhugh, Kim Cox, and Robin Miller.

Kim upgraded to the Ambassador of the podcast level. And when I wrote to thank her, because you know, that’s the highest level, it’s very, very sweet, she said it was a good deal in her opinion because it includes the Itinerary Consultations. And yes, of course I will help her plan whatever trip she has to do included in that Patreon reward.

Thank you so much, Kim.

Would you join them, too? You can do it for as little as two bucks a month, if you can afford it, I would love to have you pledge more, so you can have access to more rewards. Go to patreon.com/JoinUs. And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/ElysArt.

Thank you for your one time donation, Kevin and Maura Stack. They did this using any button on joinusinfrance.com that says ‘Tip Your Guide’. Kevin wrote: ‘My wife and I wanted to send a contribution to give thanks for all you’ve done, we use your podcast and your Facebook community for our France trip. You’re a joy to listen to, and you’ve built an amazing platform for travelers’. Thank you so much, Kevin and Maura.

Zoom with Patrons

[00:51:51] Annie Sargent: This last weekend I had my Zoom conversations with patrons, it was very fun. It’s always good to touch base with everybody. And I showed them a lot of photos from my trip to Lille, which, you know, this is audio, I can’t show you photos, but on Zoom, I can.

Tour Reviews

[00:52:07] Annie Sargent: Somebody left this review of my Montmartre tour this week. This person wrote: ‘The technology worked very well. This worked so much better than having to start and stop and follow a map. Agreed on that one. It really worked flawlessly and the narration and information provided seemed top notch’.

Well, I sure hope so.

Another walker wrote: ‘Very informative and easy to understand and follow. Great historical stories’. Yes, that’s an important thing. My tours are essentially historical, except for the food tour, where we start with history and then we end on the food. But yes, I love history, you know, what can I tell you?

Planning a Trip to France with Annie

[00:52:47] Annie Sargent: Planning a trip to France? Need personalized advice? Hire me as your itinerary consultant. Choose the Bonjour service for a one hour Zoom call with tailored recommendations, or go VIP for a more detailed follow up guide. You can visit JoinUsInFrance.com/boutique to get started on that.

And if you don’t need a one on one consultation, you can still take me in your pocket with my GPS tours on the Voice Map app. These tours lead you to the best of Paris, covering the Eiffel Tower, Le Marais, Montmartre, Latin Quarter, Île de la Cité, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and the food tour around Les Halles.

Podcast listeners get great discounts on these tours by buying them directly from me at the Join Us in France boutique, but this is a manual process, I have to get your request and respond with tour codes. So don’t leave it till the last minute. If you buy via the VoiceMap app, you’ll pay a little more, but you’ll get the tour immediately. So pick the one that works best for you.

Paralympics 2024

[00:53:56] Annie Sargent: Today I want to say how excited I am to be going to Paris for the Paralympics. We have tickets for many events.

We’ll be there for six full days. And we will be going to different things every day. We’ll have to go all over the place to the different venues, either by bus or taxi. I’m driving us to Paris in the electric car, but we’ll be parking the car and I probably won’t touch it again unless I really have to.

You know, driving in Paris is stressful, but I’ve done it so much that I, you know, that’s not the biggest problem for me. Parking! But parking in Paris is a scourge, although starting on October 1st this year, any EV that weighs less than 2000 kg will be able to park for free anywhere in Paris for 6 hours.

So, huh, that’s my car, I’ll be able to park anywhere I want in Paris, if I can find a spot that is, and that is not a given. So it’ll be bus or taxi for us because my future daughter in law, Melanie, is a wheelchair user, so we cannot take the Metro or most of the RER. Only 25% of metros and trains in Paris are wheelchair accessible, and for the most part, the metro is not wheelchair accessible, even if there is an elevator, sometimes there are stairs somewhere else, that you can’t get around if you are using a wheelchair.

This is the busiest metro system in the EU, carrying over 4 million passengers daily. But only 29 stops of the metro are fully wheelchair accessible. It’s going to cost between 17 and 22 billion Euros to fix this, and it will take 20 years. But the president of the Paris region, Valérie Pécresse has vowed to get it done. And I am so happy that they are even considering this because, you know, when we started talking about the Olympics, they were like, Oh yeah, by the way, what are we going to do about the wheelchair access?

And it was way too late to do anything about it. So this is the sort of thing that you have to work on for a long time. For the Paralympics, they’ve put in place a hundred minibuses to take disabled visitors from the major train stations in Paris, that would be Montparnasse, Saint Lazare, Gare du Nord, etc., to the venues. The problem with this plan is that, number one, you have to get to one of those major train stations, and number two, what happens to families like us, where only one of us is a wheelchair user? Will they transport all of us, or would they just take her? Knowing the RATP, I doubt there would be much flexibility there, so we’ll take the bus or taxis. And the bus system in Paris is wheelchair accessible. It is of course slower than the metro, but it’s doable. We’ll also take some taxis. I mean, there’s places we need to go where it would take two hours to get there on the bus. And so we’ll, for those cases, we’ll take a taxi. You can with the G7, with a j with a G7 app you can request a taxi that is wheelchair accessible and for four people. So that’s what we plan on doing.

Paris really needs to get on with it because not having elevators is a pain for families as well. Strollers and escalators are not a good match.

On French TV, they’ve had lots of interviews with para-athletes and explained why this has to become a priority.

And I’m so happy that this is now part of the normal conversation in France. It wasn’t just last year. So this is great.

Paris will be all the better for it. And that’s a good way to spend my tax dollars, if you ask me. My thanks to podcast editors, Anne and Cristian Cotovan, who produced the transcript.

Next week on the podcast, an episode about renovating a home in Southern France with Brian Tolleson, actually, near the Riviera, this is where he found his home. Brian is a wonderful, enthusiastic person who was at the bootcamp in 2024, so I had a chance to meet him and it was a fantastic conversation, you don’t want to miss it.

Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. Au revoir.

Copyright

[00:58:10] Annie Sargent: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and Copyright 2024 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.

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Transcript for Episode 509: A Weekend in Marseille