France Feb 10-14 Part One

 France Feb. 10-14 2024

Things did not get off to a good start on this leg of the trip. Our flight was late in departing Lisbon thus landing in the dark at Marseille. We dashed off the plane only to find out that we had to clear customs and immigration!!  This shouldn’t happen on flights within the EU but there is a provision that allows it if there is a perceived threat. Thus we stood in lines with passengers that had just arrived from Casablanca, Tunis, Rabat and Cairo. Tediously long waits. Finally out with luggage and a connection to WiFi so I could get an Uber. Told it would be fifteen minutes so we waited and after twelve minutes got a message that no Ubers were available that night. Stepped outside into a driving rain looking for a taxi. Found the taxi stand at the end of the building and when Cindy told them where we were going they told us to get in the taxi at the end of the line. Turns out that cabbie lives in Martigues and for him it was a great end-of-day fare. 

When Cindy told him our hotel he was shocked since it is in an industrial area far from the center of town. We had both researched this and this was by far the best hotel in Martigues, and on the website it said it was .7 km from downtown. It was not!  The fare for the trip was 97 Euros, outlandish for a thirty minute trip but there are fees: on weekends, from the airport, in the rain, if it is dark and so on. True to the cabbie's word, the hotel is in the industrial zone and is about two kilometers from downtown. They have a restaurant but it is closed on weekends! So far, not the best start of a visit. 

We unpacked in our lovely suite (it really is lovely) with a separate bedroom and big windows that overlook the tire store and truck wash.  By now it was eight and the rain had stopped so we walked the two klicks and found a few nice restaurants in a lovely little pedestrian area. We tried to get into one that seemed to have free tables but we were assured they were all reserved, it being Saturday night. We finally found a place above a dive bar which was just charming and filled with young diners. They specialize in Fondues and Raclettes , which every table seemed to be having. We opted for lighter fare and had a nice welcome to France dinner with some good wines. The walk home was cold and long but we made it safe and sound and slept well. 

This morning was bright and clear - I swear the visibility was more than twenty miles - and we discovered how truly lovely this little town really is. While I realize that everything looks better in sunshine, this place glistens with all the canals, etangs and whitewashed buildings. We dashed off to the Sunday market, always a high point in our French experiences, and this one did not disappoint. There were the usual stands of clothes, bags, bras and socks - which we ignored - and instead devoted our attention to the many food stalls. Depending upon the region of France, the food stalls have very different flavors, literally! Here there was a combination of Spanish, Northern African and local foods, and especially attractive were the hot items:  couscous of infinite varieties, some with fish and others with lamb and beef, huge caldrons of paellas, again with fish or meat, and local mixes of strange looking but marvelous smelling combinations of grains, pastas and potatoes. There were some ‘exotic’ food stalls with Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines, but in the end I purchased my breakfast of one saucisse de Toulouse and a piece of rotisserie chicken. 

We wandered around town and every outdoor cafe was packed with families and friends enjoying the sunshine while sipping on coffee, pastis or wine, all at ten in the morning, god love them. We did a little shopping at the local Spar grocery store and then looked about for a good Sunday lunch. Once again Cindy’s keen eye spotted a little (eight table) restaurant and we were shown to a two-top on the window. As we enjoyed our Champagne and garlic/olive tapenade we could not overlook the very loud but joyous conversations of a multigenerational table of seven adults and three kids, celebrating the birthday of a two-year-old who was cute and LOUD!  The restaurant is run by a charming couple and the food and wine were absolutely divine, a very lovely way to spend a Sunday in France.

Sunday night was cold and windy and we elected to stay in our room and have a French picnic with some of the things we had purchased during our walks. The lovely ladies at reception where only too happy to supply us with real wine glasses, a large plastic bag of ice, and for me a cold bottle of local beer. We had cold chicken, potato chips, local cheese and bread and wine.  For dessert we had some cookies with dark chocolate and chilled glasses of Jameson whiskey. A feast made even more special by the nasty weather outside that we were avoiding.

Scenes from Martigues, the Venice of Provence.