By the way I have put up a few more photos for you all to enjoy. You can see the album here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.
On the train from Spain to Marseille I had to make 2 changes, including passing through Figures the village where Dali spent most of his life. Unfortunately I could not stop and the train continued along the coast passing small villages and huge flocks of pink flamingos.
Leaving the station in Marseille I was quite suprised to see how many North Africans there were. The suburb of Belsunce sits right below the station and here you can find Moroccans, Algerians and plenty of Kebab stores!
I checked into a cheap hotel for one night and wondered down to check out the old port. This area is the heart of the city and the port is filled with hundreds of yachts. Bars and restaurants line the ports edges while and old fortress guards the entrance. Perched up on top of the highest point of the city is the Notre Dame de la Garde cathedral which dominates the skyline.
The next morning I took a bus up the hill to see the cathedral. Inside the cathedral is an unsual site - hundreds of paintings line the walls including impressions of ships and plane crashes! The view from the top is amazing. You can see the whole of Marseille as it stretches into the hills. You can also see out into the ocean. There are 3 main islands, not far from the mainland including the Ile D'If, made famous by the story "The Count of Monte Cristo". The prison from the story still stands and apparently if you visit it you can see the tunnel that was dug all those years ago!
Returning from the cathedral I decided to walk from the old port to the Prado beaches. It took me about 1.5 hours but it was certainly worth it. The coast line is gorgeous with little bays and lagoons. I made a quick stop at the Pharo palace, a Napoleanic mansion with a great view toward to the old and new ports. The Prado beaches hug the coast for a few kilometres and consist of both sandy and stone beaches. Being winter there were not so many people out but I could imagine that this area would be packed in the summer!
For the last couple of days in Marseille I managed to find a couch surfing host. His name was Thibaud and he really showed me a great time! He came and met me and we cycled back to his place together. It has been a while since I have cycled and boy am I unfit!! Did not help that I had my backpack on me too!
That evening we went to town for a couple of drinks and I was lucky enough to get a ride on Thibaud's motorbike! We zoomed down the main streets... Good times!
The next day I wanted to go and visit Ile D'If but unfortunately it was too windy and the boats could not stop there. So instead I went to the Frioul Islands. As you walk along the island you can see plenty of rugged coasts and interesting plant life, but to be honest this was not so impressive compared to New Zealand. The islands also host some ancient ruins and fortresses.
It turns out that Thibaud's neighbour was Israeli and so we popped in to say hello. We ending up listening to 70s and 80s punk rock and drinking beers! The Israeli dude also recommended a good kosher Shwarma place downtown so off we went!
We cycled into the city and found the kosher place and damn was it a good feed! After we were both full we popped down to a local shisha bar to watch the big game... Arsenal versus Barcelona.
Next stop ... Nice
Nice is a cute little beach town and is the heart of the French Riveira. Also to my suprise, Nice houses a sizable Jewish populatin of 25000 and has a few kosher restaurants. On the first day I went out and explored the city. The main street down town stretches from the train station right down to a large square just before the beach promenade. The square was all kitted out for Carnival, which had just finished the day before, including large floats, grandstands and screens.
If you face the sea and turn left you come to the old city of Nice which is a series of thin alleyways, markets and restaurants. The markets are a delight to all the senses, especially the nose with strong smelling cheeses, freshly baked baguette, nutella crepes and all sorts of meats... Beyond the old city lies the port, very similar to Marseille's old port.
The next day Joel arrived from Sweden and we decided to go chill with the billionaires in Monaco! We took a train and headed straight for the Monte Carlo casino. As we are actually quite poor we decided against going inside (they charge you just to enter!) - instead we sat right outside and drank Monaco beer (at 6 euro a bottle ouch!). I have never seen so many expensive cars in once place... Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Bentley.... Rich people everywhere! We then walked to the port and were blown away by the size of the boats! Private yachts as big as a football field! From here we wondered down to the beaches to enjoy another expensive beer! Monaco may be the place where Europe's rich and famous come out to relax but to be honest I was not so impressed. The city itself is not that stunning and the beaches are pretty average.... I guess its the tax free living that is the main draw!
After returning from Monaco we headed down to the main square where the final celebrations of Carnival were happening (turns out they were delayed because of the weather). There was some strange performance by some local kids but the main event was out on the ocean. We rushed down to the beach to try and find a place to watch the show... everyone else in Nice had the same idea! The final act of Carnival is to burn the King. Floating out on the ocean was a giant dude perched on top of a barge. He was then set alight and this was followed by an impressive 30 minute firework display... one of the best I have seen!
The next morning we headed to the Nice museum of contemporary art. I was hoping to find Andy Warhol's famous Campbells soup cans, as I had read in the lonely planet that this is where it is kept. Well... it was not there (although there was another work of Warhols on display) ... instead we saw all sorts of funky, weird "art" from strange blue men to crazy installations. I really do not understand most modern art, I must admit!
Finishing up at the museum we decided to climb up a small hill near the beach. On top lay the ruins of some old fortress, but it is the view over the city that makes the climb worth it. Interestingly the Jewish cemetery is also found up the hill.
That evening was Shabbos, so Joel and I rocked up to the local Chabad. After Kabbalat Shabbat we were sent off with a family for a delicious meal. It was really interesting chatting with a local family and boy was the chicken good! For shabbos lunch we were also sent off to a family, this time a younger Israeli chabadnik and his French wife. Thank you Chabad for the nice Shabbat experience!
Saturday night - time to party! We me up with some Couch Surfers who were studying in Nice and also a German dude from our dorm. In the pub we met all sorts of strange characters including some dodgy Canadian who kept hitting on the girls, some Aussie dude who was out drinking while his wife was sleeping and some very drunk british guy straight out of lock stock! Good times!
Well now I am in Italy... Been to Venice and now in Florence... You will have to wait until my next update to hear all about it! ;)
Ciao!
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