Marseille

I have had a couple of days alone in Marseille. Torea went off and did a Torea. I will say no more. She only just on our last night arrived in Marseille - a couple of days later then intended.

Anyway I have done lots of walking. I walked around the whole city centre on Monday and saw many a pretty building. The cathedrals here are quite stunning. They all look vaguely like they have zebra stripes on them. The vieux-port is the old port area - originally a port where the ancient Greeks came over. It is quite beautiful. I also walked to the Notre Dame. It's on a hill - So great vantage point. However this also meant getting up the hill. Only on my way down did i see the bus go past.. It was so exposed and so so so so hot!!
In the evening I treated myself to a fancy dinner and a fancy restaurant with a beautiful view over the port. Boulibasse - the dish Marseille is famous for. Delicious.

Yesterday I took the ferry to the islands near Marseille. I had to wait in the hot queue for hours - it was horrible! Very confused as well with what was happening - the boats werent where they would be when they said the would be. But oh my gosh was the wait worth it. Both islands were very beautiful. The island "If" has a chateau - which was really breathtaking. Used to be a prison and was made famous by the book "the count of Monte criste"- I think.  The island frioul was much larger. I ate at another fancy restaurant with beautiful views over the port for lunch then went for a walk. There was a main path to walk on, and everywhere little paths which clearly people scrambled down the cliffs to the sea. I found my own wee path, and was treated with my very own little cove to swim in. Given it was so hot it swimming was the most incredible part of the trip so far!! Absolutely beautiful - and so much stunning underwater life  (including a squid or something that was a little too close for my comfort).

Today we have left France for Italy. We spend most of the day on trains, taking us all the way from Marseille to Lake Como. In the middle of the day we stopped for a break from trains in Nice, and had a nice swim and some last French food. It was very very hot! Had a very long day and currently waiting for the final train at Milan...