Yay for Marseille!

France has been redeemed, thanks to Marseille's beautiful coast line and its calanques - in particular the Calanque de Sugiton.  A calanque is a steep-walled inlet developed in limestone and there are several along the Mediterranean coastline.  And although we awoke to rain and cloud, we decided to forge ahead and go for a hike to the calanque we read so much about in our research on Marseille.

On the way to the bus station we decided to stop at a grocery store for some trail snacks and a picnic lunch.  You wouldn't believe what Jim found - a 1.5 litre bottle of water for forty cents. FORTY CENTS people!  So the restaurants are charging an 1100% mark-up.  As such, we have decided to stay here and sell water to tourists to make our livings. 

We bought a few pre-made sandwiches and some chocolate and kept on walking.  Half a block later we passed a bakery that was selling huge baguettes with fresh ham, cheese, and roasted red peppers (among other interesting ingredients) for the same price. Damnit! Maybe the title of this blog should be "you've been had".  I guess we just have to learn the hard way.

Anyhow, we set off to catch the bus and as we approached the front door to get on the driver simply ignored our presence, refusing to open it.  Jim knocked on the door but still, not even a glance.  I saw that the rear door was open so we walked on and headed to the front to pay the man.  Still, he refused to acknowledge us.  I put the money into his tray and he ignored it, so I went and sat down.Thirty seconds later he took the money and replaced it with a ticket.  At each bus stop along the route (and there were a lot) we watched some poor person stand at the front door and knock only to be completely ignored.  He did reluctantly open the door once or twice but scolded the person as he did so - of course, avoiding eye contact the whole time.  He was perhaps the most sour person we've seen yet.  

We finally stepped off twenty minutes later at the university to begin our hike. It took a few minutes to find the supposedly well-marked trail head and then we were off into the woods of pine and other foreign plants whose names elude me. Twenty minutes later the rain stopped and the sun shone through the breaking cloud cover.  Birds were singing, bees buzzing, and nests of caterpillars fell from the branches onto the trail below.  We only passed one other young couple on our journey into the unknown.

It wasn't long before the white limestone cliffs came into view. They were towering and radiant in the sunlight, jutting down into the brilliantly blue ocean.  It was awe-inspiring and refreshing to be 
witnessing some of nature's most incredible architecture for a change.

We stopped to have lunch on some massive boulders and watched the rock climbers dangle above on the sheer walls of white and grey limestone.  Jim then decided to lead us on a bit of deathly ascent of our own - complete with chains, iron steps and scree slopes.  After I showed some reluctance to scale this unknown pass on an unknown trail in an unknown park he graciously allowed us to retreat.  Ok, there may have been a slight exchange of words but in the end we made our way back down safely to the original trail.   

Jim ascending one of several chains.

On the way back we came across a sleeping wild boar.  I thought it was a bear until I saw his tusks...and then I freaked out a bit.  Soon however, I realized he wasn't very interested in us.

Mr. Sleepy Boar

The day ended with some beautiful views of the cliffs and a long walk home to a waiting bottle of rose wine made with grapefruit juice.

Not bad Marseille.  Not bad.  Tomorrow, we leave for Nice and Monaco!