8. Marseille

Paul attempting to look French
see all photos »

Slight hicup when checking out - cash only -  nearest  hole in wall to get more money happens to be a 10 minute drive through more narrow streets - and the cashpoint in St Didiers seems well hidden to us 'foreigners'. But eventually we find it and return to Venasque to hand over cash. Finally we are ready to depart for Marseille.

Drive to Aix En Provence and again deal with traffic chaos and parking issues before exploring city on foot. Lunch and cappucino followed by visit to internet cafe.

Campervan picked up successfully - steep learning curve

Marseille harbour
see all photos »

Drive to Marseille - traffic chaotic and parking impossible but eventually get to tourist information office - Clare has minor nervous breakdown - pep talk required.

Check into Hote Rhul - 3* hotel with 5* views - good place to re-group.

Decided to walk back into Marseille and check out the night life - very pleasant walk with spectacular views of coast. Many very large and expensive looking yachts.  Place buzzing and many restaurants along waterfront. Had been advised that  seafood was the way to go, so chose Bouillibase - lots of bones. Missed the bus, so walked back to our hotel - helped us sleep on our less than 3* mattress....

Walk into Marseille
see all photos »

Saturday morning we head off to return our car. Forget to fill up with petrol so must re-negotiate some tricky turns to find a petrol station and return. We are then advised that it would be more sensible to return our car to the airport drop-off area since the campervan pick-up location is supposedly nearer there. So off we go again - airport perhaps a 30 minute drive. Catch a taxi from airport to pick up our campervan - another 30 minute drive and $100. Think we should have left the car in the city after all....When we get back to Sydney we have received a letter from Europcar to say they have charged us an extra day's rental because we were late dropping it off....definitely should have left the car in the city....

Marseille
see all photos »

The very nice (but french-speaking only) lady at Avis asks us to watch 20 minute instruction video of our campervan - none the wiser. French lady explains everything again - none the wiser. We head off anyway. Coffee break - read instruction book - none the wiser. Dealing with the toilet chemicals seems particularly daunting.