After nine months and more stuck at home in the weirdest global sanitary crisis ever, we decided to plan (and stick to our plans) holidays in the South of France. In Provence, where my family is.
Although Summer in London was nice this year, we desperately needed a break, especially from the screen. We were afraid to have to cancel everything with the quarantine rules imposed by the UK for travellers returning from France, but our flights seemed to be on.
During our trip, we visited different places: Marseille, Salon-de-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, Hyères, Porquerolles, Cassis, Aigues-Mortes, Avignon, Village des Bories, Gordes.
In this article, I’ll only share a few photos that Salty brilliantly took, because I don’t want to overwhelm you with many visuals. But first, this made us laugh on our day in Avignon, a little wink to you, Londoners… 😉
We were so happy to land in Marseille-Provence Airport, where we took an easy bus that drives you directly to Marseille Saint-Charles train station, in the heart of the City Centre. Then it was only a 30-min walk to get to our hotel, the New Hotel of Marseille, near Pharo and the Vieux Port. And we love walking!
We dropped our bags, changed and started to discover the surroundings. Our hotel, near the Sofitel and Novotel complexes, is really cute and well-located. The staff was welcoming, however, for the 1-night price (around £150 including breakfasts), in spite of getting free access to their pool, we were expecting more surprises in the room, given all room services are currently cancelled for safety and health reasons in the hospitality sector. But the room was quite empty. Otherwise, the contemporary hotel is overall stylish, artsy, rooms are quiet with double-glazing which preserves you from the noisy Marseille road traffic. And this is me, eager to take on our lush morning breakfast buffet selection:
On our journey, we visited Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde (so called “Bonne Mère” which means “The Good Mother”) with the little touristic train via the gorgeous Roucas Blanc quarter and its white villas. We walked towards the MUCEM and visited its astonishing architecture setup and admired its views overlooking the city, we ate in a homemade Couscous specialty restaurant in the Belsunce quarter (the food is so good and cheap at the same time), we stopped at Pain à l’ail, a place that serves traditional “Street Food Provençale”, a spot that we definitely recommend, rue de la Tour.
Then we made our way to Salon-de-Provence and Aix-en-Provence where we made some happy shopping and relaxed alongside the pretty and narrow streets.
The Saturday, we went in family to Hyères, “Les Salins” quarter where we stayed until the Wednesday. The place we stayed at was really cute, overlooking the Salins wilderness and its pink flamingoes.
We decided to get to Porquerolles Island and explore Hyères City Centre.
The tip: in Porquerolles, rent a bicycle to see more around the island, because it’ll lead you to further corners that you wouldn’t have expected by foot. We also loved the crystal clear sea and white sand beaches over there, it’s been an absolute delight to be able to swim in there.
We had pleasure visiting the narrow and charming streets of Hyères City Centre, walking up to the Castle ruins, a view point overlooking the city and the Mediterranean sea. So beautiful…
Our last evening in Hyères Les Salins was symbolised by a nice and social distancing night at a nearby pub (Kaïna Beach) with a friendly staff. We could dance on some very French songs, and Gipsy Kings. By the way, here’s “Attention, Saucisson” – the Spotify Playlist that Salty (who loves learning new French words, by the way) put together to carry our memories from Provence everywhere we go, especially made for the time wasted in the London tube.
On our way back to Salon where we were based, we stopped in Cassis and Aigues-Mortes, where we enjoy the towns a lot. A few photos for you to get a feel of what it looks like over there.
Later on, we visited Chateau L’Emperi in Salon-de-Provence, one of the numerous highlights worth a try in Provence. But the best was yet to come, when we visited Avignon, Roussillon (Les Ocres) – the so called “Colorado of Provence” -, le Village des Bories and Gordes. We loved the warm colours, the sun burning our skin, the leaves starting to fall announcing Autumn (even if the heatwave didn’t make us feel so).
The tip: in Avignon, we feel in love with Moustache, probably the best ice cream spot in the city, where it’s worth your pennies and where the staff is adorable.
Provence is some place that you don’t see everywhere, a parenthesis that makes you want to disconnect from the rest, from the big city life. We would’ve been keen to stay longer and admire the unique landscapes and their splendour, but everything comes to an end.
And on our very last day in Salon-de-Provence, it was raining so we wanted to photograph the surroundings from Chateau L’Emperi, just to comfort ourselves in the idea that it was time to go.
We had such a great time, we came back to London full of memories, rejuvenated, relaxed, ready to take on the quarantaine back to the UK (we’re still in it until the 4th by the way). This break was probably the only one we actually could have with everything that happened this year. Like everyone, we wish this had been different, and that life were normal, but at least we could experience this paradisiac parenthesis and enjoy the last warm sun rays of Provence Indian Summer.
A lesson we learned during our trip? There is more to take from simple stuff than you think, and not too far from where you live. A year ago, we were having great fun in Los Angeles, but this year, we realised how much there is to see from my home country. The van (that we named Popcorn) and that Salty is currently working hard on will hopefully enable us to feel freer and explore around in the UK, France and the rest of Europe. Because we actually ignore the potential of what’s out there and we want to know more about it, by making our own experience. This may sound cheesy but a year like we’ve just lived makes you hang on what you own. It makes you be more human and more reasonable about things. It makes you care about your surroundings and people around you.
A little bonus for you, friends, readers, van lifers, family… This is how I (Sweet) handled mosquitoes during our trip. It’s been a nightly fight, shall we say. God damn useless insects.
Sweet & Salty 