Prado Beach and Les Calanques

Prado Beach and Les Calanques

Marseille, France, Europe

I walked a lot today, but I saw some beautiful scenery. I started out by going to Prado beach, which is about two miles outside of the city center, and it was recommended by some people at the hostel as the nicest beach in the city. I was pretty impressed. The city center in Marseille didn’t look like it would be the home of a nice beachside, but it is. It also helped that the sun was shining. I’ve been lucky lately and had beautiful weather.

I spent a couple hours walking along the seaside and checking out a few of the local beaches. There was some sort of festival going on where a bunch of people were riding skateboards and bmx bikes around a course. That was pretty good to watch for a while. I was also recommended by someone at the hostel this morning to check out a place called Les Calanques. It is known as the most beautiful place in Marseille, so I had to check it out.

I walked for a couple of miles until I could jump on the 21 bus out to Luminy. It was about a 30 minute bus ride and I ended up in the village with what appeared to be a big laboratory. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was meant to go, because the scenery there was nothing to write home about. I found a map showing all the trails up into the hills and started walking. It was about an hour before I could finally see what people were talking about. This is an absolutely stunning area.

The hike was along a dirt path where I kept passing loads of hikers and some beach goers. I also saw a couple of wild boars, big ones, and went to take some photos, but a couple of local girls said I shouldn’t because they can be quite dangerous. I heeded their advice, for now. The trail just kept going up and up and up until I finally reached the top of this little peninsula mountain. The view along the coast was amazing. The water is a perfect turquoise color, and crystal clear. It was like what you would see on a postcard.

I met some people up at the top who said that the view from up here was even better than it was from down below, which I was very thankful for. It meant that I didn’t have to waste my time walking down there when I wasn’t even going to get in the water anyway. I hiked back down to Luminy, got my bus back into the city, and then it was time for my next scavenger hunt place from Jacquelien.

Marseille’s place I had to find was a bridge next to the water. I figured that I would run into it at some point today when I was down at Prado beach, but I couldn’t find it. I finally asked a couple of police officers who were working down on the beach and the recognized it as a place called Vallon des Auffes. I found it on the map and made my way there. It was a pretty little bridge with lots of people swimming in the cove in front of it. I snapped a few pictures to complete my task and then headed back to the hostel.

It was about 6pm when I got back and I’d spent most of the day walking in the sun, so I was exhausted. I had to run back out to go to the bus station to get my ticket for tomorrow so I can get to Nice. The train driver’s strike is wreaking havoc in France, and I need to make sure I can get to Nice tomorrow, and more importantly that I can get back to Marseille on Monday for my flight to Edinburgh on Tuesday. The bus will take a little longer, but it’s more reliable.

I spent the rest of the night at the hostel chilling out, watching England lose to Uruguay and get knocked out of the World Cup after only two games. I also met to lovely Yorkshire girls who have just arrived from Nice and they were able to give me some tips for Cannes and Monaco. Sarah and Louise are heading to Spain for a month, so there’s a chance I might run into them in a couple of weeks. It’s a small world after all…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *