"Southern France, Toulouse to Marseille, Bonjour!" France Travelogue by rwlittle

Our spring 2003 European vacation was in southern France. Here's what our rough itinerary was:

• Saturday, 03 May, 2003 Toulouse
• Sunday, 04 May, 2003 Carcassonne
• Monday, 05 May, 2003 Nimes
• Tuesday, 06 May, 2003 Nimes (day trip to Pont du Gard by bus)
• Wednesday, 07 May, 2003 Avignon
• Thursday, 08 May, 2003 Avignon
• Friday, 09 May, 2003 Arles
• Saturday, 10 May, 2003 Arles (day trip to Les Baux by bus)
• Sunday, 11 May, 2003 Arles (day trip to Aix-en-Provence by train)
• Monday, 12 May, 2003 Marseille
• Tuesday, 13 May, 2003 Marseille

Most of our traveling was by rail, which was pretty reliable, and much cheaper than renting a car.

red stained glass window inside Les Jacobins

I think we finally managed to perfect our vacation planning this time round, which was good, given all the places we visited and stayed this time 'round. Our first destination was Toulouse. We arrived with jet lag, which we conquered by staying up all day and seeing all the sites on foot. I'd recommend against taking the boat tour, it doesn't show much, and we almost got lulled to sleep by all the rocking motion.

Carcassonne at night

We took the train from Toulouse to Carcassonne, and then a taxi from the train station to our hotel. We stayed in a mideval castle, which was extremely beautiful and romantic. We went out and snapped this photo in the evening, when al the tourists on their tour buses had retreated elsewhere.

Pont du Gard

From Carcassonne, we took the train to Nimes. Nimes had ancient Roman buildings, and there was something in the air that set our allergies off like crazy (and I didn't know I had allergies). The Pont du Gard, which we visited by bus, was remarkable! It's so large, and still quite intact, and I'm still curious as to how the Romans managed to build it. The local bus system seemed well organized, and ran on time.

Palais des Papes

From Nimes, we moved on by train to Avignon, the former home of the Popes when they deserted Rome for a while in the Middle Ages. The Palais de Papes was extraordinary in its size. We also got out onto the Pont St. Benezet...or what remains of it. Avignon seemed extremely livable, and we enjoyed a lot of great food.

bull fighting in Arles

Next, we moved on to Arles. Arles had a lot of cute little streets, and a memorable Roman amphitheater. When we were in Arles, we lucked out...there was a bull fight scheduled for that afternoon! The tickets were pretty cheap (less than 10 Euro each), so we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity. This type of bull fighting doesn't involve any killing. Instead, a bunch of men in white run around the arena, taunting the bull and running away. The arena, in this case, was the Roman amphitheater.

trebuchet at Les Baux

Les Baux, nearby to Arles and one of our day trips, had very scenic views; we had to get there by bus from Arles, and the return trip bus never showed, so we took a taxi back to Arles with a couple from Quebec City.

We also took a day trip to Aix, this time by train. We thought that Aix didn't quite live up to its reputation, or maybe we'd become desensitized due to seeing all sorts of beauty on the trip already.

Chateau d'If

When we got to Marseille, we went out to Chateau d'If of "The Count of Monte Cristo" fame, my first time on the Mediterranean. Marseille was the first big city we'd seen since the start of the trip. There was a transit strike going on while we were there, so we had to hike to many of the sites. The Mediterranean seafood made for a fitting close to the whole trip.

From here, we caught our flight back to Boston...too soon, it seemed.