Perfect 5-day Tour in Marseille and Provence
France
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Aug 31 - Sep 5, 2023
*Wonderful cruise in the Calanques - our skipper Kristoph was great, very friendly, skilled and informative
*Our cooking class with Gille in Marseille was fun and we learned a lot from him, getting fresh fish/produce to make Boullibaise, etc., working as a team with 4 other couples
*Our 2 days Provence excursions with Robin Soulier were wonderful..... the wineries we visited and the wines tasted were all unique. Robin took us to several Roman ruins and Medieval castles, towns and theater/coliseums. He is very friendly and we learned so much from him about Provence and France as a country. We would definitely recommend him for others in the future. He went out of his way to have us follow him to Avignon to find our hotel, which was in the inner, older part of town. We would have had difficulty finding it our own.
*The Luminaries of Vincent Van Gogh and other artists on the famous cave walls was a tru highlight of the trip for us.
*We enjoyed each of our hotels. They were all distinctively unique and the staffs in each were very welcoming and helpful!
** Our one suggested would have been to include directions in our Roadbook regarding finding the underground parking lot closest to our hotel in Avignon as we had no idea where it was located, that there would be no parking nearby and ended up parking in underground parking far way from the hotel, making in difficult with our luggage to navigate the busy
inner pedestrian walkway of old town.
Thank you Josee for making this a beautiful, unique and memorable trip that really exceeded our expectations!
We are very, very grateful!!!!!!!
Hotel Reviews
Parking nearby was difficult! Everything else was wonderful!!! GREAT Location!!!!
Other than walking 350 meters to parking, it was amazing to be in a 1500 yr. old monastery turned elegant hotel with the BEST French breakfast!
Loved the feel of the old farmhouse turned hotel........ had some issues with the toilet and very small space, but wonderful breakfast in the a.m.!
Pay parking is a ways away. Be prepared to walk with your luggage from the pay for parking lot. Hotel is on the busy main, old town pedestrian walk way. Lots of people watching from your balcony if it faces to the front. Front desk employees friendly and helpful. Breakfast was comparable to other Hotels in Provence.
Activity Reviews
An exciting, vibrant city. Hundreds of choices for wonderful places to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, all within a 5 to 10 minute walk. Walking at night is an amazing experience, especially along Vieux Port. Great people-watching, people from all over the world living and touring in this city.
This was in the top 2 experiences in our trip throughout Marseille and Provence. These islands are uniquely beautiful. Going in a pontoon boat can be a little bumpy but you have the opportunity to get much closer to the unique land, beaches and especially, being able to go into the caves along the coastlines. Bleu Evasion was a great cruise company. The employees are efficient, safety oriented and our boat captain, Christoph (spelling?) was very experienced, knowledgeable, friendly and engaging.......... all the attributes you want for an beautiful excursion like this!
Gille is a very talented chef who is able to share his knowledge of cooking with our group of 10 in a way that ALL of us learned SO much, from the experienced to the very inexperienced, like my husband. He came away so excited to try some of the techniques he learned from Gille. It was a great experience walking with Gille to look for the fresh fish at the Vieux Port and the fresh produce in a small square, a few blocks away and then walk to his mother's beautiful home to prepare our French meal. Wonderful experience~~~
One of our top 2 excursions in Marseille/Provence. Our driver, Robin, took us to a wonderful winery and then to Chateau des Baux-de-Provence where we saw the Luminaire exhibit in the caves of the Alpilles. Then lunch in the medieval town nearby, with a tour of the old castle after, with an amazing view of the beautiful vineyards and olive groves in the Baux Valley below....... a truly memorable day.
It was a wonderful area to visit with a lot of Roman and Medieval history and 2 different UNESCO world heritage sites to visit and walk through. Robin shared a lot of the history he was familiar with and we took a tour of the large amphitheater which has been re - done yet keeping the original structure intact so that concerts/performances are still held there today. Our only downside of the day, and which couldn't have been helped, was the high temperature the day we visited this area. Due to the sites all being outside, we weren't able to truly appreciate all that we saw that day.
