Adventures in France: Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, La Ciotat

After spending a night in Toulouse, we woke up early to continue our drive to Marseille. We rented a nice house in the Anse of Malmousque, in Marseille for us and the grand-parents. We were planning to be there before 2pm to settle down and pick up the grand-parents from the airport. We safely arrived a little later than expected and right in the middle of Marseille traffic! The landlady greeted us with a nice smile and gave us a short introduction of the area and which beaches were best.

It was a nice little house with creative designs, a small well organized garden and a swimming pool. The main problem was to find a parking space in the Really tiny streets around the house. It was almost impossible! People were parked on the sidewalks. It is a miracle how they fit their cars in such small spaces.

The weather was perfect and it stayed like that for the rest of the week, except for one day when it started to rain and we decided to visit friends in Aix.

My 3year old was already confused with all the different places where we slept. He kept saying "i miss Aygetsor, are we going back there?". the older ones were so happy to be in a different place all the time, they went on exploring the area around the house, swimming and checking their new room.

My parents arrived late in the afternoon, exhausted from the flight and the traffic. We decided to spend the first night at home. We walked to the grocery store near the house and we bought some delicious local goods and wine and of course the baguettes.

The best part of Marseille is the sea and the old port. With the kids, we chose different beaches to explore and we made our own rating:

Plage des Catalans: not bad, close to the area where we lived, clean, free and close to restaurants. It had also a restroom and shower area.
The bad part was that it was inside the city and too noisy. We could hear the cars from the street and the traffic was awful.

Plage des Catalans

The other beach we visited and we liked the best was in La Ciotat, a touristic area, 30 min drive from the old port of Marseille. There, we had a choice of different small sandy beaches, one beside the other. there was also a great choice of restaurants and bistros on the shore and easier to find parking space. The water was amazing, as usual, so clean! The kids had a blast; the older ones with the waves and the youngest playing endlessly in the sand, a little afraid from the water and the big waves. 

La Ciotat

We also walked in the old port, ate lots of seafood and discovered the most beautiful places.  The third beach we visited was on an island, near Marseille. IT was the island of Frioul and a boat took us there. It was a regular boat trip that was offered every hour from the old port and lasted 30 min to get to the island of If (for those familiar with the prison in Monte Cristo) and Frioul, famous for its nature and wild beaches.

The youngest one so excited to be in the boat and then in the small train to get to the isolated beach on the other side of the island.

As parents, we were getting tired with all 4 of them asking for different things, at times...but we enjoyed spending this time with them, without any electronic devices and connections to internet. I also disconnected my Facebook account before leaving, and it made all the difference. I was completely detached from the reality of Armenia and all the struggles and issues. For 2 weeks i was able to regain most of my energy, bond with the kids even more and come back ready to face the new challenges.