Paris(but not only)  Personal Tours

The term "Calanques" designates the 12-mile-long steep rocky coasts between Marseille and Cassis.

Except for the color of the white limestone, some creeks do remind me of the Estérel Massif.

But I admit the color of the sea is even more beautiful here... We can see a lot from the road and make some picture stops but nothing beats a boat trip!

Now, when it comes to the town of Marseille itself, guess what: I have mixed feelings...

The picture below (free-of-right and downloaded for free on pixabay.com like all other pics on this page) captures well both the beauty and the roughness of that big city (1.7 million inhabitants = the third most populated city in France after Paris and Lyon):

Marseille is the French city of the extremes because of the density of the population to which you must add nearly 1 million visitors from the big cruise-ships alone...

So it's not, to my standards, the best place where to go off the beaten path! But Marseille is not to be missed mostly for one thing: its unique and unmissable bouillabaisse! We can stop there for lunch or dinner before we head back to Saint-Raphael...

And what if I tell you that a boat can easily bring us in 20 minutes to the Chateau d'If?

This 16th century fortress built by king Francis the first doesn't look like much from a distance,

I agree... But maybe the magic will operate if I tell you that this castle is famous worldwide as the prison of Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo? And did you know that every year, at the end of June, there are over 600 swimmers who swim the 3-mile-distance from the island to Marseille in order to honor Edmond Dantes's escape?

Marseille / Cassis / Calanques