Travel day from the Luberon to Rome included a min-trip yesterday via taxi to Pertuis, then on to Marseille and the new Radisson Hotel at the harbor for an overnight stay. We had some misgivings from the start, when the rather elderly taxi driver had difficulty reversing his car out of La Jassine’s driveway. We had to declare with urgency two or three times that he was perilously close to the edge of the raised drive that overlooks the cherry orchard. Since even walking in the orchard is discouraged due to its significance as a producing source of income for the neighbors, an overturned taxi would have been especially inappropriate. With a series of “bon, bon, bon” declarations, the driver eventually navigated the reversal.
We didn’t want to chance missing the bus to Marseille, so our early pick-up meant we had two hours of waiting for the bus’s departure. Buying our tickets two days in advance out of an abundance of caution seemed ridiculous in hindsight; we had the bus to ourselves on the first leg of the multi-stop trip, which took about an hour and 40 minutes.
The last 15 minutes or so were spent winding through a maze of Marseille streets. Our friends Cecile and Dick Conoby had advised against driving in Marseile due to the tricky street layout, and we immediately saw the wisdom of that advice. The bus drops you off at an upper level of St. Charles train station, and the taxi pickup area is a level below, reached either by escalator or a small elevator that travels diagonally parallel to the escalators.
The Radisson is a terrific new hotel; it opened in 2007. Our room overlooked the harbor, and we hope the accompanying photos in today’s post due it justice.
After breakfast, we walked several blocks into the heart of town and strolled up and down the pedestrian-only Rue Saint Pefféol, which seems to be the main shopping street. Lunch took a long time at La Taverne de Maitre Kanter across the Quai de Rive from the harbor. Lennie’s eyes lit up when she saw bouillabaisse on the menu posted outside the restaurant, so that’s what we had.
The Radisson staff was exceptionally accommodating and granted us continued free wifi access while we killed a couple hours in the lobby – checking email and posting to the Travel Journal. Next stop: Rome after an overnight train ride in a sleeper compartment. In addition to Rome’s obvious attractions, Doug is looking forward to finding a convenient Internet connection.
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