This is a picture of the boat anchored at the Isles du Frioull but we will get to that later...
We had a fairly sensible night the first night as Marie was making a huge lunch the next day for some of her and Brian's friends they hade made in Marseille over the winter. This is a picture of some of them on deck, unfortunately a cold wind had started blowing so the tarpaulin had to be brought out to shelter us all. Their friends all own/work in the restaurant Veloute which Marie and Brian have been frequenting over the winter. This was the same place that they managed to get involved in a machete attack on a couple who ran into the restaurant for somewhere to hide. Brian and a waiter had to tackle the gang with chairs to help get the owner back inside and out of harms way - scary. For a full report you should look to Marie's blog Enjah Travels (google it.) Marie had made a great feed far more food than I would have thought possible to produce on a boat and Marie even made two versions of her fish pie to cater for everyones dietary restrictions. Brian made a large tub of punch for his contribution and thankfully hadn't put any rum in it as he had made the same fatal mistake as Ali and bought French rum (nasty) luckily discovered the night before when he and Ali had drunk our rum and were looking for more! We had thought after the first night maybe Brian and Marie had calmed down a bit and the partying in Barcelona was just a blip but after all the guests had gone we managed to sit for a long time and finish off Brian's 5 litre plastic flaggon of Rose amongst other things......
Thankfully we had two days to recover and sort the boat out before Inga and Mark arrived so we could afford to relax a bit the first day.... We went for a look around town to try and find the railway station etc to collect Inga and Mark from the station. We got a bit of a shock that first day as the road up to the railway station is full of little cafes with lots of Arabic/Eastern European men sitting around at tables but today there was a police raid presumably for illegal immigrants. The police had very big vicious looking dogs that we had to negotiate our way around and we ended up going out onto the street as the dogs were trying to attack all the passers by. It wasn't a very good first impression of the city but I am glad to say after a few more walks around we found it to be a bit better. Saying that Dennis had his car broken into two nights in a row and Marie and Brian were involved in the attack on their friends restaurant so we were a little wary
We were invited back to Enjah that night to help finish off the left overs which was greatly appreciated and thankfully we had only one glass of wine each!
On the day Inga and Mark arrived we had a big clean up session as usual for guests, the girls hopped between the two boats and Kaylee finally got it sorted in her head who was Tess and who was Dennis having been a bit muddled until then. Brian kindly took Ali to the airport to pick up the guests at night time and we had a couple of beers to welcome our guests before bed.
We decided to stay in Marseille for a few days to do a little sightseeing before going off to anchor at the Frioull islands.
At the door of 'Le Palace de Justice'
On the steps heading for Notre Dame de la Garde which turned out to be only the first part of a steep climb.....
Alisha bounding ahead in her gazelle like way.
Here at last! The church dominates the Southern skyline of Marseille and we could see it from the boat, the golden figure glows in the sunset and it is all light up after that, very nice.
The inside of the church is quite spectacular.
These are all gifts from seamen after returning safely from journeys, there are lots of models of ships and boats hanging from the roof too. Notre Dame de la Garde translates as 'our lady of the guard' or the guardian angel of Marseille as they apparently like to think of her (well all those of a Christian persuasion.)
A view of Marseille and the Frioull islands taken from Notre Dame de la Garde
The kids were feeling a little restless after having to stay quiet in the church so we stopped for a playpark break!
War memorial. This was halfway home after we went down the back of the hill thinking it wouldn't be too long a walk..... and ended up doing a semi circuit of the suburbs of Marseille, two guesses who's idea that was! The kids were as grumpy as hell by this point.
At night we went out for a meal with Enjah and met this street performer on the way. Tess and Dennis directed us to a oriental food place where you go along a huge counter and point at dishes which they then heat up for you to either sit in or take away. We just ordered up a range of dishes and had a big sampling session. It was all tasty and very cheap (always appealing to us Scots!) 80Euros to feed all of us including two bottles of wine! After that it was back to Enjah for a last go at the pudding Marie had made for Sunday which our two little pudding monsters were delighted about.
Breakfast, in fact every meal was eaten on deck each day. Breakfast was always fresh bread and fruit from the little shops just up the road with cheeses, ham coffee and yoghurts, very continental.
The next day we headed off around the North end of the harbour to see what was there, this is the Cathedral de la Major which is one of the biggest built in France since the middle ages and the only one built in the 19th century. It too is an impressive structure and beautiful inside. There were a lot less people here and the girls ran around pretending it was full of monsters.
But there was no need to worry about what the kids were getting up to with Inga around!
We went for a walk around the Panier district which is all steep lanes and very pretty. We walked around here a little more than we expected as we got a little confused on which way was home.
On the Friday we set off for two nights anchoring at the Frioull islands. As we were leaving Marseilles we spotted this lovely sight.....
a small selection of Marseilles finest topping up their tan behind the old fort on the harbour wall!
Inga enjoying sailing - honest!
The island of If with the Chateau d'If which was originally a prison for political and religious captives. The island was one of the settings for Dumas' novel the Count of Monte Christo. It is situated between Marseille and the Frioull islands and you can get there by one of the tourist ferries from the city.
After a gusty sail around the islands we had lunch and started dinghying people ashore. This is Inga and Mark's first trip ashore.
There is also a marina on Frioull but it is a bit pricey and we didn't go near it.
Chateau d'If and and Marseille in the background
We had a good old walk around the North island looking at all the old military bases but there isn't much to explain them so we didn't really know what we were looking at.... The girls refused to climb up to the old quarantine hospital so I stayed at the play park with them and we found loads of snails of all sizes around this big cactus. Alisha said it must be snail heaven but we reminded her that technically you should be dead before you get there. We stopped for a peerie beer on the way back to the boat and relaxed thinking this is the lifeand then.... On the road a man came up to me and said, "your boat is not OK the anchor has moved." You can imagine a little panic set in making us pick up the pace a bit to be greeted by this sight as we came around the corner.....
The wind had done a 180 and now Islay Mist was bobbing against a fish farm in the cove thankfully not the rocks! I don't know if we will ever get this anchoring thing right! We got back aboard and reset the anchor, no harm done and spent a thankfully event free night at anchor. The Frioull islands aren't the greatest anchorages, really only for calm weather as the few places there are to anchor are either very exposed or very small with no real swinging room.
The next morning we all went ashore again the girls and I stayed at the small beach to collect pretty things whilst the rest went off to see what the South Isle had to offer.
When they got back we motored around the island to anchor in an even smaller narrower cove they had spotted from the road. It was very narrow so we got to use our stern anchor for the first time to make sure the boat didn't swing. There were quite a few other small motor boats anchored in the cove too but they were all just day trippers coming out for lunch. We had a quick lunch then it was all ashore for some swimming.
Ali and Kaylee.
Mark
Islay Mist the anchor holding well!
Alisha and Kaylee's beach art.
Dinner and a glass of wine on deck after a hard day at the beach.
The next day there was more of the same before heading back to Marseille in the afternoon.
The lasses got a fire going.
Inga and Mark went out for a row which strangely resulted in the dinghy seat breaking when they both sat on it.......
We tied the dinghy to a branch in the sea so the girls could play on it, pulling it in and out and jumping off of it
Then Ali and Mark dragged a big log over to the rocks to act as a diving board!
We got back to Marseille with the priorites of finding out what the heck was happening with the volcanic dust cloud and what it would mean for Inga and Mark's return flight. They spent a couple of days worrying (not Mark he said he would just sail on if he couldn't get home!) and emailing Ryanair - a fruitless task! and so it came to Monday night and we had everyone over for a big leaving night even though we weren't sure if anyone actually was leaving the next day!
Tess had kindly taken Marie and I up to a vietnamese food store which had almost anything at all you could want for any kind of oriental cooking including all the strange fresh veg you see in recipes at home but never can get your hands on. I certainly didn't need to get ripped off at the market in Port Vendres as Marseille has hundreds of little stalls and shops selling anything you could ever want, I could have spent alot more money there and made Ali really mad by stocking the boat up with 'hellery'
Some bubbles on deck with poppadoms before the main course.
After dinner we retired inside and although there was lots of guitar playing and fine singing from Tess (and less fine singing from the rest of us - ahem!) things quickly degenerated from there......
You could tell Ali was past guitar playing when he started hugging Inga and telling her, "Tell Frank I love him, mind now and tell dee dad I love him" Not very much later this was the scene with a cheeky little lady having decided to get up and rejoin the party....
Needless to say Inga and Mark didn't get away the next day, Brian had driven them out tot he airport again and all Ryan air had offered was a refund or rebooking for a week later which just wouldn't do. Ali, Inga and Mark spent the rest of the day going to the rail station, bus station, travel agents and internet cafes to see if there was any other possible way to get home. Dennis even offered to try and squeeze them into their car as they were packing up and leaving that week too but when they were finished packing it was fairly obvious there may have been room for a mouse but nothing bigger! It did look like it was going to be a torturous route home they would have to take until British airspace opened up again the very next day. A new flight to Gatwick was quickly booked and there was relief all round (on our part because Marseille is a fairly expensive harbour and we'd been there long enough!)
We had a much more restrained 2nd last night and Inga and Mark left promptly the next day to get their plane. We had a last day in Marseille just spent reorganising the boat and doing washing courtesy of Enjah as they have a machine on board - luxury!
At night time we went out to Veloute, Marie and Brians favourite restaurant for our last night.
Mario the owner came over with a bottlle of bubbly as he knew it would be one of the last times Marie and Brian would be dining there as they were leaving Marseille at the end of the month. The restaurant was a good fun and thankfully not a machete in sight! It was a great night out and a peerie bit overly, to give you an idea Brian and Kaylee were trying out some cool dance moves at 2am on the deck of Enjah......
It was a grey morning in more ways than one for our last day in Marseille, here is a picture of both the boats together hopefully they will meet again in Greece, late summer!
The Marie de Ville - town hall which was just behind the pontoon Enjah has wintered on and they have seen some action here, whether it has been rejoicing because of Marseille winning some football cup or fishing boats ramming the pier in protest about subsidies etc it has been all go here. We have been watching the news ever since being in France and it seems that there is not a week that goes by that some big public sector is on strike or there are protests. Marseilles bin men went on strike for a cuople of weeks and for a city that produces a heck of a lot rubbish it was not good, luckily they had cleaned the place up by the time we got there. On TV this week we saw some fishermen protesting about foreign imported shellfish we think by throwing them all over Paris! They do things in style here, no peaceful protests and negociations for the French.
Brian and Marie decided to take Enjah out for a run when we felt well enough to leave the harbour at about 2pm to say goodbye.
Marie very ably maouevering Enjah off the dock, at least she is allowed, Ali is quite rightly too scared to let me steer Islay Mist in the confines of a harbour!
We knew our tiddly engine was no match for Enjah's and it wasn't long before they passed us even though Ali was running ours at full throttle!
A big thumbs up fae Brian, was he relieved we were finally going??
A big thanks to Brian and Marie for all their hospitality, cooking, runs in the car, funs etc etc. It will be great if we can manage to meet up in Greece in a few months! Good luck to Tess and Dennis on returning home and building Jan's new house, we will hold you to that offer of dinner when we get home! Can't wait. Thanks to Inga and Mark for being great guests, Inga always insisted Ali gave me my fair share of the wine a perfect guest really!
And dat wis dat! Ali is busily preparing the next bit of the blog which we wil hopefully post soon, at the moment we are in Menton a mile from the Italian border which we hope to cross tomorrow!
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