While we were staying in Marseille we took a day trip to Aix-en-Provence. We had actually wanted to stay there overnight but couldn't find any CouchSurfing hosts so we were relegated to a day trip. Which was unfortunate, because the town is beautiful and you could easily spend a few days there. In a way it was a very typical French town, with lots of beautiful architecture and great cafes and restaurants, but when you're in France a beautiful town like this may be cliche but is so essential to the French experience...
Big water fountain in a roundabout close to where we got off the bus.
Around the fountain were a few massive sculptures (probably brass), all of the human body. We assume you can figure out what these are!
...The back of a head!
Man with missing arms. And lower legs. He has his penis though! So he is good for something :P
A very cool fountain that has a bit of greenery or moss growing on the top of it.
A cool building that we suspect is a church, but we're not really sure.
Nothing special...except we are in FRANCE! Just a photo that gives a nice feeling of what the place is like!
A cool street in the town...we like the street but really like how this photo turned out!
In one of the big squares, where there was plenty of outside seating for restaurants and cafes, there was a large building with a cool clock tower on one side...and here you see the picture of it!
A sprawling bit of cobblestone road. As you can see there are lots of restaurants here with outside seating. What a beautiful place to eat! (which we did...but you will see later!)
Another cool street with nice buildings. Again, we like how this photo turned out...if you make it large enough, and put your face up to your computer screen, it will seem like you were there! Oh, and turn a heat lamp on, cause it was hot that day!
Another square...as many as we came across on this trip, they are always awesome places to sit, eat, and people-watch!
Okay, so on this trip we stuck to an eating regiment...only eat the traditional food of the country we are in. This is the second time we broke our little rule (the first time being burgers in Nice). Well, it wasn't so much a rule, cause we naturally wanted to eat the traditional food. When we walked up a nice pedestrian street in Aix-en-Provence, we saw a large line up outside this tiny Vietnamese place. It was take-out only, and we figured if people are lined up outside, it's gotta be good! We got in line, and the guy in front of us started chatting us up, and pointed to the beef noodle dish at the front of this picture, and said, "that is the best thing you will ever eat in your whole life!" Well, we didn't believe him...no, we can't say he ended up being right, 'cause we never got the beef dish! We were in line for a super long time (maybe 30-40 minutes), mainly because the asian man (who reminded Stefan of Mr. Miyagi from "The Karate Kid") who was serving was moving in super slow motion! It was painful!
Remember the square we said we ate at but you would see later...well, here we are about to chow down into our yummy meal in that square! On the far left, we have a spicy tofu and onion dish, on the top was a chicken with noodles, bok choy and other veggies, and on the bottom was a shrimp, mango and basil salad. Ok, so it the whole meal sounds like a pretty normal one...but it was holy shit balls amazing! It was freaking tasty! We then understood why there was a line!
A view of the square we ate that meal in....we sat just past where the bike is in the photo
Stefan relaxing in the sun after that delicious meal!
A cool cobble stone alleyway.
Another cool square with fantastic buildings around! If you had to eat at one restaurant per square on this trip, you would be one fat pig by the end! Sounds ok to us!
We really like this building, imagine living in something like this! Yes please!
This was a nice, three sides of a square building with a quad in the middle. It seemed like something that should be in a prominent place and out in the open, but it was tucked away in an area with really narrow streets and wasn't populated by tourists at all.
Same church as in the beginning of this post...we came back around and took more photos and really liked how this one turned out. Crazy blue sky, and it's totally natural!
How many narrow streets in Europe look cool!? Too many, but we are gonna keep posting pictures of them anyway!
Ah, nice buildings and a roundabout...but see that sweet red Ferrari!? We rented it for the day, Stefan is driving, Cliff stood outside for a minute to take a picture! It cost a lot, but was worth it! Hahaha, you can't seriously believe we did that!? Okay, so we did get a picture of it, but the rest is bull! :P
The main street (the Cours Mirabeau) that leads into the old part of town was really cool. It had a huge stone walking part, and a narrow stone driving part. As you can see, it had lots of tress along it, and of course wonderful buildings and places to eat along side. What was really great about it was how the cars and pedestrians mixed. It never really felt like a street for vehicles, but somehow the cars being there didn't seem out of place. It was also filled with lots of people just relaxing and enjoying the day!
Here is the Deux Garçons, a famous brasserie on the Cours Mirabeau. Built in 1792, it was frequented by great artists such as Paul Cézanne, Émile Zola and Ernest Hemingway!
Back in Marseille, at the top of the massive staircase outside the train and bus station.
Stefan and his massive Hoe! He never had a Hoe so big! Hoegaarden that is :P His favourite beer ever! Found this litre of beer in Marseille, for only about €2.50...which is about 3.30 Canadian...yeah, super cheap for a premium beer! It was soooo tasty!
We both really liked Aix-en-Provence, and would have loved to stayed there longer. Another great place we recommend to make a stop at if you are ever over that way!
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