During our last visit to Marseille, we had tickets to go to the Calanques National Park - a series of islands, inlets, and fjords between Marseille and roughly Cassis. However, as mentioned, the Mistral was in full force and it was too windy to go out in the boat to see it. This time, the winds were calmer and we were able to book the trip out of the Vieux Port. There were many options - from 2 hours to all day affairs with swimming, kayaking, and champagne. We opted for the 3 hour trip out and back. No swimming or water sports.
The day was lovely and the water was very blue that day, even turquoise in some of the Calanque inlets. Technically the Calanques are fjords, but they were not the dramatically high steep kind you find in Scandinavia. Lower, but still dramatic limestone cliffs and out-croppings mostly. Linda found them not that interesting after a while (might have had something to do with her still recovering from illness), but though they do have a sameness, I enjoyed the trip and the sea.
On the way back, we went past the Chateau d'If - famous as the prison where Edmond Dantes was held until his dramatic escape in the Count of Monte Cristo (anyone have an opinion on the new series based on Dumas' novel?).
After 3 hours of wind, direct sun, and spray, we were pretty wiped out so we returned to our neighborhood and got take out food from a local chicken place I had scoped out earlier in the day. I knew I had the right one because there was a line out the door - mostly mothers on their way home, picking up dinner. I didn't remember to take a picture, but it was called something like "Poulet Take Away". Didn't sound promising, but the line told the story. The 2 guys inside were barely able to keep up with the demand.