Day 10 - Ajaccio to Marseille

Alcohol Consumed: 2 glasses red wine, Gelati: 1 scoop chestnut cream

Today I spent the morning in Ajaccio before my afternoon flight to Marseille.  Breakfast was an odd experience.  I had been so used to just a half dozen or so people but my hotel is Ajaccio was full and the breakfast room was crowded.  I snaffled the last free table by the simple technique of leaving my Kindle on it.  This severely annoyed a couple who had considered it theirs but had stopped to get food & drink before sitting down.  Luckily for my karma, another table became free as they were looking around for somewhere else to sit.  All my breakfasts on the hike have scarred me.  Even though I had the option of salami & cheese to go with my bread, I opted for butter and jam.  Going home to muesli and porridge is going to be a startling experience.

After checking out I did the tacky tourist thing of taking the Petit Train tourist "bus" around Ajaccio and the surrounding area.  It is a pretend train pulled by a tractor (or perhaps a small truck) with railway "cars" behind it that drives around Ajaccio.  Unlike your standard tourist bus it is (just about) small enough to go down the narrow streets in the Old Town area.  I'd wandered around Old Town myself but I hadn't had a chance to get out to some of the more outlying areas, so this was a convenient option.  Plus it involved no walking.

A cruise ship had docked earlier that day and the train was almost full.  Those cruise ships are monstrous.  I counted 11 passenger decks.  They are like small cities.  I'm sure their population is more than that of Ajaccio.  I got the last empty seat on the train.  An English couple were very annoyed to have to share their seat for three with a third person.  My heart bled for them.

One of the main stops of the train was a square with a monument to Napoleon.  It is obvious that the Corsicans should be proud of Napoleon, when you stop to think about it.  After all he came from their small island, which I'm sure mainland France considers to be somewhat backward, if not barbaric.  However, all the books I've read about that period are from the British point of view, where he is the bad guy.  It causes me a certain amount of mental whiplash to see statues in his honour everywhere.

The "train" trip took up the morning so I just did some light shopping for souvenirs.  I wasn't very hungry since I'd done basically nothing so I then had a light lunch of a galette stuffed with bacon, goat's cheese and creme fraiche.  For dessert I had a cafe gourmand which turned out to be an espresso with a small serve of tiramisu (not as good as mine) and a tiny apricot tart.  A very pleasant meal.

The flight to Marseille was very short - about 50 minutes flying time, so all we got was a small drink that we had to drink quickly.  The poor flight attendents were basically pushing the trolley uphill up the aisle to serve us as we were still climbing, then snatching the cups out of our hands while trying to stop the trolley rolling downhill down the aisle as we were coming in to land.

At Marseille airport, while I was waiting for my bag, I stopped at the tourist information centre to ask for a map and information on how to get to the centre of town - in French.  My accent must have improved somewhat as we conducted the entire conversation in French.  Up until now most people have immediately lapsed into English when they hear me mangle their language.  Mind you, when I say conversation, my side was limited to very short sentences and even just the occasional phrase.  However, I did understand all that I was told - at least I think I did.  I managed to find the correct place to catch the airport bus and it took me where I expected to go, so I think I got it right.

I can't say I'm loving Marseille.  Not just Ajaccio, but all of Corsica is lovely.  I could live there.  Marseille is crowded, dirty and there is grafitti everywhere.  It just all feels a little seedy.

For dinner I headed out to a place the hotel recommends but I got there at 7:40pm and they don't open until 8pm.  I wandered about for a bit and came to a square (actually a rectangle) which was almost wall to wall cafes and bistros.  I picked one at random, largely because the waiter was friendly and chatted with me.  All the others ignored me.   It was a bad reason for choosing a restaurant.  I had the plat du jour which turned out to be an entire fish which had been baked in the oven with lemon.  It had a lot of bones and not a lot of taste.  It came with a salad - which was just lettuce and tomato - no dressing, some French fries - which came from a packet, and the only saving grace, a serve of ratatouille which was clearly made in house and was very tasty.  For dessert I had tarte tatin, which was clearly also made in-house, and was not bad at all - although not as good as mine.

Tomorrow I have my own personal 3 hour food tour of the old port area.  I'm all out of practice talking to other human beings.  It will be an experience - hopefully an enjoyable one.