On Friday, we decided to go to Aix-en-Provence to do some shopping. There wasn't a lot to see in terms of sights (although Cezanne's studio is there, but we didn't see it), but it was a really cute little town.
Right when we got there, we headed to the office of tourism to get a map of town. We got lost a lot wherever we went so it was always good to have maps.
We shopped around for a bit and my mom got a really cute little bracelet from a store that sold jewelry inspired by nature. My grandma also found a cute shirt from a store in town. We had lunch at a little sandwich/ crêperie store. Afterwards we found a chocolate store for dessert called Jeff de Bruges. We have one in Chambéry but I hadn't tried it yet. Everyone agreed it was the best we'd had. My grandpa also found a very colorful cookie store so my mom took a picture in it.
Then, as if we hadn't had enough sweets already, we headed to a candy store so that we could get a sample of my favorite European candy (Lutti Fili-tubs) so that my family could try it. They're delicious!
After Aix-en-Provence, we headed down to Marseilles (an old port town on the Mediterranean Sea) thinking that we could maybe see the Chateau d'If, which is the world-famous prison that is also one of the key settings in my favorite movie The Count of Monte Cristo. The outskirts of the city were quite dirty with trash everywhere on the streets. The inner part of the city was nice although extremely congested with traffic, so nobody really wanted to stay. We hopped out at the Tourist Office just to get a map to figure out how to get out of town. Here is the one and only picture that I took in Marseille:
After we got out of Marseilles, we headed up to Les Baux, a medieval fortress turned tourist attraction. It was awesome. Somewhat like Mont Saint Michel (a cathedral set on an island-y hill in Normandy), it was set high up on the top of a hill/mountain. I don't have any pictures of it from a distance but I have pictures of the view. We parked at the very top of the parking lot which looked out over the country-side:
Right next to where we parked there was a rock formation that we climbed up. At the top it had a little peep-hole.
When we got inside, there was a medieval town below the fort. Everything was made of stone, with cobbled paths. Even going into the stores was like walking into caverns.
The scenery around it was very rocky intermixed with plants. My dad and I standing in front of it:
This picture point in another direction. You can kind of see the more modern town below (at the bottom of the photo), but I mostly took it because I liked the colors.
After walking through the medieval village, we headed up to the actual fortress itself.
Right when you walk in, there is a catapult (which I learned is called a "couillard").
After that, we wandered around what's left of the fortress (which is actually quite a bit) and looked at the magnificent views.
As you go through, you just keep going up stairs and then more stairs until you're at the very top of the fort.
We hadn't originally planned on going to Les Baux but it was really cool. I'm so glad we did!
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