We managed to catch the 6:51am train from Hendaye yesterday
morning – lucky the hotel was so close to the station. The first train went to Toulouse via Bayonne,
Pau, Lourdes and a few other places. At
Toulouse we changed onto the train to Marseille.
We had been to Bayonne station before – on Friday September
20. We changed at Bayonne from the TGV
from Paris to the local train to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port for the start of the
Camino. I can remember the excited sense
of anticipation. On the platform at
Bayonne, we met a couple from Southern California. They were experienced walkers, but
unfortunately the husband, a physician, had back troubles and they had opted to
have their luggage transported and just walk with a day pack. We met them again, I think near Espinal, and
they were going quite well. On the train
that day we also met a woman from Vancouver (Canada) and one from Berlin. They ended up walking together. We saw them in Pamplona and then again in
Cizur Menor, where we had morning tea together on Wednesday September 25. They were going quite well, although the
Canadian had a nasty blister.
Anyway back to our present adventure…
We had booked our accommodation in Marseille through the same
online B&B website we had used to find the third night’s accommodation in
Leon. The description said we had use of
the whole apartment, including washing machine and wi-fi. The owner was apparently out of the country –
his friend let us in and gave us the low-down on how things worked. In the description it said it was a fifth
floor apartment without a lift. One
review said the climbing the 120 steps to the apartment was an exhilarating experience
- I found it just plain terrifying! I
hadn’t realised what I was letting myself in for! However we got up to the apartment and made
use of the washing machine. Anna
ventured back down the stairs and bought some food for us to cook.
When I awoke this morning, for half a minute I thought that I
would just stop in the apartment, but realised it was a beautiful day and Marseille
was there to explore. We walked to the
Old Port, had lunch and walked on to Bas Fort St Nicolas. We then walked back to the tram stop and
caught the tram to the Palais de Longchamp, not far from the apartment. On our return, I managed the stairs ok! The weather was beautiful today and as it was
Sunday there were lots of people out and about.
We have been quite lucky with the weather so far (knock on wood), the
weather was beautiful for the whole time we were out today, but after dinner a
thunderstorm rolled through town – quite spectacular from the fifth floor. It was the same when we were in Leon, it
rained until we were ready to leave the Parador hotel, and just before we set
out it cleared completely, just like when we arrived on the bus!
Tomorrow we are off to Switzerland.
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