World Trip

Callanques of Marseille

May 3, 2005

The plan for the day was to go hiking. It came about because on the desk of the hostel I found a picture book of people hiking in the area, and wanted to go. Kimo was game. We (mostly Kimo) talked with Nabil, the resident expert on hiking and nature things. He recommended where to go, and we went. He said just follow the red and black trail, and watch out for some ridiculously poisonous centipedes.

Laurel, who I met in a Paris hostel, and then randomly ran into at the Leuvre after coming back from Belgium, walked through the door of the hostel. I am convinced she is following me. With a bit of trouble, we got to the starting point of the trails by bus and took off. The trail was fairly easy and the scenery spectacular. Along the way little inlets dotted the landscapes, and most of the time you could descend and swim. We eventually made it to a little beach on one of these inlets, accessible only by boat or hiking, and sat at the restaurant. Nabil said to ask for Henry and tell him we know Nabil. We did and Kimo and Henry chatted for a while. I went for a swim.

On the beach I heard the Polish mother-tongue and talked with two Polish women who come here every Friday while their kids are in school (They live in Marseille). At the table there was another Polish woman having dinner with her French husband, and supposedly, one of the people working in Henry's restaurant is Polish as well. This tiny little beach, inaccessible by car, in the south of France that had maybe twenty people on it, five of who were Polish. We walked on and the trail was easy and the vistas amazing. Eventually we came to the start of a green trail, which according to the map was much closer to the water. We took it, as it eventually met back up with the red and black one.

At first this trail was easy, but soon it became apparent that it is much more difficult. The ledge got smaller and it was really necessary to concentrate on your feet and hand to make sure you are on solid ground. We went on a bit more and then came to the point where the trail apparently ended and there were sheer cliffs all around. Dismayed, we backtracked a bit, but decided to go up instead of traversing the treacherous goat path we just came down.

We eventually ran, or more appropriately climbed, into the red and black trail, and were pretty relieved. We though that we would need to go much higher to meet it. From this point on we stayed on the red and black and headed to the end. We climbed a little peak, drank lots of water and enjoyed the feeling of being on top of the world, with Marseille off through the valley behind us and Africa somewhere far in the front.

When we got to the end of the trail on a road we ran into a guy who just finished taking some people rock climbing and he was nice enough to give us a ride. It turns out he actually knows Nabil as well and dropped us off right at the door of the hostel.

After rest and cleansing, a bunch of English speakers came together and ate dinner at the hostel. I called up Niki, who was coming back to Marseille today, and we made plans to meet for a drink. Most of the people eating dinner wanted to go and party downtown in Marseille, but Niki and I made plans to meet at the Red Lion right near the beach close to our hostel. Kimo and I went while the rest deliberated where to go.

It was nice to sit down and see a familiar face from long ago. Niki came with her friend Miriam and the four of us hung out for a bit. Eventually everyone from the hostel dinner showed up here, as the busses stopped running and they had no way of getting downtown. The night went well, but had to end quickly because of the 1 am curfew at the hostel.