Archive for August 16th, 2006
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Our second day on the GR4 was the toughest of the trip. We were tired from our first full day of hiking with fully loaded packs, and the distance we covered was quite a bit longer than the first day. We walked out of Camping Verdon Parc around nine a.m. and began the trek to Riez. Our first stop was the village of Saint-Martin de Bromes, a tiny hamlet perched on a hill that was largely empty on a Sunday morning. It was here that we witnessed preparation for that important French tradition, the Sunday afternoon family dinner. At several homes I saw the owners setting up large tables in their garages or downstairs rooms in anticipation of this weekly event....
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Our first day on the GR4 started out on the highway headed east from Manosque. This was frankly my least favorite part of the entire trip. The road was busy and there was little shoulder for walking. We walked out of town and across the Durance River, then began working our way into the hills toward Greoux-les-Bains. The trail left the highway and we found ourselves in the middle of a rally car race, with little European cars banging their way down the rough dirt track. There were also some telephone company employees out laying line or some such thing. As soon as we ascended into the hills things got better. An old chateau, beautiful poppy fields, the dusty, stony trail…. picture perfect Provence. The trail to Greoux was not too challenging and we arrived at this resort town sweaty but not exhausted....
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Here's Kayla's journal for our fifth day of traveling in France:
Today we left Cassis at 8 a.m. and were lucky to catch a bus (€5,40 for both of us) to Marseille. We got off at Rond Point du Prado and took the metro to Gare St. Charles. We bought our train tickets to Manosque for €29 which left at 1:35, so by the time we finished our late breakfast we had three hours or so to explore Marseille. This time we actually saw some of the city instead of just the metro! We mailed a postcard, stopped at a bookstore to find our GR4 book (to no avail), then found an internet place for €2 per hour where we spent 30 minutes. We then walked down a dirty, noisy construction zone to the port and back. This city had so much garbage in the streets. I’ve seen women begging for money as well as older men. There were also a lot of North Africans in town. So many people out it’s crazy. A lot of people smoke—young beautiful women addicted to cigarettes—yuck! Even some smoke with their little kids around....
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