Hiking in France - Day 3 (Marseilles, Cassis, Les Calanques)

July 17th, 2006

Read previous "Hiking in France" posts:
Hiking in France - Day 1 (Paris)
Hiking in France - Day 2 (Paris, Marseilles)

Even on the most thoroughly-planned vacations it seems that one way or another you spend a lot of time on logistics: getting from Point A to Point B. Our third day in France was like that, at least for the first half. We got up early in anticipation of leaving Marseilles and heading out to hike near Cassis, which according to the guidebook is only twenty minutes by train from the Marseilles station. Twenty minutes…. translated into five hours of frustrating transport mayhem!

First we thought we would take a bus. No problem! We went to the station that according to our book had buses out to Cassis. We look around and realize there must be about ten bus stops within a quarter mile radius. So we ask around. In retrospect this is where my ability to converse (albeit in a limited, high-school level way) turned out to be a disadvantage. You see, asking directions is a little bit like asking someone about their religion. Everyone you ask is going to give a different answer to the same question.

The fellow in the press shop told us where to wait, but then we realized we’d be waiting for a couple of hours. So I brilliantly suggested we take the train instead. We make the metro trip to the train station, and lo and behold the train had just left and another wouldn’t leave for a couple of hours. At this point it seems obvious to go to the bus station to see if there is a more frequent bus from there. After hiking over there we discover that buses don’t leave from there. They do leave from a different place (not the same stop we originally visited) so we metro over to that stop. No go. We ask a bus driver and he says that we’re in the wrong place entirely. Again.

So after about four metro and bus rides we decide to bag it and return to the train station. By this time we’re exhausted from asking people directions and running around trying to figure out bus schedules. We bite the bullet and wait at the station for our eleven o’clock train. So much for the early start!

After a quick train ride we arrive at the sleepy train station in Cassis. Except… the station isn’t in Cassis! It’s about two miles outside town in the countryside. While this doesn’t make a lot of sense from an efficiency standpoint it was great for us, because we spent the next hour hiking to town and enjoying the beautiful southern rural landscape. This was the first time we’d been out of the city, and it was great! The vineyards, orchards, and beautiful stonework were so vivid under the bright blue sky.

Cassis is a small port town that caters to a lot of visitors. Many were headed our direction, to the famous Calanques between Cassis and Marseille. The Calanques are massive rocky inlets—sort of the Mediterranean answer to Scandinavian fjords. They present stunning white rock cliffs that jut out into an azure-blue ocean. The trails scrambling up and down the Calanques follow the sea so that the hiker is constantly alternating between incredible high-mountain views and small rocky beaches.

Since we didn’t arrive in Cassis until the early afternoon we were only able to hike about six hours the first day. We covered Port-Miou (a small fishing port just west of Cassis), Calanque Port Pins, and the west side of Calanque d’en Vau. The hiking was challenging, especially since the trails were constructed not of dirt or even gravel but large, jagged white stones about the size of a fist. However, our experience was lighted by the fact that we left our heavy camping gear back at our tent.

We were surprised at the number of people out hiking this very challenging terrain. We especially met a lot of retired couples and groups who were hiking together.

Overall this was one of the more spectacular scenes on the trip and highly recommended for anyone visiting this part of France.

From Kayla's trip journal:

We’re lost in Marseilles trying to find a route to Cassis. So many different buses, metro, train, etc. options and we are frustrated! Off to try something else…. We finally decided to take the 11:13 train and just walked from the station to our camping spot in Cassis. We are going to set up camp and go hiking this afternoon.

I wrote:

We went hiking all afternoon to les Calanques, some really beautiful inlets along the coast. It was warm and sunny all day—I went wading in one of the inlets. Kayla did pretty well considering how challenging the terrain was and the length of the hike. We’ve decided to stay another night here since we’re not quite ready to “travel” again—this morning getting to Cassis was pretty frustrating. (Note to self: being able to ask directions doesn’t mean the people giving directions know what they’re talking about). On Friday we’ll move on to the beginning of our gorge hike in Manosque.