Dordogne and Marseille: into the cave and out to the sea
 

I had some fabulous short trips during the summer (long trip was for Asia). 3 days in Les Eyzies, seeing the prehistoric caves and the animal paintings that I've always wanted to, rowing 10km alone, for the first time, down the Vézère river and sometimes being pulled around by the fast water. A weekend in Marseille, walking & eating as much as I could, taking in the port-aura of the city and sometimes being pulled around over seawaves by the mistral.

In Les Eyzies, I rent a room in a pretty cottage named... La Maison.
Guess how it facilitated me to ask around streets for its location when I couldn't find it.
My room's window looked straight at the main street of the village and the vertical cliff that host several prehistoric shelters. No better address possible. It has a home restaurant attached, a garden and sofas that you can lie upon and read books in the cool summer breeze, a beautiful cat that loved to play hide-and-seek. I'd wanted to rent some cheaper bed in hostels, but there seemed to be none in the village.

There's also an occasion book store at the foot of the cliff, not far from the hotel, with many interesting books. I bought 3 books at the price of 1euro/each, finished reading them in the garden during the course of my 3 days, and left them for the hotel. Next time if you find some adventure books in your hotel room, it might have been mine.

In Marseille I rent a bed (this time they have plenty!) at Hostel Vertigo Centre, 5 mins walking from the central station and 10' walking to the Old Port. The facilities were clean, they had a bar, some youth lounge and a kitchen where I cooked up some "marseillais" dish. I left the city with 3 cubes of Savon de Marseille in my bag (the real ones, not those imitations they sell in souvenir shop).

Due to bad weather, I couldn't visit the Chateau d'If, my childhood nightmare back when I still hadn't had any idea about France other than some Alexandre Dumas writings with a smell of new papers. I took a tour of the Calanques instead, but regretted afterward because I had never been so scared by the sea in my life (being from where I was originally, I'm no stranger to the sea). In the end, other than some throwing up and some headache, all went well and the Calanques were indeed marvelous. I saw Chateau d'If from afar. I started to feel Edmond Dantès's horror when he arrived at that imposing block just after his marriage day.

Detail report and photos are to follow.

Nice! Sounds like great fun.

Yes - well filled days it seems.

Thank you Nikki and Whathello. I had so much fun indeed.
In Les Eyzies I happened to catch a free show of Cirque Ullman just outside of the village and it was a highlight. 2h of brilliant acrobat, comedies and magic trics. Hundreds of chilfren sitting around me and I was not a bit less ooh-and-aahh than they were. It's the first time I watch a circus show on spot, in the middle of a hay field.

I was present at the queuing line for Font de Gaume cave at 7h30 in the morning, and managed to snatch the the last ticket (for the 52th arriving). The chairs were all numbered, from 1 to 52 so there was no confusion or dispute. The early morning was rainy and foggy, we were queuing miserably in our blankets and umbrellas and packs of chips. But the last ticket felt so good!
And the polychrome drawing was magnificent. They drew better than I do, sigh.