We couldn't check into our room yet since it was still like 10am so we regrouped, got some coffee, and headed to the beach. A girl at our hostel gave us the tip to go to Villefranche, a tiny beach town 8 minutes away from Nice by train. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL- I have never seen anything like it in my life. We had a great day lying at the beach, people watching, and exploring.
Then we met up with our other friend who had just arrived, and returned to Nice to check out the Old Town and the beach. It was completely charming and the beach was stone: very different but nice to walk along because we didn't have sand stuck to us for the rest of the day! Then we climbed up some steps to an old castle just before sunset.
The next day we had tentatively planned on going to Montecarlo, but our hostel advertised a canyoning trip in the French Alps so we decided to do that instead! It was quite an adventure: our guide picked us up at the hostel on Saturday morning and as we were driving to our starting point, we crossed over into Italy! We then started our hour-long hike in the foothills of the Italian Alps, during which we crossed back over into France.
Then we rappelled down the canyon to get to the river. We ate our lunch (the guide made us ham, beet, and pickle sandwiches..WOOF), then put on wetsuits and helmets and hopped into the water, which ranged from 40-50 degrees (brr!) Canyoning basically consisted of swimming, walking, cliff jumping, and sliding down the river. It was so fun! We all enjoyed the physical activity and adventure. Some of the slides were amazing- like 50 feet in length with twists and turns- I couldn't believe that they were formed naturally when they seemed so much like waterslides!
The best jump we got to do was about 30 feet at the very end. It was pretty tough looking so the other two girls didn't do it- but the other guy and I were willing to try. First you had to lie down on the riverbed, slide down like 5 feet vertically into the really deep water. Then from the water you had to climb up the rock face on the side of the river. I was so tired! Once you finally got there, you could just barely stand-- you just had to jump! I was pretty scared but it was totally worth it and really fun. Unfortunately I could not bring my camera with me so I don't have any pictures at all, but here are a couple of photos I found online to demonstrate what we did:
By this time we had crossed back over into Italy and our adventure was almost done. We said goodbye to the river and hiked for about 20 minutes back to the car...where we were all very glad to get out of our wetsuits. Then we drove back to Nice and we all slept along the way-- we were exhausted. Once we got back to our hostel we got our stuff and hopped on a train to Marseille.
There weren't any hostels available in Marseille so instead we booked a cheap hotel room for 2 with the plan of sneaking 2 people in. When we got to the hotel at about 9:30pm Saturday, it was closed! Locked up with no one in sight! We called the number and the guy on the other end just gave us the code to enter the hotel, told us our room number, and said that the room was unlocked with the key inside. It was pretty bizarre: no one came to work at the hotel on Sunday either (also our room did not get cleaned), and on Monday morning we had to both formally check in as well as check out.
We had paid a 10% deposit on the room but they claimed that we had already paid in full online- and even printed out a receipt! Of course we didn't argue with that, and when the girl that paid checked her bank statement- she never paid the rest of the amount! So..paying only 10% of our bill definitely made up for staying in the worst hotel I've ever been in...it could have been the sight of a horror movie, I swear!
On Sunday we walked to the beach from our hotel and spent most of the day relaxing there. It was not as beautiful as Villefranche, and definitely was more for the locals than for tourists, but we were all exhausted from our canyoning adventure so we weren't picky- a beach is a beach!
We then explored the old port, then split up and walked around the town. When we split up, the girl I was with and I realized how SKETCHY of a city Marseille is- we were very glad to have a guy with us the rest of the time because we couldn't walk around for 2 minutes without being approached by creepy guys.
We skipped class and on Monday morning headed to Aix-en-Provence. We had planned on checking our bags or getting a locker at the train station...but found out once we got there that they don't do it there! Luckily I had just brought a backpack and a purse so I sported the waist-strap of my backpack all day..not so attractive but highly functional.
I LOVED Aix-en-Provence. Somehow it was entirely how I'd envisioned it, and it was great for walking around in. There are lots of small squares with gardens, fountains, cafes, and great people watching.
I would have loved to have more time there, it would definitely be a great home-base for a week-long relaxing vacation. We found a street market along the Cours Mirabeau which had some great vendors: soap, lavender, fabrics, everything that the Provence region of France is famous for!
Overall it was a wonderful weekend. I definitely want to return to Nice and Aix-en-Provence at some point: Marseille, not so much. We only ate out once: we picnicked or ate at our hostel the other nights because we were all feeling somewhat poor after so much time in Europe, so our 2.50 euro each hotel stay was certainly a pleasant surprise. Also, it was great to be able to go somewhere besides Paris and speak French, even though the accent in Marseille was quite difficult to understand.
