Viva France!

Our cruise began in Barcelona when we boarded the Fantasia at noon. We checked out our HUGE stateroom and immediately hit the buffet. (We eneded up returning for round 2 later that afternoon since the first meal was technically breakfast for us. And obviously we hit the midnight buffet too, in addition to our formal dinner – which, by the way, had the only Baked Alaska I’ve ever liked because it was made with ladyfingers and coffee ice cream.) Anyway, our ship is brand new, so everything is top notch. With such a full itinerary, no days at sea, we haven’t had too much time to bask in the adult only pool or awesome solarium, but since our sunburns are still healing, that’s probably for the best. In any case, our first day in port was in Marseilles. We spent a small part of the day wandering through the streets of France’s second city. There was a nice shopping street and market, a lovely port area with live music, and a surprisingly large Arabic neighborhood. The buildings were beautiful, exactly what I picture when I think of French history. The one disappointment was the tent city set up by the Arc de Triomf and the beggars lining the streets.

We spent most of our day in Aix en Provence. It’s a really cute little village. We chose Aix over other nearby villages because their outdoor market runs on Saturday. We wandered the main strip breathing in the smell of lavender, enjoying the handmade crafts, and conversing with locals and tourists. (It seems everywhere we go we meet other New Yorkers.) We had a really nice afternoon and are very much looking forward to our other French days coming at the end of our trip when we disembark our cruise and head to Paris.