Marseille

Back from Greece, the taxi didn't bring me back to my appartment in Ghent, but to Bruno's place in Schaarbeek (Brussels). I stayed there, since we had to take the train (high speed train called Thalys) to the south of France the next morning (9th of August). I arrived at his place around half past midnight and the train departed around 8 o'clock the next morning. The coffee saved my life i can tell you!

Small remark about the flight back from Athens: there were a lot of tourist on the plane coming back from Greece, and what always strikes me is that these people always applaud when the plane had landed. Don't get it, because is't it suppose to go that way: the plane lands, in one piece and you get to spend another they in your life? My personal theory is that most of these people basically are afraid of flying and when the plane has touched the ground there is an outburst of tightly held anxiety, a kind of jubelation that they are still breathing and not fleeing from the flames. Although, they should wait basically up untill the plane is actually come to a standstill, because they applaud the moment all the tires are on the ground. The plane is then trying to reduce from an incredible speed of several hunderds of kilometers an hour to standstill, before it runs out of airstrip. You can still very well come to some gruesome end. Oh well, maybe i spend to much time analyzing other people ;-)

Travelling to the south of France in a train is great! No hastle, once on board, you have no more worries, except creating some room for your breakfast (we were watching movies on Bruno's laptop). We had 1st class tickets, which we got for only 150 euro (go and return) because of some special offer (thank you Eva for spotting that, and booking the tickets by the way).
Main objective of the trip: diving (duh!)

My first time diving in the Mediteranean Sea. We had booked our accomodation and the dives with Atoll dive center in Marseille, Pointe Rouge to be exact (bit more to the east of Marseille).
Accomodation was basic (and the price of 33 euro a night a bit steep, considering we shared the room with 5 people) and included a breakfast. But the dives where great. Each trip, we were brought to the marina, closeby and went on a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to our dive spot. Most of the times there was a bit of a chop, which made the trip towards the dive spot in itself a great experience (reminded me of the NorthSea), although not everyone could appreciate that. The visibility was good, minimum of 10 meters, usually more. A lot of underwater life: see next pictures for my favorites, nudibranches!


But what was also very impressive were the underwater structures. We saw several arches, canyon, and even a tunnel. You can easily call the structures dramatic.


The temperature was a bit colder than i expected. First dives the water was (starting at 10m) some 16 degrees! And i had the great idea to actually dive in my wet suite for a change!

We did all our dives on Nitrox and the dive centre is also equiped for trimix dives and rebreathers! I took special note of that last feature of course, since i am expecting my little rebreather (Sentinel for those who care) in December :-)
The organisation was sometimes a bit chaotic, but in all we always got in the water and at the right spot. And the people were very nice.

We didn't dive all the time and also took some time exploring the surroundings. I had never been to the south of France, so was glad to be able to make a few nice walks in the beautiful Calanques, a series of fjord like structures, semi-mountaineous, which makes for great walks. It's these structures basically that are continued under water, which make for the splendid shapes. By the way, i think that you will see that the picture below does have some resemblance with the picture you will see if you follow the hyperlink hidden under the word 'Calanques' to Wikipedia.
At one spot we rested and enjoyed the beautfill surroundings. Only one of us was brave enough to jump into the cold waters: Eva. Respect!!
This is where we were resting:

And this is Eva in those waters:
The picture at the beginning of this post is taken during an afternoon hike in the nearby Calanque, where we had a magnificient view of Pointe Rouge and the sea beyond.

Also went for diner in the city centre, the old port neighbourhood. The entrance to the old port from the see was garded by two ancient fortresses.
The picture below really shows the kind of picture i always had in mind when i was reading 'The Count of Monte Christo' a typical adventure book for boys, that i simply adored was i was a child. It especially brings back to mind the scene where the old ship where Edmond worked on sails back into port after it was assumed lost.

From where we had diner we had a good view on the main cathedral of the city: "The Notre Dame de la Garde" , you have to admit, there are worst sights to have while you are having diner (below a detail of the Notre Dame):
And we found a very nice restaurant, not far from one were we stayed (only a ten minute walk, but that is an insider ;-) ), which was called "Au bord de l'eau" and looked over a small little harbour protected by a big stone wall from the sea beyond. It might be a good idea to book ahead, just ask at the Atoll Dive Center to call them, they know them very well.

To finish of some pictures of the diving centre and the conclusion that it was a great holiday: