Vitrolles, south of France
This was a very last minute trip arranged at the last possible moment. I booked a flight to Marsielle Provance airport for 1p each way with Ryanair back in July, and I totally forgotten about the flight until I got an e-mail the other week. So as I was working nights shifts this week, and with the timing of the flights, and a bit of luck of getting from London to Stansted airport, then a short day trip to the south coast of France was possible. So I finished my night turn at my small central London train station at 6:00am and managed to get through secruity and to my check in gate before 07:40. Not bad at all. My departure gate was Gate 44, and at Gate 40, my travel mate, Ollie Tong was with his mother on a flight to Girona in northern Spain, which also departed at the same time as my flight, 08:15.
It seemed a bit stranged quickly saying hello to him, and having a chat but not going on the same flight together. I said my goodbye's (as my flight was called for boarding), by saying for the first time "I fly this way, you fly that way!" And that was it...I was off to the provance of southern France.
After a short flight of around one hour and forty minutes, I landed at Marsielle Provance airport. This is the main airport for France's second largest city, and is located 30km north west of Marsielle. The airport is near towns of Vitrolles, and Salon, and as I haven't got the time to reach the second city, my intention was to explore the town of Vitrolles which is 1km away from the city, and do some photograpghy.
I managed to get a passport stamp (second time this week, as I managed to get one from Latvia for the first time in thirty attempts!), but the questioning by the police officer in passport control was funny.
Here was the conversation -
"Bonjour" I said. "Comme Ca Va?"
"Oui" he replied, looking at my passport, and scanning it in.
"Can I have a stamp please?" I asked while he was scanning my passport. "Pour'qui?" - (why?) - he asked in his strong southern French accent. I had to think really hard on what he said as I wasn't used to the strong French accent, which I never heard before. I am so used to the Nord pas de Calais region and Parisian accents.
"So I can have one to go with my collection of European Union stamps in my passport" I replied in French. As he was about to stamp my passport, he asked the usual question of "What is your purpose of your visit?" All I said was "I am here for a very long walk and I am taking the evening flight back home to London !" The face he pulled was so funny, I had to hold my laughter until I got through the control.
Anyway, enough of how I got to the airport and the control, I walked outside the terminal building to a nice fresh crisp Autumn day, the tempearture around +3, and with clear blue skies. A perfect day. Walking pass the car parks, I managed to walk into a nature reserve right next to the airport and a massive lake with canals and rivers joining it. I have to admit, with so many paths, and so many dead ends, it took me about an hour to get out of the nature reserve, named Les Sallions du Lion, and into a small town next to the lake, which I have forgotten the name off. It then took me another hour to walk from the lake, through this small town into the surburbs of Vitrolles which is on a top of a very steep hill, with a railway line (which I crossed, naughty naughty) and the main autoroute from Marsielle to Montpellier!
From the airport when I first arrived, from a distance on the top of the hill where Vitrolles is, there is a huge red clay rock, and built on top of that, around 1860's, is a chapel called 'Chappelle Notre Dame de Vie" and a watch tower as well.
(There is also a huge golf ball as well nearby, visable for miles, but I didn't get to it, I think it has something to do with the French national defense system!). So my aim was to reach the chapel, as there wasn't other attractions around here to see, or much to take photographs off. I managed to navigate my way around the winding streets of Vitrolles and reach the base of the big red clay rock.
It was huge. Steep stone-marble like steps made it way up the side of the rock. I managed to climb it, but it was steep, and not having much sleep made the stairs even worse to climb. But I got to the top and what a view I had. I could see all the way from the airport and all the nature reserve which I got lost in. I spent quite a bit of time up there, relaxing, taking videos and photos.
It was peaceful, no one else around. The watch tower was all boarded up. The chapel was closed. A small statue of Jesus Christ was on top of the chapel, overlooking the town of Vitrolles.
Time to set off, and I tried to make it for the golf ball, but I got lost somehow in the housing estate, (I was taking a different route down the hill) and somehow got managed to get chased by a violent dog. I ran for a couple of streets until the dog gave up. Anyway....I gave up on the golf ball idea and started walking back down the hill. Before I crossed the autoroute, I sat down to have some rolls I made the night before, and had a great view over the nature reserve. Also stood here was a memorial for the France air force for all the staff lost during the wars or something with Morrocco, Algeria and Tunisa in the 1960's.
It was time to head off to the airport, so on the way down, I managed to find the train station (by accident), which was really small. I had my MP3 player on listening to a bit of Sting, when I didn't know that the bell was ringing for the road barriers were coming down at the railway tracks as a train was approaching. A TGV train came through thirty seconds later, and scared the living daylights out of me. And basically after that, I was at the airport, checked in, slept for forty minutes at the departure gate, slept on the flight home, slept on the train into London, refreshed myself and now about to start another night shift at my small train station in central London. I am so looking forward to sleep after work. Good night! :D
