Mediterranean cruise and European adventure - Day 5 - Marseille

Marseille

I slept so well overnight. The beds on DCL are some of the very very few beds that aren’t my own that I get a good night’s sleep in. They are perfect. We got ready and ate breakfast in Cabanas before disembarking at 8:30 to meet our private tour guide, Cedric of Be A Guest Tours. This day was probably one of my favorite days of the cruise. We had arranged a custom tour with Cedric in advance, giving him three criteria: something related to Van Gogh, something historical and something related to wine. He built us the perfect day that included all of this and more.

Upon coming out of the terminal building at the appointed time, we did not see him so we waited a bit, but still he wasn’t there. Thankfully, one of our European SIM cards we got had calling and texting capabilities (the one in Roger’s phone had only data) so I tried to call him. We had a bad connection, but then I sent a text. He explained that the port security had not yet received the ship roster from Disney and as such, wouldn’t allow him access to the port until they could compare the names of his clients to the name on the ship roster. So we walked a little ways out and met him. He apologized so much, but really it wasn’t his fault. All the other tour guides were experiencing the same thing and were very frustrated. This was Disney’s first official stop in Marseille. They did stop here last year but only after being unable to port in Villefranche the previous day due to rough seas. So they had turned that day into the a Sea Day and on their scheduled Sea Day, they ported in Marseille instead. But this was the first “on the books” stop ever for DCL in Marseille. Clearly they need to work some kinks out.

So we have Cedric, our tour guide, who I immediately liked due to his skull print shoes, and he brought along another associate, Remy who was a sommelier training to be a tour guide. They were both very nice fellows and in Cedric’s nice van we made our way north into the beautiful French countryside. About an hour later we stopped in the small village of Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Our first stop was at a local patisserie where we ate incredible french pastries: croissants for Emmaline and me and an eclair for Roger. They were so delicious! Then Cedric took us around the little village, showing us some different sights around the town. The town as also notable as Nostradamus was from there.



Back in the van for a quick five minute drive up the road to some Roman ruins. The road we were traveling was once a Roman road: Via Domitia. The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul to link Italy and Hispania (across what is now southern France). Glanum, the site where we stopped has two well-preserved ruins from the 1st century BC that are known as “les Antiques.” The first is a triumphal arch (the oldest in France) and the other is the Mausoleum of the Julii, apparently one of the best preserved mausoleums of the Roman era. The tomb houses a man who was recognized for his military service along with his wife and their three children. We only looked at these two ruins, not the rest of the ruins of a little town, of which there is very little left.



While we were at the site Cedric pointed out an almond tree. We found some almonds on it and cracked them open, which Emmaline enjoyed immensely. This was one thing that I really loved about the tour. He would point out little things along the way or pull the car to the side of the road when he saw something of interest. Early on, he had stopped and picked some lavender growing, which delighted Emmaline. Cedric has a young daughter the same age at home so he really understood what kids that age were interested in, which was great.



We left the ruins and a short drive up the road we came to Monastere Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, a psychiatric hospital where Van Gogh lived for about 18 months. It was a very prolific period of his life in terms of painting and you would probably recognize many of the paintings he completed while he was undergoing treatment there. Emmaline really likes Van Gogh and had asked if we could go somewhere related to him during our time in France so Cedric built it into our custom tour. Around the site they had prints of Van Gogh so you could compare with the scenery.




Our next stop was to a small olive oil… farm? Orchard? Anyway, Moulin Castelas have olive oil trees there and they press and bottle olive oil. Cedric told us that they have the best olive oil in France, and supposedly many Michelin star restaurants use their oil. We tasted a variety of kinds of oils and made a purchase of a small container of oil to take home with us.

We left Moulin Castelas and drove up a small mountain where they have a show under the mountain in an old quarry. Carrieres de Lumieres in Les Baux-de-Provence is a projection show that changes every 6 months or so. The shows use projectors and music all over the inside of the old quarry to create an immersive multi-media experience. As you walk through there are different pictures all around you, including on the ceiling and floor. They have two parts to the show: a short that features 60’s pop culture and a longer show with Picasso and other Spanish painters. After about 45 minutes we finished the shows and then Cedric took us to another village nearby for lunch. (I actually do recommend clicking the link as the video there really does paint a better picture of what it looks like in the quarry than my little blurry photo does.)



In the village Maussane-les-Alpilles at a small café (O Potager de Lisa) we enjoyed fresh locally prepared foods. I had a tart made with locally grown zucchini while Emmaline and Roger split a crepe with ham and cheese. Cedric had also purchased a large bag of fresh local cherries that we all enjoyed which were probably some of the best cherries I’ve ever eaten in my whole life.

After lunch, we drove for about 50 minutes to the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. On the way there we drove past Avignon and saw the famous walls and broken bridge before arriving at a winery, Domaine de Beaurenard, for a tour and tasting. At this part of the trip, Remy took the lead for the most part. First we had a little tour of the winery and then finished back in the main room for a tasting. Emmaline had a drink made from water and lavender syrup and was given a little activity book while adults tasted wine.




We left the winery and drove further up the hill to the remains of a castle. Chateauneuf-de-Pape castle sits on a hill atop the village (with a great view) and was once a retreat for the Pope during the period of time when the Pope resided in Avignon (about a 100 year period). The castle was not used for very long before the Pope returned to Rome. Since then, age, neglect, and war have taken their toll and only a couple of partial walls remain.




At this point it was getting late in the day and Cedric was mindful of our all-aboard time of 5:45 and wanted to make sure we would be back in plenty of time. It was no problem and we arrived back by 5 PM to reboard the Magic, saying goodbye to Cedric and Remy and thanking them for a wonderful day in France.

Upon returning to the ship, we returned to our room to regroup and get ready for dinner. Our first night we had dinner in Lumiere’s and this night our rotation had us in Animator’s Palate. I always love the little animation show and the appearance of Sorcerer Mickey. I’ve seen it many times and I know what’s coming, but I still love it and I love Emmaline’s face when she sees Mickey. It’s always so fun.



After dinner we opted not to go to the show, again, because we’ve seen it, but also because it was the same show as the night before. For some reason they are showing all the shows two times in a row in the Walt Disney Theatre and no movies or variety entertainers in there (except for one variety act later in the week). It’s not my favorite thing. I was really hoping for an evening where Incredibles 2 would be playing in the Walt Disney Theatre, but that wasn’t on the schedule either. I think a strongly worded letter is in order.

So instead we went to Fathoms (usually an adult nightclub venue, but sometimes it has family entertainment as well) to see a Magician/Ventriloquist. I thought he had a few funny moments and Emmaline seemed thoroughly entertained, so that was good.

After the show we came back to the room to prepare for the next day’s adventures and then go to bed.

Click here for Day 6.