Coming into Marseille was not the prettiest of harbours, as Marseille was the central port for many years. But the sunrise was stunning and well worth getting out of bed and crossing the three meters to our balcony 🙂

The excursion today includes a ride out to the Jardins du Château Val Joanis gardens which belong to the Château Val Joanis winery, located west of the town of Pertuis in the Vaucluse area of France. This was only 45 minutes outside of Marseille through very pretty scenery and, as we have come to expect, excellent commentary provided by the very knowledgeable guide.

Today’s guide, Ester, also came with an excellent sense of humour and shoe buying information. We became very close, obviously.

Once we arrived at the chateau Ester gave us a tour of the gardens which were very cool. They had been around for a long time and were used quite frequently for weddings. There was a wedding the day before and one due that afternoon. You will see photos of Lulu in the wedding archway.

The day was another stunner with the high due to hit around 28 degrees, and it did. But in the shade of the trees and in the cool of the wine cellar it was very easy to cope.

Now, what about Jason I hear you ask. Well, he was very good and seemed OK with the fact that this excursion was all about me.

After the tour of the gardens and the cellar it was time to start the wine tasting, OH the hardship! Jason decided not to ask for a beer and instead embraced the whole wine tasting experience. In fact when we were back on the boat he picked up the bottle of hand sanitiser, tipped it on its side, and states “this is clearly a young bottle, as you can see the green around the edges” oh dear god! Ha, ha.

Anyway, we started off with a white blend in the garden with some olive oil, bread, and olive tapenade. Delicious. We both finished a couple of glasses and the wine dude noted we are obviously drinkers oops.

We then moved into the chateau for lunch which consisted of three courses and matching wine. Jason was on a roll. The food was lovely, the company enjoyable, and the wine delicious. A quick visit to the wine shop and then onto Aix-en-Provence for the next phase.

Ester talked us through the history of the town, and pointed out areas of interest. We had 2 hours on our own to do as we wanted, so we walked and I shopped. I certainly made up for Rome and managed to purchase three pairs of beautiful shoes. If the service had been better the shoe collateral would have been greater. Probably a good thing it wasn’t.

It was great to be back in Aix and I thought of you Nancy and the fun we had there.

Back on the bus with the oldies and then back to the ship. We didn’t have time to get into Marseille itself so we went for a swim and hung out before dinner.

Its hard to imagine we actually had room for food after that lunch and wine, and cheese, and stuff, but we managed it.

We had met a lovely Kiwi couple in passing and had arranged to go to dinner together at the Grand Dining Room. The name is actually deceiving as it is not as flash as the specialty restaurants but still very nice.

What was going to be an early to bed, turned out to be filled with wine, great conversation, and lovely food. Late night.

Happy days.

But sad days as we are nearing the end of our cruise. We have really enjoyed our time and are a little worried how we will cope when we have to fend for ourselves! I guess we will soon find out.

Tomorrow we are in Barcelona. Its been a long time since I visited that place. Bring it on.