Cruising the Med – 6/3/07 – Marseille, France

Today we visit Marseille, France
Arrive: 8:00am
Depart: 9:00pm

Our Excursion: Castellet and Wine Tasting

Our journey began with at approximately 1pm with a 75 minute ride from Marseille to Le Castellet – a medieval village in the hills of the Var Region. The village features a 12th century church and an 11th century castle. Our guide, Jane, was most chatty and informative on our drive to the village. We had a brief tour of downtown Marseille and then off to the village.

We drove along the coast for a while and Jane talked about ship building, wines of the Bandol region and the olives! We had no idea that France is the 4th largest producer of olive oil! She went into great detail about wine making and what the appellation on a French wine means.

The day was just beautiful weather wise. We couldn’t ask for any better. Blue skies and low 70s. When we arrived at Le Castellet – we had a 30 minute optional walking tour and 30 minutes on our own.

During the walking tour, Jane showed us highlights of this beautiful village, a photographers dream. We wanted to take pictures of everything it was like looking in a photographer’s book! The village was filled with rolling hills, little shops and cafes, flowers in the windows and beautiful old stone buildings.

We would have loved more time in the village. Unfortunately, there are not many public restrooms in Europe, well at least where we’ve been. When we do get a short break in our tours, we end up spending it looking for toilets. This was the case here too! A café manager took pity on us and allowed us to use their restrooms. The cafes are about the only place to find toilets and of course, it’s for their patrons. We would have stopped for a snack there, but had no time.

All too soon, we loaded our tour bus for Domaine de Souviou, a 20 minute drive from the village. Very picturesque, beautiful flowers and very serene. We toured the grounds, which had magnificent views, and saw 1000 year old olive trees. Our guide from the vineyard explained the process of making olive oil. At this location, they made 2 kinds of olive oils. Plinia, which is a fruity light olvie oil to be used with salads and for bread dipping. Selvatica, was made from the 1000 year old vines – more robust to be used with heavier foods like beef and game. It had a peppery taste. We found both olive oils very tasty and purchased a bottle of each.

Next we were led into a very simple yet elegant tasting room. A long table was set out with 3 kinds of wines, a white, rose and red cuvee, along with rosemary bread between wine courses. The white, Bandol Blanc, aged in steel, fruity with hints of floral; clean and crisp – like a Savionon Blanc.

The rose, Cotes de Provence Rose, had granache, cinsault, and syrah grapes. It was light with an aroma of apricots and peaches. The Cotes de Provence Rouge, was a 2002 which was still young and had strong tannins. However, we were told it would bottle well for 12-16 years. We felt it had much promise so purchased a bottle of that as well.

After we tasted the wines, we had the opportunity to taste both olive oils. Some of us lingered a long time LOL.

A one hour trip back to Marseille and our most relaxing day in the South of France had come to an end. We LOVED the excursion very much. Very relaxing, very enjoyable. Just wish we had much longer to enjoy the village and perhaps sample some of the foods and wines.

We highly recommend this excursion.

We were back on board the Magic about 6:15 and hurried to the Walt Disney Theatre to see the new show, Mickey’s Dreams. If you liked the music from Tapestry of Nations/Dreams and enjoy Cirque shows, you will enjoy this one!! It was very artsy. There were amazing acrobats throughout the show. We later learned they are a troupe out of Marseille and this show will only be performed on the Magic Med cruises. Out of our group, there were very strong opinions on both sides. Some of us loved it – for its artistic balance of music and acrobatics. Others in our group did not care for it at all. But, like I said, if you like the Tapestry of Nations/Dreams music and Cirque, this is a do not miss show!

From the show we hurried back to our room to change for dinner at Palo, magnificent as always although our server seemed to be missing lots and not nearly as attentive as we are used to in Palos. The food was as wonderful as always.

Thus our first day in the south of France was very enjoyable.

Deb Daily Recap:
Highs: Learning about French Olive oil.
Lows: Only 3 wines to taste; service in Palo, not enough time in village

Linda Daily Recap:
Highs: Photograph opportunities in the Le Cassetlet village.
Lows: Service in Palo.

Deb and Linda – Life — IT Too Short!

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