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Pascale Le Jeune DS, LS, NCS INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED ADVENTURE AND LUXURY TRAVEL COUNSELOR 704- 228th Ave NE #632 • Sammamish, WA 98074 425.503.0389 • [email protected] • www.ExperienceActiveTravel.com Discover France’s Sacred Stories Join Joy Abbey & Virginie Blackmoor On an 12-Day journey to Southern France May 19 – May 31, 2015 Group size: 12 1 Pascale Le Jeune DS, LS, NCS INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED ADVENTURE AND LUXURY TRAVEL COUNSELOR 704- 228th Ave NE #632 • Sammamish, WA 98074 425.503.0389 • [email protected] • www.ExperienceActiveTravel.com Day 1 – Tuesday, May 19, 2015 International flight DEPART USA / MARSEILLE, FRANCE Board your international flight to Marseille, France Day 2 – Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Marseille Airport / Marseille ARRIVE IN MARSEILLE, FRANCE Welcome to Marseille. The city has a spicy character and resolutely independent nature that defies easy definition. Discover a richly substantial and exciting destination utterly different from anything else Provence has to offer. The people of Marseille have long been the most multicultural and ethnically diverse in France, and they are collectively known for their infectious joie de vivre. A Group transfer is provided from the Marseille airport to the hotel. Marseille will be your home for the next 2 nights. Lodging Hotel Marseille Bonneveine Prado Although the metropolis is sprawled over a substantial area the tourist heart of the city can be covered within a day, including time for a dip in the ocean. Marseille demands a sensory engagement from its visitors; take in the view from Notre Dame Basilica, breathe in the smells of the ocean at the Vieux Port fish market and tune into the animated conversation of local people. This evening, meet your fellow passengers for a casual Welcome Drink. 2 Pascale Le Jeune DS, LS, NCS INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED ADVENTURE AND LUXURY TRAVEL COUNSELOR 704- 228th Ave NE #632 • Sammamish, WA 98074 425.503.0389 • [email protected] • www.ExperienceActiveTravel.com Day 3 – Thursday, May 21st 2015 Marseille Breakfast at the hotel (included) Day at leisure with Joy Abbey and Virginie Blackmoor to explore the city. Old Marseille and "Panier" district offers 26 centuries of history. From the Hôtel de Ville to the Vieille Charité, a walk throughout the Panier district, the oldest quarter in France : Hôtel Dieu, Maison Diamantée, Saint Laurent church & Docks Romains Museum. Notre-Dame de la Garde is a fortress as well as a sanctuary and an irreplaceable landmark, to local religious devotion. The mosaics were restored in 2008. The abbey of Saint-Victor : A wonderful example of a church that was formerly built in the 5th century and then fortified in the 14th century. The petit train is also a fun toy-town choo-choo painted in the Marseille livery of blue and white that leaves from the Old Port and plies two routes: up to Notre Dame de la Garde and through the Panier (Old Town), along whose steep and narrow streets it offers by far the best mode of transport. The train to the Old Town runs every 30 minutes. Lunch on your own Marseille's most famous culinary creation is the bouillabaisse, a stew of local fish flavored with tomatoes, saffron and olive oil, and customarily served with a proud flourish. Two establishments, Caruso and Le Miramar are located on Quai du Port amidst a coterie of seafood restaurants. Another true specialty of Marseille are "navettes", a distinctive boat shaped biscuit flavored with orange blossom and available only at Four des Navettes, where the recipe has been jealously guarded since 1781. Having tasted these fragrant and curiously stodgy biscuits, you may hope that the recipe remains safe forever. They are certainly an acquired taste. Dinner included at the Hotel (3-courses dinner; drinks not included) Lodging Hotel Marseille Bonneveine Prado (B,D) 3 Pascale Le Jeune DS, LS, NCS INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED ADVENTURE AND LUXURY TRAVEL COUNSELOR 704- 228th Ave NE #632 • Sammamish, WA 98074 425.503.0389 • [email protected] • www.ExperienceActiveTravel.com Day 4 – Friday, May 22nd 2015 Marseille / Saint Maximin La Sainte Baume Breakfast at the Hotel and morning at leisure to further explore the town on your own. Please have your luggage ready at the reception before or by 12 noon. Early in the afternoon we depart by coach and travel to Saint- Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. We’ll drop off our luggage at the hotel located at the foot of the famous Sainte-Marie-Madeleine Basilica. Set in a former coaching inn, the hotel features a gourmet-style restaurant and an elegant terrace. You can enjoy city view from all the rooms. After the check-in, proceed by coach with your guide to the Grotte de la Sainte-Baume for the visit of the sanctuary (you will reach the site after a walk of about 45 minutes/ 1 hour. Sainte-Baume is primarily a geological curiosity with its rocky ledge, which stretches over 12 km. The natural cave carved by erosion (Baumo in Provençal) became one of the oldest places of pilgrimage in the Christian world. In the Gospels, Mary Magdalene preached in Marseille together with Lazare, then settled in the rugged mountains. There she could indulge in prayer and contemplation in solitude. Dinner on your own this evening. Enjoy a dinner at L'Incontournable or La Table de Bruno Lodging Hotel in Saint-Maximin La Sainte Baume (B) 4 Pascale Le Jeune DS, LS, NCS INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED ADVENTURE AND LUXURY TRAVEL COUNSELOR 704- 228th Ave NE #632 • Sammamish, WA 98074 425.503.0389 • [email protected] • www.ExperienceActiveTravel.com Day 4 – Saturday, May 23, 2015 Saint Maximin La Sainte Baume / Aix en Provence Today travel to Aix-en-Provence and enjoy a leisure day with Joy Abbey and Virginie Blackmoor. The city is often referred to as the city of a thousand fountains. Among the most notable are the 17th-century Fontaine des Quatre Dauphins in the Quartier Mazarin, designed by Jean-Claude Rambot. Explore unique sites such as the Cours Mirabeau, a wide thoroughfare, planted with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses and decorated by fountains, and follows the line of the old city wall. It divides the town into two sections. Te old town, with its narrow, irregular streets and its old mansions dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, hosts the most famous brasserie in Aix called Les Deux Garçons. Built in 1792, it has been frequented by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Émile Zola and Ernest Hemingway. The Cathedral of the Holy Saviour (Aix Cathedral) was built on the site of a former Roman forum and an adjacent basilica, it contains a mixture of all styles from the 5th to the 17th century, including a richly decorated portal in the Gothic style with doors elaborately carved in walnut. The interior contains 16th-century tapestries, a 15th-century triptych, depicting King René and his wife on the side panels, as well as a Merovingian baptistery, its Renaissance dome supported by original Roman columns. The Hôtel de Ville, a building in the classical style of the middle of the 17th century, looks onto a picturesque square. It contains some fine woodwork and tapestries. At its side rises a handsome clock- tower erected in 1510.Also on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville is the former Corn Exchange (1759–1761) (Halle de Grains). This ornately decorated 18th-century building was designed by the Vallon brothers. Nearby are the remarkable thermal springs, containing lime and carbonic acid, that first drew the Romans to Aix and gave it the name Aquae Sextiae. A spa was built in 1705 near the remains of the ancient Roman baths of Sextius. This afternoon at leisure you may be interested in visiting on of these sites on your own. - Le Musée de Tapisseries (Tapestry Museum), housed in the Archbishop's Palace and with a collection of tapestries and furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries. - Le Pavillon de Vendôme, a 17th-century mansion housing permanent and touring art exhibitions. - L'atelier Cézanne, a museum on the northern outskirts of Aix, constructed around the studio of Paul Cézanne, which can be viewed as it was at the painter's death. Dinner at the Hotel (3-courses dinner; drinks not included) Lodging Hotel in Aix-en-Provence (B, D) 5 Pascale Le Jeune DS, LS, NCS INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED ADVENTURE AND LUXURY TRAVEL COUNSELOR 704- 228th Ave NE #632 • Sammamish, WA 98074 425.503.0389 • [email protected] • www.ExperienceActiveTravel.com Day 6 – Sunday, May 24, 2015 Aix en Provence / Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer Early this morning we venture from Aix-en-Provence to Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer for a lovely tour in the Camargue and a stop in the well preserved town of Aigues-Mortes and its medieval city walls. The ramparts stretch for a distance of 1650 meters. Spectacular in their height and their state of preservation even though they were not restored in the 19th century, as was Carcassonne for example, they remain in a well preserved state. Along with the Tower of Constance, they are a testimony to Western European military architecture in the marshlands during the 13th and 14th centuries. Breeding of Bulls and of Camargue horses are what make this area famous. These animals are raised almost wild in the surrounding marshes. The Camargue bull is smaller than the Spanish fighting bulls, stocky, with high horns and head. The Camargue horse is the ultimate companion for herdsmen to move into the marshes and herd bulls. The Camargue horse is not very large, about 1.50 m tall. It has a huge resistance adapted to the terrain.