Back in Provence

Often, an ocean cruise begins with a sea day, allowing jetlagged passengers to adjust to the time zone as well as find their sea legs, if they boarded their ship on the day the arrived, as we had in Barcelona.

The other side of the coin is wanting to get the maximum time in ports to leverage long flights, which seems to be the trend for European cruises.  As usual with cruise line decisions, it caters to what passengers desire.

Lest I forget to point out the obvious at some point, late October gave us ideal weather throughout our Mediterranean cruise.

After a delicious buffet breakfast complete with made-to-order omelets with lots of bacon and fresh fruit, Julie and I debarked the ship on what promised to be a temperate day.  We found an awaiting taxi that took us to Marseille-Saint-Charles, the train station and bus depot where we caught a bus to Aix-en-Provence, as we had one other time on a similar Mediterranean itinerary.

Yes, we loved that 2018 cruise so much that the idea of repeating a few ports made it no less appealing.  The main change we made for our port in Marseille was taking the most direct route to the station rather than trying to save a few euro getting there, and our reward for more efficient transit through Marseille were nearly deserted streets when we arrived in Aix-en-Provence.

Since our prior visit, we had learned more about Paul Cezanne, the most prominent artist to call this lovely village his home town, including a wonderful day at the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia appreciating the works of Cezanne along with other impressionists including French artists Matisse and Van Gogh.

We considered taking a Cezanne tour to walk in his steps, but instead we again simply soaked up the ambiance of Provence.  Meandering through alleyways along the tiled walkways, appreciating the architecture, stopping for a coffee at a sidewalk café, window-shopping chic French fashion, buying a banana at the farmer's market and strolling inside churches can be quite relaxing.

In one cathedral, we had an unscripted treat when a man toting a guitar case wandered in and took a seat in front near the altar.  He began playing beautiful classical music, practicing for a performance scheduled after we would be cruising past the French Riviera to Italy.  It was a moving, religious experience, again revealing God's beauty to all with open hearts to experience it.

There's no mystery as to why Provincial French choose to live this type of life rather than hustle and bustle of increasingly generic cities.  We were happy to return to the region just a month after our Viking cruise through Provence, where we found we quite enjoyed being immersed in this culture.

Back in July, I began studying France, primarily focused on the French Revolution and subsequent age of Napoleon, a time that changed the world.  What soon became obvious is that different regions in France have their own beliefs and personalities, just as in the U.S.  For Provence, which had been its own kingdom long before it joined France, that is perhaps even more pronounced.

I'm not alone in saying I love that feel of Provence.  It's better than Paris to me, although certainly the city of the Eifel Tower has many treasures.

When we returned to the ship, we began a sail-away ritual of sitting out on the back deck with coffees or perhaps wine, beer or cocktail.

When I ordered a rum and Diet with a lime for Julie, the bartender rephrased, "A Cuba Libre with Coke Zero."  Then he laughed as he made the drink.  "Do you know what they call that in Cuba?"

An obvious guess by me was wrong.

"Ha Ha Ha," the bartender said, and then he clarified.  "There will never be freedom in Cuba."

The next day in Lucca, I began seeing Aperol Spritz listed on signs at sidewalk cafés, and that light orange drink became my usual order at the fantail as approaching sunsets on the Riviera seemed to make it quite appropriate.

Yes, it was already time to bid au revoir to lovely France, as the morning would find us in our third country in as many days.

On a Mediterranean cruise, you don't have time to become bored by a destination, and that's not a bad thing.