Why Aix-en-Provence surprised me

Back in 2006, my University told me I was off to the city of Aix-en-Provence for a year as part of my studies. Luckily, we had Google by then so I could search a bit more about it for example where it was. I must confess my first thought was out of all the exciting places in France how did I end up here? By the end of my year, I had done a 180 degree turn!

La Rotonde fountain decorated for Christmas

Information about Aix

Aix is situated in the South of France, about 45 minutes drive from Marseille. It is a medium sized town full of historic buildings, fashionable shops, pretty monuments  and parks dotted around the city and represents typical French culture. It is a University town and is also popular with tourists especially when the warmer months roll in. This city has a reputation for being posh and expensive, with it's exclusive bistros and boutiques. However, it caters for all with reasonably priced cafés, shops like Monoprix and bars. Shops are open until late in the evening but are completely closed on a Sunday; you will be lucky to even get a loaf of bread!

Fountain of Albertas

Things you can't miss

1. The Cours Mirabeau is a historic and beautiful street located in the centre of the city. With trees scattered all the way down it, it is perfect for strolling around on a warm day, doing some shopping, people watching or sampling some typical food in it's cafés and restaurants. At any time of day or year, it is a flurry of activity you will not want to miss out on! At Christmas, there are markets dotted along the Cours with many wonderful goodies on offer such as Lavender soaps or sugared almonds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. A visit to a French town would be incomplete without the Hôtel de Ville, which is a situated in a pretty little square which is unsurprisingly called Place de l'Hôtel de Ville. This little square also comprises the Clock Tower, the Post Office and has markets on different days.

 

 

 

3. Aix is the city where the famous painter Cezanne was born. You can visit his house and studio, follow his steps around the city using the C shape studs in the streets and visit the cemetery where he is buried. Aix has many possibilities for culture such as the Granet museum or Natural History museum. It has 3 cinemas, one of which shows subtitled French films, and a theatre.

 

 

4. French cuisine is renowned the world over and is best sampled in one of the many restaurants offering delicacies and specialities. It is best to walk down the Cours Mirabeau towards La Rotonde and as you get to Le Bistro Romain, the streets behind are full of restaurants. I also recommend the restaurants at Place des Cardeurs.

 

There are plenty cafés and stalls for sampling salty and sugary crêpes, although the Nutella one is the one I recommend. Another speciality is the "sandwich steak frites" - a baguette with a long burger, thin fries and topped with mayonnaise or ketchup. Who said French cuisine was healthy?

 

5. Aix is called the City of the Thousand Fountains as everywhere you look, another one appears. The Fountain Moussue on the Cours Mirabeau is an unusual warm water fountain that is covered in moss. In the Old Town, the Fountain of Albertas sits in a pretty little square in front of an old mansion. On Rue du 4 Septembre, the Quatre Dauphins sits in the middle of a picturesque street. Each fountain has different stories associated with them and are all still functioning.

 

 

 

6. Parc Jourdan is good for sunbathing or chilling with a book. However, it is often filled with students who can be a little rowdy. Nearby, there is also La Torse which is nicer for a picnic and where you see French families playing at the weekends. It has pretty trees I have only ever seen here and a cute little stream. I love a good park!



 

7. One of my favourite places for relaxing in Aix is the salon de thé Orienthé where you sit on cushions on the floor and sample yummy exotic teas full of flavour. It's like being in Morocco!

 

The one thing lacking is Aix is the nightlife, or at least it was in 2006. There were very few nightclubs or bars with atmosphere and as a student that is what we were looking for! We tended to stick to 3 places: O'Sullivans, O'Neills and IPN. It's suitable however if you are just looking for a quiet drink in a bar.

Why I ended up loving Aix

- Aix has a sense of enchantment, history and magic about it. There is no way you can be unaffected by it's charm.

 

- It's proximity to other cities nearby such as Marseille and Nice. A drive to the beaches around Marseille is definitely worthwhile.

 

- There is always something happening here. It is rare to see the streets of Aix empty.

 

- Everything you need is within walking distance and it is easy to navigate around. It's also a very safe city.

 

- Although it is a popular student city, the residences are a 15 minute walk away so the city centre is not overrun by them.

 

- You won't get away with speaking English here without making some attempt at French!  They don't cater for tourists and expect tourists to join in on their culture.

 

- No matter what time of day, time of year or weather it is a simply stunning city. It's pretty buildings will leave you in awe.

Will I be returning?

 

 

Hopefully within the near future, I'll get to go back and revisit all the good memories.

The South of France

With 96 departments, you could spend years exploring all the wonderful and very different regions of France. It's fair to say this country has it all; historic cities full of interesting monuments, cute little villages,  pristine beaches, ski slopes and not to mention it's culinary delights that make it famous the world over. What more could you hope for? And yet, what puzzles me is that it's a country that I have rarely seen featured in blog posts. Of course, posts about Paris are abundant. You may come across the odd post about other big cities but what impressed me the most about France are the hidden beaches, castles and quaint little villages. The South is where I had the opportunity to do my year abroad and I certainly made the most of visiting many interesting places.


Lac de Sainte Croix

This lake is one of many in the region of Gorges du Verdon situated in the south-east of France. It is the most popular lake and offers many chances for aquatic adventures such as swimming, canoeing and hiring a pedal boat. Perfect for when the temperature is soaring high.

I also recommend visiting Moustiers Sainte Marie which is a pretty little village situated in the Canyon area. It does involve a walk up a very steep hill! However, the views are definitely worth the climb.

You could easily spend a couple of weeks in this region visiting the many villages and lakes without getting bored.  I only got to spend a day here and would love to return and explore further. See this website for further details: http://www.lesgorgesduverdon.fr/en/history-verdon.html

This was probably one of my favourite places in the whole of France, although it is definitely crowded with tourists, particularly in the warmer months.


Pont du Gard

If you have read my post about Segovia, you will know I'm a bit of an aqueduct geek. It's an inexplicable obsession but maybe it's the fact that they were built by Romans or that such a beautiful structure was used for the important task of transporting water. On this particular aqueduct you can walk across the middle part of it to the other side of the bank. You can not imagine how delighted I was by this!

This aqueduct sits on the River Gardon and is surrounded by magnificent banks where you can sit and listen to the water streaming down the river. It is such a peaceful environment and the best part is that it's not crowded with tourists, at least it wasn't while I was there. You can take your time strolling around and taking photos. The tranquillity is such that you won't want to leave! In summer, there is a River rendez-vous where beaches are set up and you can swim in the calmer sections or sunbathe. To be honest, I don't like it turning into a sunbathing spot as it is listed as a World Heritage Site and should be well conserved for future generations.

 

 

 

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post. There are certainly plenty more hidden gems up my sleeve to be revealed in the next few blog posts. Vive la France!

 



Backpacking Australia: Noosa and Moloolaba

If you want to experience real Aussie life on the East Coast, then Noosa and Moloolaba are right up your street. Not only will you get a real insight into the local culture, the pristine beaches are not worth missing out on. These towns are typically less frequented by tourists and backpackers which is an added bonus.

Noosa

 

Viewpoint from National Park 

After Rainbow Beach and the Whitsundays I thought the views could not get any better. For a panoramic view take a walk up to the National Park. The hill is steep so I recommend not doing it when the sun is at it's hottest. The Park extends right down to the coastal area and in this area you can spot a lot of different wildlife including koalas in their natural habitat.

Noosa has many different beaches for strolling along, watching surfers or simply relaxing. The Main Beach is the closest one to the town but is pretty busy during the summer period. The other beaches are less crowded so worth visiting. Pay careful attention to the information about where it is safe to swim or surf. The good thing about the Main Beach is it is patrolled by lifeguards.

 

 

Noosa main beach

 

 

The one thing I wanted to do at Noosa was to visit the Everglades but we never got the chance; my time in Australia was quickly running out and there was so much more I wanted to see. The Everglades are situated on the Cooloola coast and are waterways that allow for lots of aquatic adventures such as canoeing, kayaking or doing a boat tour. For those interested in nature, it is the perfect opportunity for seeing local wildlife.

 

Although there a few suitable hostels for backpackers, we ended up staying in an apartment on Noosa hill as it was just as cheap for a group. Our apartment had a pool, sauna and steam room and allowed for even more relaxation. However if you are on your own or in a small group, a hostel is definitely better and will allow you to meet new people.

 

Mooloolaba

It wasn't my choice to get off the Oz Experience bus at Mooloolaba but my friends had heard great things from their Aussie relatives. At first, it just looked like a little town to me and I wondered what was so great about it. Mooloolaba has a calm and relaxing atmosphere where people are happy strolling around, checking out the many shops along the Esplanade or sipping a drink at one of the many cafés and restaurants. If you are looking for a wild nightlife, this is not the place for you.

 

The beach is a hub of activity and is full of young Aussie teenagers and families making the most of the warm summer months. Typically, there are more people in the sea wave jumping than relaxing on the beach. This is where I noticed that the locals head to the beach not purely to sunbathe but to swim in the ocean. The beach here is very safe and is also patrolled all year long.

 

The Surf Club is great for eating out at a reasonable price and has many typical Australian dishes such as chicken parmi, roasts and many different types of seafood.

 

 

 

Source: http://www.mooloolabatourism.com.au/aboutus

 

I recommend visiting the nearby Australia Zoo, you can get a Greyhound bus from Mooloolaba. This is not a typical zoo; the enclosures are big, the animals look well cared for and the majority of animals are native to Australia so are as close to their natural habitat as can be. The crocodile show at the Crocoseum is fun and at least you are at a distance from them! Watch out for the birds flying all around you during the bird show.

 

 

 

 

If the Northern Beaches are for adventure and excitement, the Sunshine Coast is perfect for some relaxation and getting in tune with the local life. Even if you can only spend limited time there, be sure not to miss out!



Adventure stories from Australia part 2

When you are travelling, it is important to make the most of your time and to embrace new challenges. As mentioned in part 1, I used my time in Australia to get over my fears and take part in many new adventurous activities. Each time I emailed home, I had wonderful and exciting stories to share with family and friends.

Skydiving

What better way to see the world than jumping out of a plane at 14,000 feet? Particularly when the views on offer are those of the Great Barrier Reef. You can do a skydive in many locations in Australia and I chose to do mine at Mission Beach in Queensland. This was, hands down, my best experience in Australia.

 

Mission Beach, Australia

We got picked up at our hostel early in the morning and were taken to the skydiving centre. Here we got allocated our tandem instructor - this is when you are praying you haven't got the newbie young instructor or the one that looks slightly crazy. After being suited up and safety procedures explained, we got on our plane. I would say the plane part of the journey is the worst. You sit on a little bench facing the back of the plane- my crazy instructor decided it would be a great laugh to sit right at the very back next to the pilot, and be the last to jump! Maybe he thought I was as mental as him! The plane is tiny and as you see it climbing altitude, it begins to quickly sink in that you are about to do a sixty second free fall before your parachute opens!

 

Me right at the very back

 

As you reach the correct altitude, a little doorway opens and this is when the fear sets in. If you are first to go, you are extremely lucky as you don't have to see everyone else fall out the plane. Then your instructor gets you to shimmy up to the door ( a bit difficult when you are attached very closely to him!). Sitting at the doorway edge is the scariest part because you now have no control. Before you know it, you are freefalling from the plane and this is the thrilling part of the skydive as you feel like you are falling for quite a while.

 

 

More out the plane than in!

 



 

Then, the instructor activates the parachute and you are yanked back upwards. This is when you have time to appreciate your surroundings, the weirdest thing ever is that from up here you see the curve of the Earth. After a couple of minutes, it's time for the dreaded landing moment. You might not think it's that a big a deal but this part terrified me because a day before my skydive a girl at our hostel ended up with a broken leg because she had not carried out the instructions about landing. What you need to do is really lift your legs as high as you can to allow your instructor to land first.

 

 

 

The moment we landed, all of us wanted to do it again straight away. It passes much quicker than you think and is the most thrilling experience I have ever had.

 

 

Tips for doing a skydive

 

1. Listen to your instructor; they are in charge of your safety. Remember they do this several times a day on a daily basis and have plenty of experience.

 

2. Pick your location carefully. Unless you are planning to do several skydives, location is everything.

 

3. You can pay for another instructor to jump alongside you and take photos as you fall. Personally I would save my money as your own instructor already has a camera attached to his wrist. My friends paid for the extra photos and to be honest theirs aren't that different from mine.

 

4. Don't scream all the way down as you will cover your instructor in drool. Remember he's in charge of your safe landing!

 

5. Wear suitable clothing and footwear. For girls, it's not a great idea to wear a tank top unless you want all your pictures to be pretty revealing! Stupidly, I wore a tank top and sandals - D'oh!

 

6. Thank your instructor - it may be their job and their hobby but they have just risked their life for you.

 

7. Embrace the moment and enjoy. It's a fun once in a lifetime experience and very worthwhile. You won't regret it!



Backpacking Australia: Cairns to Whitsundays

Starting in Cape Tribulation and ending in Melbourne, the East Coast is the destination for backpackers. With a distance of 4,500 kilometres over 3 states, it offers plenty of opportunities for adventure, relaxation and job opportunities for those on a working visa. For me, it was where I decided I was going to let go of my fears and embrace every adventurous opportunity that came my way. Jumping out a plane? Easy-peasy! Diving in the Great Barrier Reef? Hell yeah!

With so many places to visit and exciting activities to do, it can be easy to overlook the hidden gems of the East Coast. It took my friends and I almost 2 months to travel between Cairns and Brisbane and even then we didn't get to experience everything we wanted to. Based on my experiences here is what you can't miss:

- Mission beach: its sandy beaches offer the perfect location for relaxation, or if you are more daring, it is the perfect spot for doing a skydive. Why? Because you see the Great Barrier Reef and land on the beach! It's also a great place to interact with the locals as it is less touristy than other locations. From here you can also do white water rafting, the one daring activity I didn't dare to do. Here I stayed at Scotty's which I thoroughly recommend as it has a good sized swimming pool and they have events to get you to meet new people such as BBQ's. It is about a 15 minute walk to the main part of the town but offers a bus service to get there too.

 

 

 

- Rainbow beach: Hike up the steepest hill I have ever seen (and survived!) for wonderful views of the beach and sunset, fun times sledging down the sand and a hike back down a very steep hill! This unspoilt place might just be my favourite of the East Coast. Here we stayed at Fraser's which is the hostel that offers this free walk up to Carlo Sand Blow. If they hadn't offered this, I probably wouldn't have known it existed.

 

 

 

 

- Magnetic Island or "Maggie Island" is situated near Townsville and is full of adventure and beautiful sights.  I thoroughly recommend staying at Base hostel which has fun competitions in the evenings, offers diving courses and has awesome full moon parties. The locals from Townsville even travel across for full moon.

 

 

Not only is it the ideal place to party, you can hire a jeep which is the best way to travel around the island. A trip to the National Park allows you to see koalas in their natural habitat as well as beautiful views of the Island. Tip - not a good idea with a hangover and a lack of water!

 

 

- Airlie Beach is the stop off point for Whitsunday Islands. This medium sized town is full of hostels and backpackers, all raring to go on their adventures. Despite being little, it offers great shops, a beautiful port and has a great nightlife too. Tip: when choosing what boat to go out on, shop around a little as there are many shops selling tours.

 

 

- Whitsunday Islands are a group of 74 islands which offer the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. The boats leave from Airlie Beach port and you do activities such as snorkelling, diving, kayaking as well as sailing past some of the islands. A sailing trip would be incomplete without a visit to the stunning Whitehaven Beach. This photograph does not even do it justice:

 

 

 

 

 

The boat I went out on was called Summertime and we had a blast! Yummy barbeque food, plenty of adventures and fun games in the evenings made for a perfect 3 day trip which I would recommend to everyone. The crew were very friendly and wanted us to have the best experience.

 

 



 

 

 

From Cairns to Airlie Beach, it takes about 8 hours to drive. To explore and make the most of our time here, it took us over a month. There are endless opportunities awaiting here and you might as well make the most of it, it really is a once in a lifetime experience.



Wanderlust and multilingualism

Amidst all the uncertainties in life, there are two things in life I know for certain about myself: I was born with a passion for travelling and a passion for learning languages. I become even happier when I get the chance to do both of these at once!

People assume that English will be spoken everywhere but this is truly not the case, particularly when venturing away from tourist hotspots. So here are some tips to help you make the most of your time abroad:

Before you go

1. Buy a miniature language guide and practice some of the key phrases you will need such as greetings. I normally buy the Berlitz guides at the airport and spend some time during the journey learning key phrases. Some of them even come with CD's to help you hear how the words sound.


2. If you are saving all your funds for your trip, use the power of Google to find sites with basic sentences and jot these down in a notepad. Here are a few you can use:

French - http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/ss/greetings.htm

Spanish - http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishfortravelers/a/greetings.htm

German - http://german.about.com/od/vocabularytips/a/Learn-German-Greetings.htm

I'm sure there are many more options out there, the Google world is your oyster!

3. Practice saying some phrases out loud to increase your confidence in using them.

When you are abroad

4. Make sure you take your little guide/notepad everywhere with you. You never know when you might need it!


5. Take mini steps - don't try to rattle off big sentences right from the outset. Get confident in the basics first and then you can experiment more.


6. Don't worry about making errors or pronouncing the words wrong. It is in fact by making errors in a language that you learn the most. Also, the locals will be more than delighted that you are trying to make an effort.


7. Learn a few conversation savers such as " I don't understand" , "Can you repeat? " and "I don't speak Spanish/whatever language".


8. Absorb all the language around you - look at signs to see what you can understand, posters on the walls, menus in cafés and restaurants and most importantly listen to the locals communicate amongst themselves. Even if you don't understand everything they are saying, you will still be taking in words here and there.


If you are going for an extended amount of time it is probably more worthwhile to have a good handle on the language, just in case you get into any sticky situations or to get the most from your experience. In this case I recommend using www.duolingo.com which is great for working your way through different topics. You can select to do it for 5 minutes a day or longer if you prefer. It has a huge variety of languages and more are being added. You can even get it as an app for your phone.


Hope this post was useful,


Nikki