A third of the way through our month in Marseille, we took our first day trip. We chose Aix-en-Provence because it shows up on most south-of-France day trip lists and because we had chosen a Thursday, which coincided with one of their market days (which are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday according to what I read).
I bought our tickets on the SNCF train app, which is the French National Railway Company. Having this app was very helpful throughout our stay in southern France because it was easy to buy last minute tickets (like our return trip on day trips) and the tickets are scanned with a QR code in the app, so no need for printing.
We took the 8:20 a.m. train, which took only about 45 minutes to reach the Aix city centre train station. From there we walked into the old town in search of our first treat of the day, madeleines. We bought 6 for 3.7 euros in assorted flavors from the well-known hole-in-wall shop Les Madeleines de Christophe. We took our bag of madeleines to a nearby cafe for a noisette for me and a cappuccino for Chad.
After breakfast, we wanted to get a really good walk in. We started by going through the market, which was mostly selling cheap clothing and accessories, but had a good atmosphere. Then we headed to the outskirts. Much of the land around the city is green on Google maps, so we expected a more natural setting for the walks we’d planned but it turned out to be neighborhoods instead. Still, they were charming and it was a very pleasant day so we had a good time walking up the hill to the site of Paul Cezanne’s studio and then over to the Terrain des Peintres (Field of Painters) where he created many of his works featuring the mountains around Aix.
Finally we walked back toward town on a different road and through the small parks near the Torse River. We stopped for a little aperitif at the Le Champs de Mars Bar on our way back into the old town then wandered in search of a good lunch. We struggled a little bit because we didn’t have a reservation and it was getting late (many restaurants all over France close from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. between the lunch and dinner service) and I really wanted a solid French meal. We finally chose Le Ramus, which offers nonstop service and has great Google reviews, though felt a little overpriced. Still, it was quite tasty and we especially enjoyed the traditional appetizer we tried, leeks with mimosa vinaigrette and eggs.
After lunch we visited Aix’s main museum, the Musee Granet, which has two locations in historic buildings showing mostly fine art. We enjoyed looking at the paintings, especially those by the artist François Marius Granet himself.
After the art, we made one more stop before catching a train back to Marseille, at the oldest shop for calissons in Aix, called Léonard Parli. Calissons are a French candy dating back to the 15th or 16th century and have a taste and texture similar to marzipan. Léonard Parli has been operating for 150 years in Aix. The candies weren’t the most delicious thing we’ve ever eaten, but they were interesting and adorable.
The Aix is a charming town and has a lot of history dating back to 123 BC (founded by Romans, of course), it didn’t blow us away as a day trip. But it was a fun day overall and worth the trip.