Exotic France » country

Best in Car Hire

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:34:57 +0000

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The only thing you need to do is to provide us with some basic information on your requirements. We will have a car ready for you in an instant. We even offer you luxury car hire services if you need to have more exclusive vehicles.

Marseille visit

Thu, 06 May 2010 07:01:45 +0000

Marseille in the south of France is the country’s second largest city after Paris. Right on the Mediterranean coast it is one of France’s great historic cities.
An ancient city in the Bouches-du-Rhone ‘departement’ of Provence, Marseille is the largest French seaport and one of France’s great historic cities. It was functioning as a port even before Julius Casar conquered the Gauls.

Settled by the Ligurians the town was taken by the Phoenicians around 600BC, the Greeks in 540BC and the Romans two thousand years ago. As a result of such long settlement, Marseille is rich in history. The bustling atmosphere of Marseilles also reflects its great port, fishing fleets and specialism in seafood. The city’s one-time reputation for gangsters and crime was depicted in French and American films, the best-known of which to English-speakers is ‘The French Connection’ starring Gene Hackman.
But time has moved on and Marseille is now better known for its museums and galleries, as a port of call for Mediterranean cruise ships, for its football team, Olympic Marseille – and for its seafood.

Marseille is heaven for seafood fans. As well as the many fresh fish dishes you can choose between various versions of the traditional fish soup, bouillabaisse. Bouillabaisse du Ravi and Bouillabaisse du Pecheur are variations commonly served in the city’s restaurants. Ravi (‘delighted’) features six different fish while the Bouillabaisse du Pecher (‘fisherman’) has three.
‘Moules marinier’, another staple seafood dish of Provence, combines mussels with Provencal herbs and finely diced onion. Eat in the Vieux Port (the old port) looking out over the Mediterranean and you’ll see the bustling harbour at work. Alternatively, go into the quieter streets of the Quai de Rive Neuve. The dry local white wines suit fish and seafood very well but many people choose a rose wine – ‘pink’ somehow seems right in the heat of the Provencal summer.

Many holiday makers combine a visit to Marseille with visits to other towns on the Mediterranean coast. St-Tropez, Cannes, Cassis, Sainte-Maxime, Frejus, Antibes, Nice, Cap Ferrat and Monte Carlo all have distinct characters and charm. With their beaches and glamour they will definitely appeal to the committed hedonist.

Inland, the towns of Aix-en-Provence, Arles and Avignon will appeal to culture vultures. In particular you may want to visit the summer theatre festival in Avignon and the exhibition in Arles of Roman antiquities. The latter is on until mid-September 2010 and features a bust of Caesar and many artefacts excavated from the river bed of the Rhone.

In Marseille, some major sights to see are the 5th century Abbaye de St-Victor, the Old Port, the Romanesque Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the former prison of the Chateau d’If, the famous street known as La Canebiere, the historical ruins in the Jardin des Vestiges, the old town square Estienne d’Orves and the 17th century building La Vieille Charite, now an exhibition centre. Museums not to miss are the Musee d’Histoire de Marseille, Musee de la Marine, Musee des Docks Romains (a Roman warehouse), the art Museum (Musee Grobet-Labadie) and the Musee d’Histoire Naturelle.

High-speed trains (TGVs) run frequently between Paris and Marseille and take just three hours. The local airport, Marignane, serves destinations around Europe and in Africa.
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Nord Pas-de-Calais

Thu, 06 May 2010 04:41:45 +0000

Because the sun appears less often here than in the south, some people think of Nord-Pas de Calais as a gloomy region. They have clearly never paid it a visit: it’s probably one of the jolliest regions in France, and always ready to celebrate. Parades, carnivals, fairs and fanfares – good habits endure in this land of memory, bristling with belfries. To get the right feel for the region’s spirit, you need to join the crowd during the great collective celebrations, and share their meals based on seafood – the famous moules-frites, the traditional waterzoï (a court-bouillon of fish and chicken) – washed down with some of the local beer. It’s a lively region where tradition is part of daily life – a region open to the major capitals cities of Europe such a short distance away!

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France is the most northerly region in the country, and it borders Belgium. This is the place to enjoy beaches and countryside, fine cuisine and unique shopping, local markets and unique architecture. This is a major port, and those traveling by ferry from the U.K. land here.

To visit France’’s northernmost region is to discover a universe where sea and earth are intimately linked. In the past ten years, Nord-Pas de Calais has been transformed by the Channel Tunnel––a project accomplished in May 1994 but contemplated by Napoleon two centuries earlier. Another asset is the TGV train service from Paris to Lille, the region’s capital, a non-stop 150-mile trip that takes 59 minutes in railway cars whose comfort equals that of a first-class airliners, minus the airport delays and weather turbulence.

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