We joked on Instagram that we were just going to France to eat & drink for two days… but it’s pretty much what we did. 

The girls had 10 days off for spring break. So for the first part of spring break, we took a trip to Budapest. For the second part, we looked for cheap flights to southern France, and got round trip tickets on RyanAir to Marseille, France for 40 per person. Done.

Then we found this adorable little apartment, done. 

We flew up on a Friday morning. Arrived in time for lunch in the old harbor. They area was gorgeous with a great view, some cute little shops to walk around, and lots of people watching. We found a great spot along the harbor with a view for a long lunch. Pat and I got a bottle of local wine and had an amazing meal. After walking so much in Budapest only two days prior, to be honest, we didn’t want to do a ton of walking and exploring. 

Due to current events as well, there were some protests (peaceful) happening around the harbor that we got to experience. 

So after lunch, we made our way back to the apartment where we played cards, the girls chilled out, and enjoyed the view. 

Marseille is the second largest city in France (behind Paris), and it has a high crime rate. Since it wasn’t a city we were familiar with, we did less “walking and exploring” and more: take a taxi to where you want to be, kind of thing. What we saw of Marseille though, was beautiful! So much culture, a lot of graffiti, so many different people and truly a melting pot! There is so much history in Marseille as well, and if we were there another time, the history and museums might be something we explored more. 

In the evening, we walked a little more on the beach, but it was SO windy, we ended up back in the apartment playing cards. We love to pack Uno, Old Maid, just a regular deck of cards to play at restaurants or back in the hotels!

On day two, we explored the Palais Longchamp. It had a great park for the kids to play at. We wandered the grounds a little bit, people watched (so many people out exercising, doing tai chi, and other get-togethers), and we had a nice morning strolling around. 

For lunch, the girls had McDonalds, which was the worst McDonalds we’ve had on all our trips, but they were satisfied. The restaurant was SO busy, not enough workers, the burger wasn’t just “not great” but it was so bad Bella didn’t even eat it, if that says anything about it. 

We found another spot with a great meal. After splitting a nice bottle of wine, the girls colored and played with some new little toys they got that morning, and we relaxed for a nice long lunch. 

In the afternoon, the girls put on their bathing suits and braved the cold, which didn’t phase them, and we sat and enjoyed the water, found shells, and let the kids do their thing. The beach was a 5 minute walk from our apartment, so it was perfect. 

By night time, the girls honestly were exhausted, and we played some more Uno and they watched a movie while Pat and I enjoyed our cute view of the apartment overlooking this. 

We ordered in some Doners from UberEats, which was a luxury for us. Besides some pizza from the community center on base, we haven’t had meal delivery since California! It was glorious! 

This trip was exactly what we were hoping it would be. A relaxing weekend with good food, wine, family time, with a beautiful view. There is so much we could have seen and done, but we chose this to be a relaxing weekend before the hustle of the move started up.

As for the people we encountered on our trip, we did not have the best service or meet the kindest people. It wasn’t that people were mean, it was just different here. If you were to ask Pat his opinion, he has very strong feelings about the people and the service here, but overall, we had a beautiful trip. 

Hotel: 

Would we recommend it for families?

Yes, but they were not happy with the fact that we had 3 kids (It’s supposed to 4 be people, max). They only let us stay if the “baby” used the “cot” (a pack and play), but it worked out totally fine.

What we’d do if there was more time:

We could see the Notre Dame De Le Garde church from our view of the apartment and didn’t feel compelled to visit, which is considered one of the main touristy spots. A lot of people also come to Marseille to visit the lavender fields, but personally I’m good with buying the lavender soaps and goods without seeing it. Due to current events at the time, there were a lot of strikes happening at the time, otherwise we would have taken a train to another city like Nice or Cannes. 

Next time!

Would we go back?

We’d go back to Southern France, but to a different city.