tgv – Carbon Conscious Travel

Culture trip to Marseille by direct train

January 24, 2020January 24, 2020Posted in train travelTagged boat, Brussels, citytrip, corsica, cycling, fietsen, France, harbour, hiking, marseille, port, tgv, tourism, train, travel, weekendLeave a comment

At the end of September we took the direct train from Brussels to Marseille. In six hours we got from rainy Belgium to this lovely port city. We spent 3 days walking, cycling visiting some museums and hanging around.

Marseille is a Mediterranean city full of different influences. A port city with a rough edge. It feels a bit like Brussels but with better weather. A port city with all of its colourfull aspects: diverse cultures, incredible architecture, beaches, restaurants. We could live here!

Day 1

On our first day we arrived around lunch and registered for the Velib bike sharing system. It only costs 1 euro for seven days. (30 min for free, same bikes as in Brussels, same way of unlocking etc.)

The direct train we took from Brussels to Marseille was rather pricy at our time of the year, so we paid more than 200 EUR per person going and back. The comfort on the other hand is great: you step into the train in Brussels-Midi with a coffee and a nice breakfast, and you arrive in the center of Marseille by noon.

We checked-in in our Airbnb and started discovering at the Escaliers du Cours Julien. Colourful stairs lead to an arty neighbourhood with nice terraces around a fountain where we had Aperol’s at L’escalié.

In the meantime we joined the local Youth for Climate strike at L’Ombrière to take some photos of their protest and continued our visit of Marseille.

Afterwards we spent some time around the Vieux Port, the old harbour. It’s a nice walking neighbourhood, but hotels and restaurants around here tend to be touristy (and more pricy).

For dinner we just strolled into the backstreets around our airbnb and for convenience picked out a good looking Brasserie (similar to the ones you find all over Paris).

Day 2

A piece of impressive architecture of Le Corbusier is the Cité Radieuse. A very special apartment block designed in 1952 that is still inhabited today, mainly by architecture and art lovers.

When you visit the inside you can observe how different functions were integrated into one building: a supermarket, bookshop, doctor, school, library, … The apartments are duplex’es that are puzzled as Tetris blocks into the building.

After an extensive visit we took a big cycling and hiking tour: From Cité Radieuse to the (foggy) views from the Notre Dame de La Garde, to the MuCem and to Corniche Kennedy.

For dinner we went to a place next to the sea at Corniche Kennedy. There is quite some restaurants to pick from, but some tend to be very pricy. We went to Le petit Pavillon – nothing fancy, but views on the sea and good seafood without frills: oysters, grilled fish etc.

Day 3

Our third day we had breakfast in a nice arty airbnb at La Maison du Petit Canard in the Panier neighbourhood. The location is quite good, so this could be a good option to stay for your full weekend.

We strolled around the Panier neighbourhood, visited the Cathedral La Major and went to MuCEM for the complete rest of the day: the museum of European and Mediterranean civilisation offers on its own is already worth a trip to Marseille. It has a very diverse range of expositions with art, history and science, multiple restaurants and terraces to read a book, a fortress with gardens and a watchtower with views on the old harbour.

As in Paris, every first Sunday of the month entrance to the museums is free of charge. We visited multiple expositions, joined for part of a tour in the fortress and had a really good buffet lunch in the restaurant on the top floor.

… and from Marseille we travelled on to Corsica with the night boat of Corsica linea.

After spending multiple days discovering Marseille we felt we could live there. So who knows in a couple of months or years you can come visit us here in Marseille!

Traintrip to relax in the Provence

November 1, 2019Posted in bike travel, train travel, UncategorizedTagged arles, brompton, cycling, France, nimes, provence, tgv, traintravel, travelLeave a comment

Are you ready to join us on an exclusive trip to the Provence? Earlier this year we took a direct train from Brussels to Nîmes in the south of France. We stayed with a group of friends at Charles’ impressive countryside house to live the good life.

A one way ticket for this direct train was 140 EUR per person, which is not cheap…but given the direct train, it is really a very fast, comfortable and beautiful ride. We find it way more comfortable than going by car or by airplane. We have sushi on the train (sold in Brussels south station) and enjoy a good apéro while sliding through the countryside.

Upon arrival Charles and Gagou were so kind to pick us up and take us to their Mas de Bronzet, but if needed you can also easily take a local train or cycle around in the region.

The house is truly impressive and has plenty of history, as it is one of the traditional “Mas” in the region. It has a huge domain with olive trees and a beautiful swimming pool. The house can be reserved on airbnb as well… but in that case you might want to go with the whole family and have your parents pay for it.

The purpose of the trip was to relax, talk, cook together, visit some villages, go for a morning run,… and that’s exactly what we did. We tipically spend mornings having breakfast and reading by the pool, while in the afternoon we visit a small village.

In the evening we did multiple group meditation sessions in the chapel next to the house. The old stone chappel gives already a vibe of calmth that gets you immediately into the right mood to spend half an hour focussing on your breath and mind. Once we are all zen, we’re ready for the apero and diner.

Since it can be rather hot in the region, cooling down in the pool is a must to survive. So a daily portion of swimming brings some sports and refreshment.

After bronzing by the pool, it’s time for some visiting:

Our first trip goes to Les-Beaux-de-Provence (combined with a stop in Saint-Rémi-de-Provence). The small pitoresque village on a rock, overlooks fields with olive trees and vineyards. It’s the perfect place for an afternoon stroll and for watching the green scenery.

If you had enough sun, there’s also the Carrières de Lumière just next to the village, which is good to visit…but the queue was just too long so we skipped it. Maybe try this out when it’s not high-season.

For the second trip we take our folding bikes and head off to Arles. A drive of less than an hour, through the fields and next to the Rhône river. When arriving in the old center of Arles you soon understand why so many artists and photographers found their inspiration there.

You can easily spend multiple days visiting Arles. Take a walk around all the historic buildings like the Arenas, the churches and just get lost in the small streets.

A place you must go for dinner is on the terrace of Le Galoubet. You will have to make a reservation, but the menu is really worth looking forward to. Another restaurant option could be Chardon, not far from Le Galoubet.

For the next trip we head to L’isle-sur-la-sorgue. It is significantly further away from Beaucaire, but completely worth the trip if you love antiques. The place has plenty of galeries and shops next to the river where they sell furniture, decoration, airplane parts for your living room, modern art,… plenty of things to keep your eyes gazing around for multiple hours.

As a last trip, at only twenty minutes by bike from the house, you can go find Beaucaire. The city lays next to the Rhône and is less of a touristy place. It still has its cosy farmers market next to the harbor and a citadel/castle to visit. It’s a good base to go food shopping and just hang around for a bit.

So, that was quite some visiting and relaxing, wasn’t it?

These were five intense and beautiful days in the provence with a group of lovely people. To be repeated as soon as possible.

Barcelona by train

March 23, 2019March 24, 2019Posted in UncategorizedTagged barcelona, cablecar, citytrip, highspeed train, off hotel, off paris, paris, sncf, tgv, thalys, trainlover, traintravelLeave a comment

Last weekend we took a three day trip to Barcelona to visit a friend. Since flights are about 50-100 euro its not necesarilly an evidence to pay 260 euro per person to go by train, but we thought we’d give it a try and see if it’s worth its price. This post is not to convince you to visit Barcelona, but to consider travelling by train on longer distances in an easygoing and more comfortable way.

If you book well in advance with Thalys, or get an Izy ticket you can have a 19 or 25 euro ticket one way. So the trick is to find the Paris-Barcelona trip with the direct train at a reasonable price: in our case 105 euro one way.

There are multiple options to make your one-time transfer between Brussels and Barcelona: Paris (like we did), Valence-Perpignan-Montpellier (same direct line) or Lyon. Plenty of options to make a stopover or spend the night.

Brussels – Paris

On Thursday afternoon we took the Thalys from Brussels-midi to Paris North station. We took our folding cycles that we attached to the rack at the entrance of the train and a backpack full of entertainment: apero, chess game, books,… The plan was to do part of the trip on Thursday, and continue to Barcelona on Friday morning to make the trainride feel a little shorter.

Paris

A super nice and “affordable” stay is the OFF Paris Seine hotel with rates starting at 160 euro per night. The hotel is a floating catamaran on the Seine river. The bar and breakfast room has impressive views and so do the rooms.

The hotel is at walking distance from the Marais neighbourhood where we went for dinner in an old classic restaurant “Le Dôme du Marais” with nice decors and good food (thx for the recommendation Filip!). After that we took a walk through the small streets, the Notre Dame and some of Paris highlights that are closeby.

Paris – Barcelona

On day 2 we head off with the 10am direct train from Paris Gare de Lyon. A six hour train ride takes you through the beautiful french countryside, along the Mont Ventoux (see picture below), passing the Mediterranean and through the Pyrenees into Spain.

You better take a good french picknick if you want to avoid the average overpriced train food. With some boiled eggs, french bread and cheese, chocolate, croissants, champagne and more we brunched our way through nature. We read a book, played some chess and got completely overwhelmed by the views on the way.

Barcelona Day 1

The ultimate sense of freedom was to get off the train, unfold our bikes and start roaming through Barcelona. Our first stop was to find our friend Mariska rowing through the yacht harbour.

A cosy tapas place with funny waiters is the Cerveceria Vaso de Oro, closeby to the harbour. The interior and vibe gets you straight into the Barcelona life.

Barcelona day 2

Waking up on the sunny terrace with a cup of coffee, couldn’t get better than this. Since this was not the first time in Barcelona we did not have a must see list but decided to stroll around, meet some friends and drink Vermouth.

A short detour over the electric stairs and through the Parc Güell, took us through Gracia for breakfast and lunch.

For lunch or diner you can go to Pepa Tomate, or for a very “Typical” Vermouth experience go to La Bodegueta de Gracia. The latter is a very basic place without a terrace, but the Vermouth and papas bravas will convince you to go back.

And a metro ride later we were standing on Montjuic to take the touristy cable car to the port. We never took it before, but the views are totaly worth it! A one way ticket is 11 euro and there is always a bit of a waiting line, but we found it worth its money.

The ride on the cable car takes about 10 min, but you can stay longer on the tower in the harbor to keep enjoying the 360° view. If the weather is nice the windows of the cabin are open so you can stick out your camera to take better pictures.

To enjoy sunset and apero, one of the nicest spots is the beach on Playa de la Barceloneta. Vendors sell you beer at a negotiable price (going down from 2-3 euros to 1 euro for a beer), so not needed to bring your own drinks.

And since non-natives living in Barcelona start to get sick of the typical spanish tapas, we tested an amazing asian alternative: L’Ôs Panda! Highly recommended if you want to skip the tapas for once. Best to reserve in advance though.

Barcelona day 3

On our final day in Barcelona we spent the morning having brunch at Llop. A “hipster brunchbar” on a small square in El Raval, with a longlist of breakfast dishes and great carrot pie and cheesecake.

Just around the corner are the gardens of Rubio y Lluch. A place to sit and read a book under the orange trees after over eating yourself at breakfast.

We finished our time in Barcelona like we started it: with a view on the harbor enjoying the sun. After that we cycled back to the Sants railway station where our train back to Paris left a little past 13h.

Barcelona – Brussels

On the way back, travelling in the opposite direction, you see things you didn’t notice on the first trip. So again: not boring at all.

But still, this trip felt a bit longer: we left at 13h in Barcelona Sants, straight to Paris Gare de Lyon. Than cycled to Paris Nord station and with the Thalys back to Brussels. We arrived back home around eleven o’clock in the evening after an overwhelming trainride.

So next time you are checking the flights to some citytrip location like Barcelona, Nice, Berlin, Amsterdam,… you name it… consider taking the train instead! With some good food, books and companion you’ll love it! (And the Planet will like it as well).