Aix-en-Provence

Our first sleep on  the ship was peaceful and calm. It was hard to believe we were not in land.
We woke early again (I had a broken  night sleep probably still due to jetlag).
The shower in our cabin was small but very effective and refreshing so I felt raring to go.  We had a wonderful breakfast in the Horizon Court.  Little shot glasses of bircher muesli with fresh raspberries were delicious and I had pancake with baked whole pear but the choice was vast with the usual cooked and continental offerings plus much more.
The coffee (cappuccino)  was great. much better than I thought it would be.
We assembled for our tour in the theatre and the organisation was smooth and stress free.
There were 35 in our group to Aix but it was one of 8 groups going.
Our tour guide was pleasant but I'll only mark her a 5 out of 10. She was very knowledgeable but get field of interest was clearly art history and her commentary was almost totally about Cezanne, who lived in Provence and delivered in a fairly dull monotone.
On arrival in an extremely busy Aix she walked us quickly though the amazing streets but unless you were right beside her you couldn't hear what she was saying.
Thankfully I had chosen this tour because it had 4 hours free time.  (This turned out to be less than 3 after the tour)  so the bulk of the time we wandered independently which was great.  I'd like that to have been earlier as the wonderful markets closed at 1 and by the time she had finished it was after 12.30 so we barely had time to browse.

One of the markets in Aix

A painter in one of the markets

Aix is a most beautiful village with an iconic French Feel. Provence is famous for lavender and olive oil soap and the whole old town area seems to smell of lavender.  It has a population of 140,000 with 50,000 students attending the university housed in one of the ancient palatial homes.  There are many of these large impressive homes as Aix was once the capital of the region.

Aix was a Roman spa town and there are many beautiful fountains

We chose not to waste time eating in a restaurant bit wandered the narrow lanes, but we did buy some macarons and sat on a bench to eat a ficelle -mine was tomato, goats cheese and pesto.

The medieval cathedral was beautiful with one of the most wonderful organs.

After our bus ride back through the Provencal countryside, we had a lovely swim in the lotus pool and dined again in the Bordeaux Dining Room where I had beef stay followed by a seafood cioppino and cheese and espresso to finish.
After dinner we took in a show in the theatre - an amusing comedy magician. 
Then to bed because tomorrow is the Cinque Terre. .. Must be at full speed for that