I am a 47 yr old retired nurse, I had to retire from nursing due to ill health. I love travel, readi...
I am a 47 yr old retired nurse, I had to retire from nursing due to ill health. I love travel, reading and writing, own one dog and three cats. Two grown up children. Married for 22 years. New to Ciao but enjoying it so far. Enjoy reading the opinions ...
Member since:15.05.2001
Reviews:10
Members who trust:5
Flying from Gatwick to Marseille (Mariagne) with BA for the first time alone, I was rather nervous about what the airport at Marseille would be like. My daughter was working in France and was meeting me at Marseille airport but would not be in time to meet the flight, so I would have a short wait. I am one of those people with not much of a sense of direction and can have my confidence easily chipped away by anything unfamiliar, but as it turned out Marseille airport is a surprisingly small and quite friendly airport. We landed in the afternoon and had only a short wait for the carousel with our baggage to claim. Then after a walk through customs we were through into the main waiting and check in areas of the airport.
There are two small bistro cafes with a range of refreshments at a fairly reasonable price, both have waiter service and are clean and relaxing. I bought a paper in the Tabac Presse shop in the small shopping area at the centre of the airport, the shop had a good selection of UK newspapers and English paperbacks, also some gifts, most notably the shirts and momento's of Marseille's football team Olympic Marseille. I bought my football mad son a shirt. The shopping centre also has a Pharmacy, and a shop selling a range of Provencal gifts.
I sat and read my paper ine one of the bistro's and was served a delicious cafetiere of fresh coffee with croissants while the Marseille sunshine filtered through the windows. There was a relaxed atmosphere, people were walking about with luggage trolleys, and backpackers passing through As in most airports there is a waiting area in front of a large window looking out into the runway where people can watch the the planes taking off, children had their noses smearily pressed up against the window.
My daughter arrived and took me outside the airport where there was a bus station with buses running to various destinations including ours of Aix-en-Provence. Across the road I noticed a car hire service and also a busy taxi rank.
On my return journey I checked in at the BA desk for Gatwick, there wasn't a queue and the staff were English. As I was wandering around the gift shops looking for last minute gifts I was aware of other check in desks with small queues, no-one looked in any way harrassed, everything seemed smooth running and it would be difficult to get lost in such a small, well set out airport. The public toilets are clean and there are phone boxes around the walls of the airport.
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Advantages: Cheaper than England, great food, easy to get to, friendly people Disadvantages: High crime rate, polluted (aren't all big cities??!?) Its French (Lol)
Disillusioned 04.11.2001 ·
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Review of Marseille (France)
Advantages: An interesting Vieux Port (old port) area, good accommodation options nearby Disadvantages: A noticeably high crime rate, not a great deal to see outside the port and coast areas
Marechal_Grouchy 17.09.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Marseille (France)
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