We waited in Spain for a weather window to cross the Golfe du Lion, a notoriously windy part of the Mediterranean, frequently affected by the Mistral wind. After the 120-mile crossing, we pulled into Marseille, France and the first place we passed was a castle on an island. I mentioned how it looked like something out of  The Count of Monte Cristo and to our amazement it was the Chateau d’If. If you have never read the book or watched the movie, it is an amazing story of pirates, love, revenge, and treasure.

Pulling into the Old Port of Marseille The first thing we did after our arrival was climb to the top of the city to watch the sunset from the Notre Dame du Garde. We were “stuck” in Marseille for a week waiting for the Mistral winds to stop blowing. We worked on some boat projects and walked at least 15,000 steps exploring the city each day. Our original plan was to take a short break from the boat around Christmas to visit my family in Germany and go to a “Christkindlmarkt”. With the weather delays, there just wasn’t enough time, but we found great Christmas markets in France. When the winds subsided we left Marseille and sailed to Toulon. The next day, we continued to Le Lavandou, where we would be stuck for another three days. While waiting for our next weather window we took a day trip to Saint Tropez by bus. Saint Tropez also had a great Christmas market and we really enjoyed the crepes with Grand Manier. When we were able to move on, we sailed past Cannes to Cap d’Antibes where we spent one night before our three-day passage to Sicily, Italy. The views of the Alps from the sea were breathtaking. Please subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss upcoming posts about cruising to Italy and Greece. For many more photos, check our Photo Albums, which are updated almost daily.