After 15 years in Marseille, this couple leaves the city: “It’s a relief”

After 15 years spent in Marseille, Pascale and Yves made the decision to leave the city and of to change life.

For two months, they have become managers of the Gîtes de l’Oasis du Lot, in Payrac, in Occitanie, far from the tumultuous Phocaean city. For what reasons ? The couple regrets nothing and testify.

Arrived in Marseille for professional reasons

If Pascale and Yves Ch’ti are from Lyon, it is in Marseille that they arrived, in 2009, for professional reasons. Verdict, once installed?

Pascale remembers being marked “by all these people waiting for the bus in swimsuits, towels around their necks, in the middle of the city”, or even, with more skepticism, by “the Marseille highway code, very particular, which also cost me an accident. First settled in the 9th arrondissement, the couple got their bearings and knew how to appreciate the local beauties.

I loved the Calanques and all the walks I was able to take there. I also remember enjoying the many parks in Marseille: it reminded me of Lyon, a big city, but with green spaces.

“Aggression” and “incivility”

But the Covid crisis will change the way Yves views the city. “I noticed people being aggressive and even more incivil,” he recalls. The dirt, the settling scores linked to drug trafficking and their collateral damage also displeased the retiree, as did the change in atmosphere he noticed in Saint-Loup, the neighborhood where they moved, in 2011.

Saint Loup was a fabulous little village. I was involved in it, as president of the CIQ, in particular. At first, it was fun and busy. In the end, I wanted to save him instead. After Covid, businesses closed, instead snack bars and night grocery stores opened. This reduced neighborhood life.

“The traffic weighed on me more and more”

At the same time, his wife also feels a weariness gradually setting in: that of traveling. “I was 2 miles from work and over time it was longer and longer to get there,” explains Pascale.

One day, it took me 50 minutes to go from Saint-Loup to La Capelette! The traffic weighed on me more and more. Then, the stores which closed one after the other. The village core no longer went to the shops of Saint-Loup: there were fights, we sometimes heard comments, particularly addressed to women.

Goodbye Marseille, hello Lot

Taken together, these disappointments ultimately cause a desire for change from the couple. This idea of ​​lodgings, which had been on their minds for many years, then became obvious. Especially since during a vacation in the Dordogne, Pascale and Yves fell in love with the area.

Here they are today at the head of Gîtes de l’Oasis, located in the Lot, in the heart of a haven of peace and nature. In this green setting, their daily life is radiant. “We who have always loved social relationshipswe are not disappointed,” says Pascale.

Peyrac is a village of 672 inhabitants: here, everyone greets each other and everyone chats. Thanks to the lodges, we also meet different people, who come from the four corners of France. This social bond suits us a lot.

” It is a relief ”

An improvement in their quality of life that Yves does not deny, quite the contrary: “It is a relief, an awareness, of the fact thatwe can live differentlyenjoy many more things together, do better with your time,” he rejoices.

To go for a run from Saint-Loup to Valentine’s Day, it sometimes took us 30 or 40 minutes. Here, the first small town is 15 minutes away. We are winners, we are not isolated either!

An ideal life change

Happy, the couple has not however completely given up on Marseille: they still have family and a few friendships. But they do not regret their choice : “We went back there recently and we were very happy… But we were also happy to leave! »

Their children, too, appreciate the places more and more over the course of their visits. “They even come to see us more than in Marseille,” smiles Pascale. An ideal life change, in short.

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