In their footsteps: a journey to find the places my maternal grandparents once lived

Walking in the footsteps of my maternal grandparents and my grandmother’s family, led me from Istanbul to Marseilles, Le Grau du Roi, Rayol Canadel sur Mer, Nice, Paris and finally Baden-Baden, in Germany. As I expected, in Nice and Paris at least, I practically had to run from one address to the other.

I have been fortunate from the very beginning of this journey. Firstly, a Russian lady, who has done much research for me on my family, travelled to Istanbul and we were finally able to meet in real life. Then through a distant relative I was able to connect with an ex pat Australian, Lisa Morrow, now living in Istanbul. Lisa is very knowledgeable about the city, it’s history and the must-see places to visit, all of which she writes about on her website. She agreed to do some research for me into what Russians, like my grandparents, must have seen in what was then Constantinople and, on the day we met, she led us from one significant place to another. I have to say, the people in Istanbul were wonderful and very friendly. Although I was cautious, I never felt unsafe.

After two nights in Istanbul I flew to Marseilles, where again I was fortunate to have had an introduction via my daughter-in-law, to a lovely couple who welcomed me into their home and played tour guide for me. These wonderful people, who prefer to be anonymous, drove me to Le Grau du Roi, where we were able to find the vineyard my grandfather had managed, thanks to the contact they had made with the current owner. I was able to photograph the cottage where my grandparents lived and what could have been some of the machinery my grandfather used. The next day they drove me in the other direction, to Rayol Canadel sur Mer, where unfortunately the hotel my grandparents had worked in had been destroyed by fire in the 1940s. But I was able to see the views they would have seen and perhaps we walked through the same gardens they once did.

From Marseilles I took the train to Nice. I do enjoy to travel in European trains, not only do you get to see the countryside, they are also quite comfortable. Nice was one of the stops on my grandparents’ honeymoon, and it was also the place my mother was born and christened. I have been to the city before, and have even visited the church before, but it was many years ago and I could barely remember it. Nice is a lovely city but, while the hotel where my grandparents honeymooned still exists in practically the same condition, many of the other places I wanted to see were either gone or renovated, so it was slightly disappointing.

From Nice I took the train to Paris. How could I have forgotten the madness of the Paris traffic! I took a taxi from the train station to my hotel, and my anxiety levels went through the roof. But Paris itself didn’t disappoint and, contrary to popular opinion, the people were lovely. Of course I always started a conversation or a question in my terrible barely remembered high school French, and was always grateful when they immediately reverted to English.

One of the highlights of Paris was my day trip out of the city to Caen, where I met a lady, whose grandparents were friends with my grandparents. She only knew a few words of English, but spoke French and Russian fluently. I barely spoke either of those languages, but we managed, thanks mostly to Google translate.

The next day I spent tracking down the remaining Paris addresses with the assistance of that lady’s daughter.

Then I was off again, on another train, this time to Baden-Baden, in Germany where one of my grandmother’s sisters, my great aunt lived. Coincidentally I found a holiday apartment next door to her apartment block, so I can see the same views she saw. And with that, the journey to follow the footsteps of my maternal grandparents ends. The next day I headed to Bonn to catch up with my father’s side of the family. There is a lot to process and many photos to go through. If you are on Instagram or Facebook, I have shared some reels of photos from each place I visited there.