A Visit to Marseille

Manipulating your umbrella in windy conditions so it doesn't reverse or break has become an art form.  That comes slightly later, though; let's start at the beginning of the trip.

Up bright and early at 5:45 AM Friday morning to catch the TGV to Marseille was painful, I'll admit.  I could've done with a few more hours of sleep before attempting to get to the train station from my apartment.  I managed without incident, however, duffel bag slug over my shoulder and ticket in one hand.  I would write about the beautiful three hour ride down into the south of France, but I fell promptly asleep right after sitting down in the train.

Arriving at Marseille, I was immediately struck by the enormity of it.  Being the second largest city in France (as long as you're not in Lyon, which is apparently also the second largest), I shouldn't have been shocked, but the sprawling buildings covered the entire space between the sea and the hills off in the distance, so I'm sure you'll understand my awe.  I got a better view of the city up from the Notre Dame de la Garde, a huge cathedral on top of a hill overlooking the city.  Everywhere I looked, there were buildings, Mediterranean-style roofs stretching as far as the eye could see-- until they reached the sea, of course.

The view from the train station

One of the views from Notre Dame de la Garde

A different view from Notre Dame de la Garde

Another view from Notre Dame de la Garde-- seriously, it's a huge city!

The Notre Dame de la Garde itself was beautiful, seeming almost like a cross between a church and a fortress.  In the main sanctuary, thousands of little boats hung from the ceiling, something I've never seen before but was thoroughly delighted to witness.  Below the sanctuary was the crypt, much smaller and barer, but just as beautiful.

One of the towers of the Notre Dame de la Garde

Stained glass in the crypt

The main sanctuary

Hanging boats in the sanctuary

A statue in the sanctuary

After the visit to the cathedral, we took the Petit Train back down to the port of Marseilles, winding down the hill through tiny streets mixed with the occasional large road that felt entirely too much like a highway for me to be entirely comfortable with just being in a little train.  We passed an old abbey (that I've forgotten the name of, terribly sorry), and got a view of the island fortress that Alexandre Dumas based The Count of Monte Cristo on.

The Abbey

Passing the arch looking out across the sea

Seaside houses

A collection of small islands off the coast-- one of which is the setting for Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo!

One of the many little streets we drove down

The Old Port of Marseille

We also took a walking tour around the Old Port of Marseille-- completely in French, so I'm impressed with the amount of things I now know about Marseille.  Did you know Louis XIV (that's 14 right?) stormed Marseille with his troops and then built a fort where the canons could be turned to point on the city in case of rebellion?  Fun fact of the day.

The weather was beautiful on Friday, despite the predictions of rain for the whole weekend.  We'd all gotten excited about the prospect of another sunny day in Marseille on Saturday, when, all of a sudden, disaster struck.

They say it only rains 50 days out of the whole year in Marseille.  Apparently we were unlucky.

Saturday, we woke up to a chill and some wind, with skies that did not look like they were going to reveal the sun anytime soon.  Nevertheless, we headed out back to the port, and got on a boat for a three and a half hour boat tour.  Being prone to seasickness, I was not looking forward to the boat tour to begin with, but when you add in rain and wind, I was dreading having to spend the morning out on the sea.

I have no pictures from Saturday, for many reasons.  The first is that I was terrified of getting my camera wet and it breaking, and the second is that I was trying so hard not to get nauseous on the boat that I couldn't think of anything else.

At any rate, about half an hour into the boat tour, our guide decided to cut the tour a bit short, so instead of taking the long route around Marseille, we took a short cut, meaning we were only on the water for about two hours.  Two hours of my life I'll never get back, but at least I managed to stay un-seasick.  We were then given a huge amount of free time to shop and get lunch before meeting for another walking tour, so Grace and I went and wandered down the streets in the slight drizzle and heavy winds in search of soap (Marseille's top export, apparently) and sandwiches.

I didn't get any soaps, though I did buy some amazing lavender-filled tiny pillows to hang in my room before we headed back to meet up for the walking tour.  By this point, many people were already soaked and windblown, but we continued on nonetheless.  Umbrellas in hand, we began our march up one of the hills of Marseille.

In the two hours of our walking tour, three umbrellas broke, and everyone's turned inside out at least twice.  You were lucky if there was one bit of you that was left dry by the end of it, and everyone looked like they had just walked out of a wind tunnel.  Luckily for us, we got another few hours of free time before we headed back to catch the train to Paris, so I plopped myself down in a cafe across from where we were meeting and didn't move for two hours.

Finally, we left Marseille and headed back to Paris.  The TGV is an easy, comfortable way to travel, and I got both some sleep and some writing done.  Marseille is a beautiful city, though occasionally feels more like a large collection of suburbs than a true city.  If I do go back, it'll probably be sometime in the spring, when I can lay in the sun without fear of getting rained on or blown over at any moment.

Katrina