Day 13 - [M]arseilles

Wandering around an old port city

I slept-in this morning, for the first time this whole trip. I think my little emergency and the stress of the previous days caught up. I felt fine this morning though, so hopefully that’s all of it.

After preparing my blog entry this morning (mercifully short), I headed off to a little cafe that I’d discovered on Google Maps that looked like it served a breakfast that I might recognise. The Cafe FAMA Sutra did not disappoint. I really enjoyed this breakfast/brunch, a great start to the day.

Cafe FAMA Sutra

An excellent breakfast/brunch

The plan for the day was to walk up to the Basillica du Notre Dame de la Garde high above Marseilles, then wander down to Le Pannier (the old town, basically) and check out the sights there. Lots of walking with my eyes open and head on a swivel should produce lots of interesting sight-seeing.

I’ve formed the view that Marseilles is more of a ‘doing’ city than a ‘seeing’ city. Lonely Planet’s Top 5 Things to Do included four activities and one visit (sight-seeing). I’m very much a ‘seeing’ kind-of tourist. So Marseilles doesn’t suit me so well. That’s on me.

The walk to the Basillica (which Google commented laughably as ‘Flat’) was very pleasant, although a little harrowing to navigate. Some of Rue (Rues?) that I was to travel down were not well sign-posted and one of them turned out to be a staircase between two buildings! But it was lovely walking around the higher-up suburban part of Marseilles.

Posh houses, with front yards	The view is improving as I climb
Winding lanes hidden in the housing	The first glimpse of the Basillica

The last part of the climb (from the end of the Rue in the last photo here) was essentially a single staircase that was probably 500m long and as steep as the stairs on Mt Ainslie. It was a long slog with a couple of rest stops. I’ve not really been doing any exercise over the last week, however, the stair climbing in Austria and again here in Marseilles is certainly making up for it! And it was in the direct sun, prolly already over 20C.

View over Marseilles from the bottom of the stairs

View over Marseilles about half-way up

View over the harbour from the top

The Basillica is unbelievably ornate (to me). I’m not a man of faith, as readers will know. However, I was over-awed by the magnificence of this tribute to the Virgin Mother. I cynically wondered how Christ, a humble carpenter born in a manger, might view these tribute Churches in their unspeakable richness. The Basillica appeared to be equally devoted to acknowledging the lives of local people and the local shipping fleet. As a port city, I understand how that would come about. I was just surprised that such equal prominence was given to vessels as families.

The Nave	Model ships hung in tribute (I presume)	The altar
Remembrances to families	Remembrances to ships	The ceiling in the nave

I visited the crypt and paid €3 to gain entry to the museum attached to the Basillica. The crypt was a(nother) chapel where people were praying (it was signposted), so I did not disturb them. The museum was interesting in itself, but unlike other museums and galleries I’ve visited on this trip, there was no English translations available of the detailed text accompanying the exhibits. I wrote that off to the French having a very strong connection to and protective feeling of their language and, possibly, a long-held resentment of the entitlement of English speakers. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t even a QR code to take me to an online English translation, as there has been elsewhere in Europe so far.

The chapel in the crypt	A statue of the post-crucifiction Christ	Various images of moments of significance for the Basillica through time
A model of the earliest building	A model of the latest building	Figurines donated by locals for nativity scenes

Other religious landmarks in Marseilles

I’ve included this picture because it shows the contours of the area around Marseilles. Near the port, it’s flat. But it gets hilly quickly, and the orienteerers and bush walkers among the readers will note that it’s steeply hilly. Google Maps persists in saying that walking between points in Marseilles is ‘flat’ – perhaps, as the crow flies!

After completing my visit to the Basillica, I set off to walk down to Le Pannier (the old town, the original port quarter). On the way, I took photos of interesting street scenes and vistas that I came across. The following is a selection, to show you what caught my eye.

The road down from the Basillica	Bordered by apartment buildings
Statue of Pierre Puget Not sure what he’s doing here	Tree-lined boulevard leading away from Puget
Very imposing, unnamed building	Street scenes off the main tourist walks
Busy plazas just back from the port	Gorgeous architecture on the main boulevard

Eventually, I turned into Le Pannier. The old town was the expected warren of lanes with old buildings cheek-by-jowl. Then you turn a corner and there’s a lovely little place (plaza). I decided to find a nice place to sit and have a beer. All of the places that you see photographed would only sell alcohol with food at that time. (This was surprising to me after my time in Italy and Austria.) Eventually, I found a little bar that was just that, a bar, and had a refreshing ale sitting in the shade looking from Le Pannier out to the port.

Typical street in Le Pannier		More streets in Le Pannier		I’m calling it, they named this one for me
Suddenly, a place			Charming place for lunch

After my refreshing beer, I headed home, slowly and meanderingly. I stumbled upon the grand cathedral, but didn’t visit because I was already nearly full up with cathedrals. It is bigger than it looks in these photos. I came out onto the port foreshore with a great view back to the basillica on the hill that I’d visited that morning. I spent a little time trying to identify ‘Hotel de Ville’ shown on the map around here. I eventually came to realise that it was a district name. I’m guessing that all this area was accommodation back in the day.

The Grand Cathedral	The Grand Cathedral
Looking at the Basillica from the port	All boats are expensive, but this lot are not super-yachts!
Could be a hotel, probably apartments	Could be a hotel, probably apartments
Definitely not a hotel	Actually a Hotel Intercontinental, but I’ll bet it didn’t start out as one

I deliberately walked back to my AirBNB a block or two back from the port, partly to avoid the press of crowds, and partly to see bits of the city I hadn’t seen yet. This part of town is more planned with wider streets and plazas in front of important buildings. It was all still very busy.

Street scene in the newer area of Marseilles	Street scene in the newer area of Marseilles	Protest march for Turkish prisoner Ocalan
Plaza in front of the Chamber of Commerce	Merry-go-round in front of the Chamber of Commerce	The opera house

I bought myself some dinner and breakfast at a SPAR as I walked home. I’ll have to move quickly in the morning to get the train to Nice. I’m a little concerned that the streets around me will be closed off for a foot race (marathon? fun run?) tomorrow and that will make my trip to the train station necessarily on foot (buses and taxis may not be able to get in) and possibly slower because I’ll have to go around the course. The anxious traveller will just have to wait and see.

Daily facts: Location: [M]arseilles Temp: 26 Weather: Sunny and warm