Voyaging Berts: Tres Belle Marseille

When we began planning the cruise (if this is your first time tuning in, you may want to start at the beginning of this voyage with Amsterdamin') I'll admit, I was a little bummed because the three places I had the most interest in (Mallorca, Valencia, and Marseille) were the shortest stops of our journey. Plus another bummer - there was only one stop in France and for those who know me, know that I am French at heart. My first international trip was to Paris... way back to when Hubs and I started dating. One day, we plan to go back to Paris and rent a car so we can try out the different regions of Wine that the French countryside has to offer.

Anyway, I digress. Marseille is a beautiful city, there's tons to do and some very impressive architecture throughout the city. One place we had hoped to get to but didn't during our short stay was Chateau D'If. It was the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas' book - The Count of Monte Cristo. If you're planning a trip to Marseille, I'd encourage you to at least look into doing this.

Beautiful sunset from the night before

Love these clouds

It just kept getting better

This time our ship docked in early afternoon, so we decided to disembark as quickly as possible since we only had seven hours. We were able to get to a taxi within a few minutes and were heading to our first stop Notre Dame de la Garde (translates to Our Lady of the Guard) Cathedral, which sits upon a the highest point in Marseille. The cathedral is extremely impressive and the views of the city are unprecedented. We enjoyed soaking in the sunshine while we admired the architecture of the cathedral. One thing to know, it's easy to get a cab to the cathedral however, getting back can be a pain. The closest place you can pick up a cab to leave is from the Vieux Port (meaning Old Port). It's all downhill but it is extremely steep, you've been warned!

Views from the Cathedral

Pano of the view

Despite the sunshine in the photo, I love this shot

I thought this statue was cool

More views

Another of the church

You can just barely make out the football (soccer) stadium that was built for the Olypmics

Inside the church was incredible

I love the ceiling

We made our way down the steps towards the next stop on our list the Palais Longchamp which is a grandious monument built in 1869 to celebrate the completion of the canal bringing water to the city. Even from blocks away, the monument will take your breath away. Once you head up the stairs, you're able to walk behind the large fountain to either the Botanical Gardens, a park, the Natural History Museum or the Musee des beaux-arts. If we'd had more time, we could have seen at least one of these but we had a long list of things to see and miles of city between them.

Beautiful statue on our walk to the Palais

If this had been open, I would have ridden it

Giraffe!

Another beautiful church - La Chapitre

Far away from the Palais and it was still huge!

Beautiful fountains

Cool shot from behind the fountain with the Notre Dame de la Garde in the background

More city views

Digging the detail up above

Another fountain shot

Looking down on the fountain

Side view

After we'd had our fill of the girnomous fountains, we decided to take a slight detour and see the Porte D'Aix built to celebrate peace in Marseille. It's not as impressive as the Arc d'Triomphe found in Paris, but still beautiful nonetheless.

The Porte D'Aix

The arc was only a four minute walk from Cathedral La Major - one of Europe's largest cathedrals! It's facade was extremely unique and the inside was beautiful. If you're in the area it is definitely worth a visit but if you only have time for one, I'd stick with Notre Dame de la Garde.

Beautiful shot of the Cathedral La Major

Entrance to the Cathedral

It was huge!

Front entrance to the Cathedral

Love this side view

We have been walking for about three hours at this point and were starting to get a bit thirsty so we decided to find a cafe where we could rest our feet and perhaps have an early dinner. We quickly realized dinner was out of the question, most places weren't even open until 4 or 5 and it was just 3:30pm. Finally we came upon Cafe Le Major and decided this spot would do for a glass of wine and some dessert. The owner, Jon, came over as we were sitting down and offered us some water and asked if we would trust him to choose a bottle of wine for us. Since we are still learning which notes we like, we decided to be open to suggestion. Let me tell you, that bottle of wine was probably the best we've ever had! The French certainly know their wine! For dessert we took another suggestion from Jon and tried the strawberries with homemade whip cream and mint, which a bit of pepper. Another fantastic choice. Seriously, if you're in Marseille, you'd be silly not to stop in and see Jon. We had the best time sitting on the patio, drinking wine and enjoying conversation with him.

Be sure to go and ask for Jon!

Soon enough, time was running short. Reluctantly, we hailed a cab and made our way back to the ship for one our last dinners aboard the ship. Next time... we'll be back to Italy in Genoa! Ta ta for now!