Wednesday, April 12
There is nothing in the world quite like the French Riveria, which is gloriously beautiful. Marseille is its biggest city, with 1.6 million people, and Marseille is the largest commercial port in France.
We met our tour guide at the pier, and boarded the bus for a narrated drive through Marseille, passing two forts along the way, and traveling along the Canebiere main street on on to the Vieux Port.
The drive took us through the industrial areas and the city, filled with a mixture of very modernistic buildings mixed with the old. We drove past the forts of St. Nicholas and St. John, traveled along Marseille’s main street, and on to Vieux Port. We also saw the 19th century eclectic Longchamp Palace, featuring lovely fountains and cascades.
Our destination was Notre-Dame de la Garde, an enormous basilica on a hill overlooking the city of Marseille. It was supposed to be a guided tour, but we were sent off on our own. We had to climb many flights of stairs to reach the lower chapel, which was dedicated to Mary. A fellow passenger from Kentucky popped in to tell us that what we were looking at was not the main chapel, and “Wait until you see upstairs! It is incredible!”
We climbed more flights of stairs and were rewarded with the truly magnificent gold filled Neo-Byzantine chapel adorned with marble, mosaics, and murals. From the top of the ramparts, we had panoramic views of Marseille.
Because of the heavy stand-still traffic at the beginning of our tour, we did not actually see quite a few of the sites that we were promised for the tour, although we drove by them. There was a photo stop at the Heroes Arch of the eastern armies in the distant lands.
We were supposed to have been given time to walk along the Old Harbor, dating to 600 B.C., which was a lovely place to walk along the waterfront and browse the shops. However, we were given only 30 minutes. Cliff, Joan and I ordered pizzas, wine and beer at a small cafe. Just as our pizzas arrived, it was almost time to get back to the bus, so we ate a couple of pieces each, and then had our pizzas boxed up. We ended up sharing it with fellow passengers, the bus driver, and the guide.
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