Day 05 - Marseilles

Our route left Spain last night to head north to Marseilles, France. We met Ray and Chantal at 9 am to walk around the city today. Ray had Rick Steves’ walking tour book of Provence as our guide. They had already been to the city on their drive from Nice last week. We shared a taxi to the cathedral at the top of the hill. We joked that we were being smarter today by taking the cab to the cathedral (high on the hill) unlike yesterday in Mallorca. 
The Basilque Notre-Dame de la Garde sits high on a hill overlooking Marseilles.

The views a really nice from atop the hill.

 We saw a few other cathedrals below within the city.

The cathedral is in the Neo Romanesque style from the 1800s. 

The statue on top of the cathedral is a very happy looking baby.

Ray commented that the building had racing stripes with its alternating red and white marble. The inside had a maritime theme with ship replica mobiles hanging along the sides. This church has intricate mosaics on the ceiling, floors and walls. 

 

 

After the church we walked downhill and picked up the route into and around town towards the Old Port. Along the way, we saw this small memorial to the 2nd World War.

The marina runs right into the center of the city.

The Garde cathedral keeps watch over the city.

Rob used the French he learned this morning to get Michele band aids in the pharmacy. The lady gave us gauze which was better anyway for her painful toes. 

Chantal noticed a high quality gelato shop so we stopped for a treat. Rob and I shared a sorbet drink which is a smoothie of two sorbet flavors and water. 

The downtown area near the marina had many picturesque buildings.

We kept walking and found one of the large churches we saw from the Garde cathedral. It had similar stripe patterns on the outside like the Garde. Unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays so we could only admire it from the outside.

There was a modern section of the water front with restaurants and some museums.
The museum was also closed on Tuesdays so we walked around the fort that once protected the city and port.

Parts of the city are charming with narrow back roads. Chantal is to the right in purple.

We headed back to the ship around 2pm. Chantal spoke to the taxi drivers to get us there. One told her they were cousins since both are from the Normandy region.

We were famished so we ate at the onboard Mexican cafe and it was delicious. We didn’t sign up for any evening entertainment so we relaxed a bit before turning in. Tomorrow we visit our 3rd country, Italy where we will tour Florence.