Marseille May 26th

Arriving in Marseille in the early afternoon

Notre Dame de la Garde above Marseille

See the model boats suspended from the ceiling of the Basilica

Parc Longchamps

One of these vicious carved lions and its prey - an antelope, I think. Remember, this is to commemorate a water supply....

View of the Basilica at night over Marseille

Tuesday 26th May Marseille
We spent the morning sailing along the Spanish and French coast and didn't reach Marseille until around 1pm.  Vaughan's knee has been painful so he opted to remain onboard while I took a  tour into the city this afternoon.   I could have used the shuttle bus service but we were out of town by a good 40 minutes and I didn't want to chance it.
If I was in any doubt that he's done the right thing, our first stop  put that to rest.  Our first stop was at the Basilica, Notre Dame du Garde- and it had over 200 steps just to reach the main body of it, plus it was also blowing a gale out there.

Our guide, Dominic, escorted us from the far reaches of the port complex, where we were berthed opposite a cruise ship at least four times our size, through the section where ferries leave for Corsica or Northern Africa, another section where the petrochemical tankers are berthed, yet another where the container ships arrive and a site where luxury yachts are refitted.  Marseille has one of the largest ports in Europe and it took over half an hour to reach the city from our berth.
It's a very old city with roots going back centuries to ancient Greek and Roman times.  It has always been a port though.  The older parts are marked by narrow and winding roads that climb high into the hills behind the port, especially towards the basilica.  We saw mostly 19th and 20th Century architecture as we drove.  Marseille took a lot of damage during WWII, mainly due to its port's strategic importance.  I saw clear evidence of shrapnel damage on the outer walls of the Basilica at the time of Marseille's strategic capture  by allied forces in August 1944 during operation Dragoon. (from the south rather than Normandy)
It's impossible to mention Marseille without mentioning its links to the French Revolution and the French National Anthem.  Marseille was the only Southern French port which was aligned with the revolutionary forces and perhaps explains why the anthem sounds so bloodthirsty.

It's always a bit of a lottery with the tour guides we have on our buses.  Sometimes they are wonderful and can make even a dreary subject come alive.  Others are not so good - and I've been known to nod off at times.
Now Dominic, who was clearly a very clever and thoughtful man, was also quite distractible and often would not finish his explanation, thereby leaving me (and others, hanging somewhat).  Then there were the subjects about which he felt very strongly, but lacked the English to communicate it to a busload of Aussie tourists, who weren't necessarily as interested in the subject as he was.
 
He'd actually described the basilica quite well, including how people prayed to the 'Good Mother' for salvation from dangerous situations.  When people were delivered from their ordeal, they would offer a marble tile with their name, the date and the inscription Merci on it and these cover entire walls, inside and out.  Some would take things a little further and would offer models of boats and planes that had been in danger- and there is a wall that is covered with military medals.  The basilica celebrated its 800th Anniversary last year with an amazing sound and light show I would have loved to see.

Then we made our perilous way back down the hill to go through the old city to visit  the Parc Longchamp with its four aggressive stone lions at the front.    This is where things went a bit awry.  After we took our photos of this impressive building commemorating the bringing of reticulated water to Marseille, Dominic tried to explain the lions' significance in terms of Darwinism, the French revolution and Positivism - with reference to other, milder,  lion statues in Trafalgar Square.  Frankly, I'm still trying to work out what he was going on about.

We had a little spare time after this so I went off in search of our usual touristy fare: postcard, magnet, a sticker and a badge.  That done, I was able to find the Hard Rock Cafe for our pin collector and meet the bus before the required time.  One of the ship's entertainment team was also waiting and it was interesting to hear what life is like on board for months at a time as a dancer.  Sascha is a from the Ukraine and told me she enjoyed getting to know the passengers on this  long cruise of ours.

About 80 of our fellow passengers are staying on for the next leg of the Cruiseco charter.  They will be traveling up the western coast of Spain, Portugal and France (including the Channel Isles),  touching down in Dublin and Edinburgh then sailing around the Baltic ports before disembarking in Southampton.  It's another very long and busy itinerary, which though tempting, is simply too long for most of us.   Everyone who is disembarking in Nice is saying the same thing: they're  exhausted and are ready to go home.  Not so the others.  They only seem to be hitting their stride now.    I guess it's psychological.