Travel - May 16, 2013 - Marseille (Provence), France
It
has been a whirlwind since our new passengers arrived on board ship in
Barcelona. We have been on a bus or
walking tours every day and exhausted by the time we arrived back on ship. Both of us sat down tonight (May 20) and
decided we would try to put our thoughts together and write our blog. We have seen allot, but here is a
summary. We may break this up into a few
pieces just so you don’t get tired reading.
Marseille
is a huge port city that seems to be spread out as much as the NYC – New Jersey
port area. Some money has been invested,
but if there were ever a case of “too little, too late” this may be it. Like many other European ports along the
shores of the Med, the foundation of Marseille goes back roughly 2,000 years,
and over the centuries control of the port has changed hands many times. The highlight of the city for us was actually
a trip to the hills bordering Marseille to the North where we visited Our
Mother the Guard (Notre-Dame de La Garde) Catholic Basilica. From its ramparts we could look south and
downward over 1,000 feet to the East and West portions of the port and take in
much of Marseille’s urban sprawl.
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Our Mother the Guard(Notre-Dame de La Garde) Catholic Basilica |
Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris
and the centre of the second largest metropolitan area in France after Paris.
To the east, starting in the small fishing village of Callelongue on the
outskirts of Marseille and stretching as far as Cassis, are the Calanques, a
rugged coastal area interspersed with small fjords. Further east still are the Sainte-Baume, a 1,147 m (3,763 ft) mountain ridge rising from
a forest of deciduous trees,
the town of Toulon and the French
Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the
low Garlaban and
Etoile mountain ranges, is the
1,011 m (3,317 ft) Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the former artists' colony
of l'Estaque;
further west are the Côte
Bleue, the Gulf
of Lion and the Camargue region
in the Rhône delta. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on
the Étang de Berre.
The city's main thoroughfare, the wide boulevard called
the Canebière,
stretches eastward from the Old Port (Vieux Port) to
the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to
the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north.
The main commercial center of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse (the main shopping mall). The centre of Marseille has several pedestrianized zones, most notably rue St Ferréol, Cours Julien near the Music Conservatory, the Cours Honoré-d'Estienne-d'Orves off the Old Port and the area around the Hôtel de Ville. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the
Prefecture and the monumental fountain of Place Castellane,
an important bus and metro interchange. To the south west are the hills of the
7th arrondissement, dominated by the basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. This
is the church we visited. The railway
station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is
north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement; it is linked by the
Boulevard d'Athènes to the Canebière.
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