"A Week in Provence"- Really Five Days in Marseille

Whenever I had thought about visiting Marseille before, I dismissed the idea. It had just too much of a bad reputation regarding its safety. But this year it is the 2013 Cultural Capital of Europe,and too close to Nice NOT to visit! So I lined up some places to stay and took the train Monday morning (10/14). It was pretty uneventful, except for the woman on her cellphone at the front of the train, which everyone could hear and started to shush! Of course, how could she hear? She was talking SO loud!!
 I arrived in the pouring rain (weather.com had not said rain!). I checked my bag in a locker at the train station and found my way into the city and the Tourist Information. (There was a large tourist group hovering at the doorway wishing the rain away!) Luckily my umbrella saved me from getting wet. (FINALLY I could use the French word-from high school French-for umbrella-parapluie! Yeah, Mrs. Z!) Even though this is the 2nd largest city in France, it is very easy to navigate both on foot and via busses and metro.  Since it was Monday, there were only two museums open. So my first stop was the Fort St. Jean, which is actually connected to the new (just opened recently) Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. This is a fascinating museum! Unfortunately I didn't realized they had audio phones to rent, but I still found it very interesting!

New Mediterrean Museum

Notre Dame de la Gard

I loved that you could see Notre Dame guarding the city from so many places! I also loved the access to the many boats in the Old Port (Vieux Port). Even in the rain, it was amazing to see both!

I was staying at Nicole's on Monday and Tuesday nights. She had given me great directions to get to her house via the bus, and she was nice enough to come pick me up. She made a delicious, healthy vegetable soup. (I am interested to see that many French cooks use pressure cookers; she had cooked the vegetables-leeks, carrots, zucchini, onions- in hers!)

October 15th, Tuesday morning

It was a gray and overcast day, so my trip to the Calanques would have to be postponed! So I took the Little Train which took us up to the

Notre Dame de la Gard. It is certainly a magnificent church! I found the elevator to go up to see it-to avoid the many steps. When I got into the elevator, there were two women trying to figure out where they wanted to go. So, I-l'americaine, doncha know?-just hit 6. They gasped like that was not where they wanted to go, but when we got to the top, they were very pleased, because apparently that WAS where they wanted to go!

After we returned to the port, I went looking for a place for lunch. First I took the free five minute boat trip that goes from one side of the harbot to the other. Oh, like the chicken joke, just to get to the other side!
After much looking, I found Le Bistrot des Dames for my lunch!! GREAT choice-chicken and a dessert to die for ...does not look as good as it tasted!

They were showing an old movie on the wall.

BEST eclair I have ever had!

 I stopped into the small arts and crafts museum just outside the Old Port. They had a display on Moravia, but it was really not what I had expected!

Well, the day was winding down, and there was still time to go someplace! So I headed to the Beaux Arts Museum, which had been recently totally renovated and reopened. I was really "getting the hang" of the public transport system here-really going beyond where I had been (remember it is not a big system!)!
So I climbed up the bazillion steps on the right, passed the door that said Natural History and kept climbing-"lotta lotta lotta steps!". I figured that I could cross to the Beaux

You cannot tell how many steps!!:)

Arts when I got to the top. NO SUCH LUCK!! Well, I was not climbing down, as it looked like I not only had to climb down, but also to have just too much aggravation! There is a park up above, and I thought that perhaps I could walk up and back around, but it turned into the (closed?) observatory....I kept walking and came to some steps DOWN!! Of course, as I walked down, it did occur to me that they might have a locked gate at the bottom! I was right, but there was a button I could and did hit to GET OUT!! By this time, I had lost any motivation to see anything, but the bus to take me back to Nicole's!

Wednesday October 16th

I was due to meet my next hostess Magdeleine at 11 at the Metro near her house. She is a social worker; her husband is an economics professor. They have 6 children-most of whom are out of college. We met easily, and had nice lunch at their house. Before we ate, I got a phone call from Patrick, who is one of the Marseille walking team. Many cities have these; they are enthusiastic people who love to talk about and show the place where they live. What was funny was that I had only emailed them a few days earlier, and they request a week's notice! So I was VERY SURPRISED to hear

Vieille Charite-old home for indigent,now museum

Walking through le Panier

Cathedral Major

Patrick inside of Mediterranean Museum

from Patrick, asking me to meet him at 2 in front of the Town Hall. (He later said he called me because it was nice sunny day, and I had a French phone!) Now these walks are free! He walked me mostly around the Panier, but we also saw many other places! It was wonderful; he was very enthusiastic and positive! I ended my four hour tour-exhausted, but delighted to have taken it!

The "windows" looking out from Mediterrean Museum.

Marseille is the European Capital of Culture in 2013, so they have made some efforts to show this...new museums, an interesting pavilion about the city, etc. It is wonderfully vibrant and alive!

Thursday October 17th

Finally! It was a perfect day to go see the Calanques!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calanques_National_Park

I signed up for the three hour boat trip to go visit them. There are actually nine calanques, and they are spectacular to see. (You can also take a bus and hike along them....another time?) Before the boat trip though, I took advantage of a restaurant tip which Patrick had given me! http://www.lepaniergourmandmarseille.fr/ For seven euro, you get a salad, an entree, dessert, bread(of course) and wine!! Maybe gourmand is stretching it, but great value!

Friday I left my delightful hosts and headed to Marseille for the morning. I revisited the Mediterranean Museum WITH the head phones! And then it was time to head back to Nice after a really interesting time in the oldest city in France! I heartily recommend it.
It turned out that a marine geologist (who had spent 3 years in Woods Hole!) was in my train compartment, so he explained to me better what the calanques really are...but that doesn't mean I can explain it!

As always, I appreciate your traveling along with me, and I LOVE it when you do comment!!

Table is map of Mediterrean