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| Passage des croisettes |
I’d been on the fence about Marseille, but Dermot was happy to go and I’m so glad we did. The closest campgrounds other than Aires are miles outside the city. We chose three-star Camping du Garlaban which would require multiple forms of public transportation and over an hour to reach Vieux Port. We parked at the train station and got a train to the metro to the Vieux Port. Our first look of the city was a wide blue sky centered around a strip of water bristling with masts and jammed with boats docked on both sides with only a fairly small lane of open water in the middle. We searched for the famous morning fish market but didn’t find it and gave up assuming it had been moved since a large area was barricaded and under construction.
The very helpful TI advisor gave us a map and explained the fish market was where it always had been, it was just much smaller than we expected. Fodors promised “a rainbow of Mediterranean creatures swimming in plastic vats” as well as bouillabaisse sold for lunch. Not so. There were a few tables of fish and mollusks but there were more people taking pictures than buying.
The advisor also helped us refine our itinerary; and, most importantly, gave us tips on eating well. He said that bouillabaisse was once a “poor man’s dish” but when it became a must-have for tourists the prices sky-rocketed. Locals never spend the 70 - 90 euros at restaurants, they just made it at home. Even more helpfully, he directed us to a restaurant with authentic local dishes.
We went there for lunch and had their bouillabaisse and aioli (fish, hard boiled egg and vegetables including leeks, artichokes, carrots, broccoli, and potatoes) for about 17 euros each. I’m sure the gourmet version is better but we enjoyed ours. We also tried the Marseille specialty panisse - a savory chickpea pancake (silver dollar-sized) and I’m a fan.
Needing to walk off all that food, we strolled to the “Navette Maritime” ferry that crosses the port for 1/2 a euro. It’s a fun quick ride and we saw lots of people rowing the waterway in front of our path until the ferry blew its horn. We explored the narrow streets of Le Panier in old Marseille. The area had tall shuttered buildings painted in pastel colors.
Though quite a few showed years of neglect and graffiti, some buildings had been renovated and some had fantastic murals - especially those near flourishing businesses. There’s a multi-cultural, bohemian, artistic vibe. I should mention that there are fantastic murals all over this city - even on the walls of the roadworks leading to underpasses.
Cathédral de la Nouvelle Major is huge, very pretty and ornate. New by European standards, it was built in the 19th century and is impressive from the intricate mosaic floors to the huge neo-Byzantine style domes.
The Musee d’Histoire de Marseille was well worth the visit. Part open air museum, part modern architecture - it encompasses what remains of the Port Antique and displays archeological finds and models which illuminate the long history of this oldest French city.
On our second day in the city we visited the impressive Palais de Longchamp.
The fountain was a marvel. We just nipped into the park to hear the funky band and enjoy the strange costumes of the on-lookers before heading to the Muséum Naturelle. Fodors stated it had a large aquarium but it didn’t. That’s quite a few strikes against Fodors. Still we took our time here. It’s a throwback to museums of old where many of the objects on display are animals in taxidermy form - skippable.
Though huge and dating back to the 4th century, the outside of Abbaye St. Vincent is more impressive than its dark inside. It was once part of the defensive city walls so there are small windows and few of those. We couldn’t visit the crypt because there was to be a concert there. The terrace just outside the Abbaye had great views overlooking the port though.
We then headed for the MuCEM. It had already been a long day of sight-seeing so we entered the very modern building mostly as a way to get to the 12th-century Fort St-Jean. Fodors says that “the guns in the fort were pointed toward the city to keep the feisty, rebellious Marseillaise under [Louis XIV’s] thumb.”
Now it’s a lovely place to explore with landscaped terraces, an herb garden, an old city area, art venues and many, many places to read a book, lounge in the sun, gather with friends and just relax.
These had been the two best weather days of our entire trip and we weren’t quite done savoring them so we found a nice place for drinks with a view of the port which turned into a delicious dinner of mussels with frites and baked bream with black rice and ratatouille. While waiting for our food, we were watched over by quite a few police officers who lined the port toting large guns. A van pulled up and delivered large boxes of what turned out to be meals for them and a big bag of baguettes! They smiled when they caught me taking their picture.
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| Baguettes for hungry gendarmeries. |
We thought two hours would be plenty of time to make it back to camp before they closed the gates at 10, but we learned the trains stop running earlier than expected so we rushed getting to the Metro. We were lucky to catch the next to the last bus that would get us back close to our van at the train station. Marseille has a very good public transportation system and if you enjoy a good thrill ride, you get them here cheaper than anywhere else. Our bus driver careened through tight turns, played chicken at roundabouts, whizzed mere inches by obstacles and bounced and jostled us all while waving cheerfully to other bus drivers. We made it back with time to spare but vowed, yet again, to be more aware next time.
Marseilles takes the prize for most traffic laws broken in all our experience in France. Driving on roadways isn’t bad but once you’re in an area with lots of pedestrians, everybody seems to be in a hectic competition to get wherever they’re going très vite! Pedestrians, cars and bus drivers alike ignore the green/red/walk/don’t walk lights and bike lanes; and bike riders whiz around pedestrians. Sidewalks disappear and, if you’re following a particular determined Irishman, you find yourself walking between a concrete barrier and cars hoping nobody runs over your feet. We were both were nearly run over by a tram once!
To round out our experience, we chose to hike on one of the many trails near the small town of Cassis. We were sorely disappointed that we couldn’t drive the many miles to the trailhead as google maps indicated and ended up stuck in a lot far outside town when our van wouldn’t go into gear. After many attempts it finally went into gear and we made it back to camp. Our bilingual campground host finally found a garage that agreed to take us. I won’t bore you with all the details but we had to leave it at the garage and stay in a campground cabin a few nights which did not come equipped with niceties like sheets and towels. After a round of diagnostics and an attempted fix, the mechanic said he couldn’t fix it and the following few days were national holidays so we were stuck and had to move to a hotel.
We headed up to Notre Dame Bascilica and lucked into the sight of the Olympic flame arriving on the historic and beautiful sailboat Belem escorted by a huge maritime boat parade. A kind French woman watching with us explained it all. Now all the construction and police presence made sense!
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| As close as we could get. |
That night we tried to see the festivities but only managed to be on the fringe and catch glimpses between buildings but Marseille was buzzing!
Over the following days we made multiple calls to garages and several others made calls for us and we couldn’t find anyone willing to take us for several weeks. I looked into options like a guided tour to Turkey, ferries to Corsica and Sardinia, etc.
While our van troubles simmered, we took public transportation south, all the way to the National Callaques Park and enjoyed Mother’s Day exploring and enjoying the beautiful scenery here.
After declaring “Fiat est un catrastrophique” the mechanic called a mechanic at a neighboring garage and several days later we got word to come approve a complete gearbox replacement. Never have we been so happy to receive a large repair estimate! It’s all about perspective, isn’t it?
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