A ‘Cosmopolitan’ city on the Med…

Day 2 on the Viking Vesta ‘Malta, Morocco and the Med’ - Marseille, France

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Arriving in Marseille this morning I stepped out on the balcony to watch as our ship the Viking Vesta entered the old harbour of Marseille guided by a pilot boat. I was surprised by how cold Marseille was after our balmy few days in Barcelona!

I know why I packed warm clothes and layers for this trip! It is hard to believe when you are in Florida all winter that it is really this cold, windy and rainy anywhere else we are travelling.

Richard’s back was not up to touring today so I left him on the ship while I went our for the included excursion called “Panoramic Marseille”. Code name by Viking for “sitting on a bus watching the sights go by”. Today though because of the wind, rain and cold I was quite happy to sit on a bus and watch the City of Marseille go by listening to our excellent tour guide Astrid. If anyone is looking for a guide in Marseille or the surrounding area of Provence contact Astrid Caternet at www.vipguideprovence.com

Viking was running port shuttles today to the entrance of the port so I knew that if I wanted to stay in Marseille after our tour, I could find my way back to the port and get the shuttle from inside the port gates. What I forgot to do though was take a photo of the front page of the Viking Daily which would have given me the exact location of the shuttle. I guess it has been awhile since I did a Viking tour and I should have known better. It worked out though and if you keep reading I will tell you why it worked out!

Our bus wound through the busy Saturday traffic in downtown Marseille to reach the Palais Longchamps. We were given only 15 minutes to explore the Palais grounds.

The beautiful Palais Lonchamp was created to celebrate the construction of the Canal de Marseille which was built to bring water from the river Durance to Marseille. The Palais was opened in 1839 and took 30 years to complete because of the cost and difficulties with local regulating.

The gardens at the Palais are listed as one of the most beautiful gardens of France.

This dog would not obey its owner and while I could have photoshopped it out of my photo I kind of like that the dog got in the way of my photography.

Always a great photo opportunity when you have a row of columns!

My favorite shot! As I was approaching this gate I could hear Astrid in my ear from the QV box telling everyone to get back on the bus. I quickly hurried down from the top of the Palais to get back to the bus.

Marseille is along the hilly Mediterranean seafront and has always had a water quality and distribution issue. Because the Huveaune River has a small flow, droughts were devastating to the region and in the 1830’s Marseille began to experience vast population growth and experienced a cholera epidemic in 1832-1835 which caused the death of 100,000 people in France and 2,500 in Marseille.

The mayor of Marseille decided in 1834 that ‘no matter what it costs’ a solution had to be made to improve the water conditions in Marweille. However the river was far away and separated from the city by mountains. The plan was to try to capture water from high up on the Durance River and gravity feed it over and through the terrain so it would arrive in Marseille at the highest point of the city. A canal was built which took 15 years to build from 1839 to 1854 and covered 80 km (50 miles). The canal is still the source of 2/3rds of Marseilles water.

Our panoramic tour drove us through the streets of Marseille and along the waterfront corniche which looked beautiful if it had been a sunny, warm day. Unfortunately sitting in a bus trying to take photos gives you pictures like these:

Cathedral of Saint Mary Major has been a basiclica minor since 1896. Built in the Byzantine and Roman Revival styles The foundation stone was laid by Emperor Napoleon III in 1852

Porte d’Aix or Arc de Triomphe Marseille. Completed in 1839 to celebrate French victories in battle in general

Monument aux morts de l’Armee d’Orient et Terres. Created in 1924 the monument on the sea was created as a national monument in tribute of the soldiers and sailers who died in WW1.

A better view of the monument to the fallen heroes of WW1 which sits by the sea on the famous Cornish John F. Kennedy in Marsaille. It is a true gateway to the East that reflects Marseilles history.

Marseille is located in the Provence-Alpes-Cote D’Azur region of France. Located in Provence on the Mediterranean Sea, Marseille is the 2nd most populous city in France after Paris with 886,000 inhabitants. Including suburbs etc the population rises to approximately 2 million residents. Marseille was founded in 600BC by Greek settlers and is the oldest city in France. Given the city’s proximity to the Mediterranean Marseille has always been a booming trading port since ancient times.

Our guide said that Marseille is a very ‘cosmopolitan’ city which is a nice way to say the city is made up of a lot of different ethnic groups who arrive in Marseille from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. By the end of the 18th Century half of the popoulation originated from somewhere else and this continues to today. The largest immigrant communities in Marseille are Italian, Muslims, Corsicans and Armenians.

After riding around in the bus for awhile trying to take photos through rainy bus windows, it was finally time to stop and get an hour of free time. Instead of just an hour of free time, I elected to ditch the tour and go off on my own to explore the bustling area near the Port, on a pedestrian street.

I asked Astrid where the shuttle was and she told me generally where I should be walking to get back to the entrance to the port. Another fellow Viking on our tour offered me his phone in which he had taken a photo of the shuttle bus pick up address. And with that I was off to use the washroom in a cafe Astrid recommenced and start exploring on my own. It was chilly and I’m glad I had a down puffer jacket under my goretex coat, blundstones on my feet, a scarf, hat and gloves.

I started towards the main shopping street and was taking the photo above and I looked over and there is my friend Julie from Australia! The only other person I know in Marseille!

Julie our friend from Sydney, Australia who we met on the World Cruise in 2022/2023!

I asked Julie if she knew where the shuttle bus was and she said her tour started with her group taking the shuttle bus to the port exit and then she had a walking tour in the Panier district. Her tour was a bit boring too and spending too much time in the Cathedral - probably because it was cold and rainy and people would have complained if they were walking getting wet and cold.

Astrid had told us that Marseille was known for cookies that are shaped like boats so we started walking to see if we could find a store that sold ‘Navettes’..

What a beautiful display of confectionary The store also sold chocolates shaped like small fish. I tried the small dark chocolate fish and it was delicious!

Almond Navettes.

The shop proprietor came over to Julie and I and offered us small samples of the various flavours of Navettes. Each type of navette we tried was delicious and we promised him we would return to purchase some Navettes after we had finished our shopping.

Saturday in Marseille meant that the local market was in full swing. The cosmopolitan nature of the city was on full display with the various items being sold in the market.

Fresh fruit and vegetables

Marseille is known for its soap, and in particular the green soap which is made with olive oil.

Dates still on the stems. It is presently Ramadan and dates are the first thing eaten when the fast is broken at sundown by Muslims.

The looks these women were giving me taking photos of their middle eastern sweets are pretty funny! I love a good capture without people posing for a photo! What do their expressions say to you?

The weather had started to turn a bit nicer and Julie and I decided to check out a few clothing stores - Monoprix, C&A and a local shopping mall which seemed to have fallen on hard times. I did find a nice colourful dress and a good black travel skirt which Julie approved of after trying them both on.

As we headed back to the shuttle bus at the pier we stopped to buy some Marseille soap. Julie treated me to a bar each of Magnolia and Lemon Lime in exchange for me loaning her some money for Navettes she had purchased when we went back to the Navettes store.

There was a man with a large bubble wand blowing bubbles for the children on the Quai du Port by the sea in Marseille. The children were running after the bubbles and trying to catch them before they burst. It was delightful to stop and watch the children enjoying themselves on a brisk day in Marseille.

Blowing bubbles!

As we were walking towards the port shuttle pick up location, we turned the corner onto Bd Jacques Saade and we found ourselves in a very cold wind tunnel and needless to we were both shivering by the time we got back to the waiting shuttle bus. Viking had said the shuttles would run every 30 minutes so we waited on the warm bus for about 20 minutes before our shuttle pulled out and made the 10 minute drive to our waiting ship.

When I got back to the Vesta Richard was feeling a bit better after using the spa and hot tub to relieve his back and taking Robaxacet to loosen his back muscles.

We had reservations for dinner at Manfredis at 6:30pm so after listening to the port talk on Adjaccio, Corsica in the Star Theatre, we headed for dinner with our friends Dave and Julie from Australia.

Dinner in Manfredis was very good although I forgot to take many photos!

When we were heading down for dinner I noticed that there were sea sickness bags located in the elevators and I said to Richard “they are expecting rough seas this evening!” Sure enough not long afterwards the Cruise Director came over the intercom to announce the Captain had said that the seas could be quite rough this evening. I took a Bonine and put some sea sickness patches behind my ears just in case. It is better to get ahead of seasickness than try to reverse it once it has hit.

I really enjoyed my day in Marseille and it got a lot better when Julie wandered into me after her tour. I don’t think I would have had as much fun wandering on my own as I did with her.

Marseille is a gritty port city which has elements of beauty like its natural harbour and the mountains that surround the sea trapped city. Because Marseille is a major port city and it attracts people from all over the world to live there and as a result is also very cosmopolitan. The city did not remind me of any other city in France that we have spent time in. While Nice is just down the coast it has a certain “Je Ne sais quoi” (I don’t know what) charm to it which Marseille does not have. And now I know. I have often wondered what Marseille is like since it is such a large city in France and I love France. I do not think I will visit again unless it is on a cruise ship. It did not have enough appeal for me to want to stay longer than the day we visited it. And that is why cruising is like the ‘amuse bouche’ (bite-sized mouth snider) of the world.

We sail over night to Corsica and somewhere neither of us have ever been!