Marseille

Today was an early start for me. I woke up at 6:30 and headed up to get breakfast, then get ready for the day. By 8:15, I was on the shuttle bus from the port of Marseille to the Vieux Port. Walking around for an hour and a half, it became clear to me that Marseille was not at all meant as a destination for tourists. In a way, that was refreshing though, as you got the sense that people actually lived there, something that couldn’t be said of the numerous small resort towns I saw in the past week.

At around 10:30, we decided to take a bus up to the top of a hill overlooking the port where Notre Dame a la Gare is located. It cost 7€ round trip per person, but they provided us some commentary along the way, which was helpful and made it worth it. It took about 30 minutes to reach the Church. In the past week I have seen a lot of spectacular churches, and this was no different. Its location overlooking the entire city was out of this world.  

Besides a few souvenir/perfume/soap shops, there wasn’t much for tourists to do in town. We each bought things for people back home, then went to lunch at a café along the port. I had moules frites in a cream sauce, which was a very good value. For the first time in my life, I legally ordered a beer, a Hoegaarden White Ale.

Soon after lunch, realizing there wasn’t much else to do in the time we had remaining, we headed back to the ship. I watched True Grit in the room, and then went up to the top of the ship to read. Really exciting stuff. Dinner tonight was excellent as always. Tonight’s was prime rib and duck, I think. Honestly, all of the dinners have begun to blend together. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned them in detail before, but the family we share the table with, an Italian bunch from Toronto have turned out to be really friendly and enjoyable.

Tomorrow we are in Barcelona all day and night, which considering our other options (apparently Monte Carlo, Marseille or Sea) is good.

We would have gone to Valencia, Spain tomorrow, but apparently it would have been too far of a trip back to Barcelona from there and we would not be able to disembark in time. Looking at a map and with that I know about the geography of the region, I would say that Marseille-Barcelona (which was what was originally scheduled) would be just as far if not further than Valencia-Barcelona. C’est la vie.

I will write up my final thoughts on the cruise when I’m on the flight from Madrid to Philadelphia. It is 9 hours long, so I’ll need something to keep busy,

I’ll write tomorrow night from the ship for a final time recapping the first of two days I’ll spend in Barcelona.

Goodnight,

Matt