We sailed out of Monaco at 21:00 to our second and final stop in France, Marseilles in Provence.
It was the day of the elections in South Africa, the most important in 30 years, and we were unable to vote, not even a Special Vote as we were not near an Embassy on the days that these could be done.
As the excursions were predominantly to wine farms or similar activities we decided to once again explore on our own. We didn’t have to wander far from the harbour to see and learn a lot.
Marseille, the capital city of the Provence and the second largest city in France, is in a sheltered depression surrounded by hills. The original port is a natural harbour. The Romans first extended it and then, from the 16th century, it was regularly built up to accommodate more and more shipping traffic and larger ships. By the 19th century it was no longer able to cope and some artificial basins were built.
As we came into the harbour, on a hill nearby was a striking building, the Palais du Pharo (Pharo Palace). It was offered to Napoleon III, but he never stayed in it. When he died, his wife, Eugenie, gave it to the City of Marseilles in 1873. In 1904, it was transformed into the Pharo School, the full name was first the Colonial Troops Health Service Application School. It then became the Institute of Tropical Medecine of the Army Health Service until 2013 when it was closed, having had over 8000 medical specialists move through its doors.
Directly opposite to where the ship was berthed was a modern dark building with the word Mucem written across it. Once we were off the ship we walked straight across to this building. We discovered that it was a modern museum dedicated to the Mediterranean area. It recounts, analyses and gives a wonderful description on the ancient foundations of the area. It is the first museum concentrating on the whole of the Mediterranean civilisations, was opened in 2013 and, within a year, was one of the most visited museums in the world. On entering we found it to be very open and beautifully laid out.
From there we walked across the pier passing a cute orange bear standing tall just before we reached the Cathedral de la Major. There was no real purpose to the bear except as an attractive sculpture. On the way to the Cathedral, we stopped at a table where staff of the local tourist association were giving out maps and information on the city.
The Cathedral was built between 1852 and 1896 and is a national monument of France. Beside it is a portion of the original Cathedral, which was built in the 12th century. Sadly, it is quite bad repair but we did meet a gentleman who was mending windows. In comparison with the new Cathedral, it was very simply built and much smaller. The current building can seat 3 000 people, is 142 metres long and the cupola is 70 metres high. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Marseille, which until 1948 was the Diocese of Marseilles.
On the other side of the Cathedral was a statue of Msgr Henri Francois Xavier de (Belsunce), Bishop of Marseilles from 1709. He became well-known for heroic charity during the Plague in 1720and 1721, gaining him the title of the “Good Bishop”. At the Synod in 1725 he announced that more than 250 priests and persons in religious orders had died in doing charity work during the Plague, but he was the soul of the rescuers and praises were bestowed upon him by the Pope and the King of France.
We then walked along one of the streets just appreciating the different shops and various activities taking place. In fact, it was very busy with shoppers, dancers, children playing games and so on. We turned down towards the harbour where we saw some very interesting sculptures and a Sushi Restaurant with the delightful name of Su and Shi City.
Since we were still very close to the harbour, we returned to the ship for lunch and then left again to walk in the opposite direction. Walking down the road we saw that the old Fort Saint-Jean was part of the Mucem. It was built in the 17th century but from the 12th century the area had been used as a command for the Hospitaliers of St John of Jerusalem, hence the name of the fort being Saint-Jean. Once constructed the fort experienced many historical events details of which are to be found within the museum.
Further along the road we saw a little train which took visitors up to the Notre Dame de-la-Garde, high on a hill above the city. Although we had to back on the ship by 5pm, we decided to take the ride up to the Cathedral and were so glad that we did. We bought our tickets and climbed on board and enjoyed the ride through town before climbing up the long, steep hill. On the way we passed a War Memorial to the soldiers who served in the eastern army during WWII and we also passed 2 policeman who happily waved to us.
It was great to learn that we could stay for as short or long a time as we wished as the trains came and left at 20-minute intervals. To get from the parking lot we had to climb a lot of stairs to visit the Cathedral itself and to see the beautiful sculptures around it as well as the glorious views of the city itself.
We were surprised how small the inside of the Cathedral was.
We stayed about 20 minutes and then returned to catch a train back to town. We were grateful that it was able to use the bus lane as by now the traffic was quite heavy. We walked briskly back to the ship, arriving at 16:45 and were not the last. We would set sail for Barcelona, Spain at 18:00.
