Marseille the second time around

Hi again,

When Lindsay and I bought train tickets to Marseille, it was with the understanding that we'd be soaking up the rays along the Mediterranean... then we checked the weather. Instead of being 80 degrees and sunny as we had envisioned, it rained all day on Friday and Saturday and most of the day on Sunday, but we still had a great time.

The last time I was in Marseille it was a very short trip so I really didn't get to see the "real" city outside of tourist attractions. This weekend we walked around a lot and saw some things that gave me a different opinion of the city. We checked into a hostel that was highly recommended by Lonely Planet and after walking through some sketchy areas we finally found it. It wasn't until we were unpacking that Lindsay came across a little paragraph in the guide book warning of dangers in Marseille. There is a four-block radius southeast of the train station that the book did not advise spending time in. Our hostel was smack dab in the middle of this area. We never had anyone accost us but every time we went area we had to walk past at least 20 cafes full of North African men who would either say something, whistle, block our path, stare at us, or all of the above. It was Morocco all over again, but a tiny bit less intimidating.

After unloading our bags, we headed out to explore. Within an hour or so we came across an extremely drunk homeless man who exposed himself to us. Our day improved after eating bouillabaisse, a fish stew, which is legendary in Marseille, (Lindsay happened to spot a rat in the restaurant next to ours) and then going to the Vieux Port where we sat and watched the sun set over the harbor.

Saturday, we went to the legendary Chateau d'If of Dumas fame (The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo). It was quite a depressing visit, actually. The docent gave a very long explanation of the different famous people who had been in the prison and the ways they were killed. It's amazing how creative the jailers got. The inmates faced stake burnings, strangulations, drownings, starvation, etc., etc. or they spent upwards to thirty years in a stone room with one window and lost their minds. The carvings in the rock were extremely inticate and some date back to the 18th Century. All in all, it was interesting but not worth the 10 euros it cost to take the ferry there and back, especially considering that it was mating season for seagulls and we were getting dive bombed by enormous birds while walking around the island.

Cell from The Man in the Iron Mask

Water surrounding Chateau d'If

The cliffs that killed anyone who managed to escape from the cell, get past the guards, and scale the fortifications.

Cell of Edmond Dantes from the Count of Monte Cristo

After that upifting visit we walked around the fish market around the port. It is quite an experience. The smell is absolutely overpowering and there are hundreds and hundreds of seagulls hanging about waiting for the heads and bones that the fishmongers (who are almost all women) toss away.

We also happened to stumble across a regular market where we bought some gifts and then yet another protest, the preferred national past-time. The video below is hard to understand because the music was blaring, but you can see that it was basically a parade. I estimate that there were well over 3000 people there all handing out flyers and shouting their slogans for retirement, socialism, arachism, students' rights, you name it.

That night we had couscous at a North African restaurant around 9:00. It was so good that we didn't even mind the creepy men there that stared at us as we ate. While we were walking back to our hostel and bypassing the numerous piles of garbage lying in the street, we saw quite a few rats running across our path. I'm just thankful that we were not there during the garbageman strike that happened a while ago. Trash was not picked up for at least a week and you can imagine what a paradise that would be for our furry friends.

Our last day was a fail in terms of travel. We wanted to spend the day in Cassis but we missed the bus in the morning and had to take a later one. It's a long and annoying story but we only managed to spend ten minutes there (most of that in the tourism office) before we had to return. The weather finally cleared up in Marseille so we spent the rest of our day walking and sitting along the port. Not bad, not bad at all.

Notre Dame de la Guard

The Vieux Port where we spent many hours

Columns on one of Marseille's many cathedrals

Fishing boat in the midst of getting repainted

I have a love-hate relationship with Marseille. Despite the crude men and the general dirtiness, it is an extremely culturally rich city. We saw women wearing traditional African tribal dresses, fishermen selling their catches, Moroccan men drinking their mint tea, and kids swimmig in the port (the color of the water and the debris floating in weren't entirely enticing, but to each his own). It was interesting to note the many differences between Grenoble and Marseille, especially since it takes only two hours to travel between the two cities. It really is like entering a foreign country so, as much as I enjoyed myself, I let out a sigh of relief when we were in familiar surroundings again.

Have a good week!