Marseille & Aix en Provence France

Well, today didn’t go quite like I had planned. I knew the odds of all the days going as I had them figured out was low. Still, even without going as planned it was a good day.  

We ported today in a little-ish town called Toulon France. It was a huge naval port for WWII and got mostly destroyed in WWII. They sank all their own navy ships in Toulon so the German’s couldn’t take possession of them.  I forget that WWII affected folks over here a bit more than us in the US.  

We didn’t do anything in Toulon but instead headed straight for Marseille. Marseille is a bigger city than I expected. It sits on the Mediterranean and has some very picturesque parts of the city.  Marseille is France’s oldest city having been founded in 600BC and still has some of its charm. The guide books characterized it as “gritty”. We didn’t see enough of the actual city to say one way or another.  

We had a pretty bad tour guide today so we didn’t get a lot of information.  Which is sad to me, because I love the history that associated to these cities.  

We drove along a coastal highway called John F. Kennedy highway and had a beautiful view of the blue Mediterranean. The Chateau d’If is also located here. It’s where the Count of Monte Cristo was sent to prison…if you read that book. It was one of my favorites from high school so seeing it was an interesting historical nugget to me.

In Marseille the main thing we were here to see is the Notre Dame de la Garde. It’s this HUGE basilica sitting on top of the highest point in Marseille. Quietly watching over the city and its residents.  The tour guide told us it was built up there to protect the city and that citizens walk up to give thanks and pray for the city on a regular basis. Did I mention it was on a HUGE hill? We had to climb 176 stairs to get to the basilica from where the bus dropped us off. It was a lot of huffing and puffing, but I made it. And it was worth every step. The basilica was just beautiful inside. Gold mosaics covered the ceiling and the dome behind the altar. They are so detailed that you almost don’t realize they are mosaics. And the gold makes them so vibrant and just breathtaking. (I can’t wait to share the photos with you). The basilica is a Neo-romanesque-Byzantine built in the 1850’s (not that old by European standards). There’s a towering Mary and baby Jesus done in gold that tops the high spire of the basilica…and by massive I mean that baby Jesus’ hand is 42 inches around and the statue weighs 900 tons (which is about how much I’m going to weigh if I keep eating gelato). I’ve seen a lot of basilicas in my time and this one rivals them all.

From Marseille we drove to Aix en Provence. I had envisioned this town as a little, quaint village in Provence. It’s not. It’s got a huge university there which brings in thousands of students. Its real claim to fame, and that which our tour guide spoke at great length about, is that Paul Cezanne was born here and painted here. Did you know he wasn’t famous until his last 2 years of life? AND, according to the tour guide (I’m starting to wonder if tour guides are like the Internet and you’re never really sure what to believe) his paintings are among the most expensive in the world.

Anyhow, Aix en Provence Old Town was something else though. Charming is one word that comes to mind. Totally European feeling and looking is another. The soft, pastel colors on all the buildings with a bright color on the shutters. So beautiful. My goal for Aix en Provence was to eat a ham and cheese on baguette, see the Cours Maribeau (a beautiful tree lined road) and take photos of their huge open air market (which was conveniently on Cours Maribeau). Neither of those things happened.

We took too long finding a place for lunch (Trying to get 8 people to decide on lunch in a location they know is hard. Try getting 8 people to decide in a place they know nothing about). I wasn’t happy with our pick for lunch so ordered a salad in hopes of finding my ham and cheese at another street snack cart. I was on a mission.

After lunch we wandered to where the open market was, only to find it was tearing down. Apparently they close at 2pm for lunch. Argh.

On top of missing that, they had pruned all the sycamore trees that lined Cours Maribeau. So instead of a stunning, tree lined European street market, I got pruned trees and no market. AND no ham and cheese.

Brother M was getting tired of my talking about this sandwich I think, so while the others went in search of a battery for the fit bit that would eventually get lost, we hiked back up into the town a bit in search for the sandwich. I gave in finally and opted for another gelato instead of the sandwich we couldn’t find. When I wasn’t ready for the damn sandwich it was everywhere. Now that I wanted it, it was nowhere.

We got our gelato and sat on a small ledge to eat it. As I was sitting there Brother M pointed to a little street vendor across from where we were sitting…he had the sandwiches. Dammit! I was now committed to the gelato and knew there’d be no way to get that sandwich down before we got back to the boat (we found out they don’t let you take food back on the boat yesterday when we tried to bring our left over pizzas back with us).

So both towns were fun to see, I don’t feel a pressing need to go back and see them. They each had their own uniqueness about them, and I can say I’ve been there.

Tomorrow though…tomorrow is the day I’ve been waiting for. And I can already tell you the taste I’m going to have tomorrow isn’t going to be enough for this city…and I’m glad I’ll be going back next year…. BARCELONA!