Marseille’s Notre Dame de la Garde, from the bottom of the hill. As featured in the very first line of The Count of Monte Cristo.

I didn’t know that this building was featured in The Count of Monte Cristo until we arrived home. Another prominent landmark, the Island d’If, however, is well-known as the island on which the prison in the story is set. We intended to travel to the island while we were in Marseille, but alas the winds were too strong and we were unable to make the short trip.

A shame, since the prison was quite notorious in it’s time, but you can see the island quite clearly from the top of the hill in this shot.

Downtown Marseille, as seen from the train station.

“They” often say that when out taking photos, look behind as you often miss a great view. I tend to forget to do this the majority of the time but occasionally I do remember and it pays off. This brilliant view was taken as we were leaving Marseille, walking up the stairs to the train station.

What I like about this shot is that it shows a side of the city you may not usually see. The port and seaside are the main attractions and so great views like this can be overlooked. The makeup of the buildings reminds me a little of a middle-eastern city (just a little) and with the hills in the background it has a great feeling of distance.

A panoramic view of Marseille’s Old Port.

I’m a little disappointed that the panorama and colours didn’t quite line up properly. I spent a little time trying to fix it, and I’m sure give the appropriate attention I could have fixed it but I don’t think this panorama is ever going to reach the heights that would make the attention worth the effort.

Still, it is a nice view and panoramas like this give you a reasonable approximation of what it’s like to actually be there. Even more interesting in this case is that the layout, look and feel of the place hasn’t really changed a great deal in almost three thousand years. So, this shot is like stepping back in time!

The sun sets over Marseille’s Old Port.

Marseille, being a 2600-year-old port, is obviously quite famous for it’s Old Port. The new port is a hive of large ships, large cranes and a lot of noise. At the old port, you can see a seafood market which is still operating after God knows how long. Every morning local restaurants purchase the seafood and every evening locals and tourists alike eat it.

The night we were here I had what is undoubtedly the best Bouillabaisse I’ve ever had. It was prepared properly (the soup and seafood cooked separately, the soup is poured over the prepared seafood which was presented to me for my approval) and was mind-blowing. Marseille is where Bouillabaisse was invented, after all.

As I took this shot–and the rest of the series– I remember thinking how lucky I was to have such an incredible view and that I’d wanted to take shots like this for a long, long time. I love how it came out, too.  The sun just kissing the building, the two towers poking out amongst the spindly masts. Fantastic.

A boat sails into the sunset at Marseille, in the south of France.

Marseille has such beautiful sunsets that it’s difficult not to get a great photo. It’s such an interesting place, too. You can almost see Africa from here, as it’s just across the sea (maybe on a clear day you could, but I doubt it).

There are a lot of African people here, giving it a really different feel to the rest of France. Marseille is over 2600 years old and was originally a Greek port. It’s also where the Count of Monte Cristo is set.

Day Thirty-Five
Barcelona
11 September 2007 23:19

Since the only train to Barcelona from Marseille was at 3pm, we had a morning to kill there.

We headed down to see the famed fish market, people were selling all kinds of seafood which is used for restaurants like the one in which we ate yesterday.

Our intention was to travel to the d’If island which has a prison used on the “Count of Monte Cristo” story, but it was too windy for the ferries to run.

Instead, we walked along the docks and ended up at a large palace French royalty had built but never used.  The location had a great view of the docks but was incredibly windy.

Back down at the docks we each had a crepe, mine was Grand Marnier and sugar and Justine had Nutella and coconut.  Both with cream and ice cream of course!  Across the road was a small “train” — a car shaped like a train — that we’d seen the day before.

We boarded the “train” which took us on a scenic journey up a hill that lead to yet another church, but the views were fantastic and we had a good view of the d’If island anyway.

The first train, between Marseille and Montpellier was first class for us.  Leather seats, quiet, lots of room, reasonably new.  In contrast, the secondtrain didn’t have anything but second class, it was mostly old, possibly from the 1960s, and not very comfortable.  Inconvenient since it was 4½ hours from Montpellier to Barcelona.

Just before we hit the Spanish border, there was a delay for 20 or so minutes.  We cracked out the portable media player again and began to watch “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.  At the border — in between two stations — we stopped again and had to present our passports to Spanish Police.

The train arrived in Barcelona at 10pm, just as our movie finished, and we headed off to find our hotel.  Three metro trains later, we were on Las Ramblas in a huge tidal wave of people; looking for our street took a few minutes but wasn’t tough to locate.

As we arrived at the hotel, the owner had to unlock the doors for us.  When we told him our names he told us he’d already charged our first night’s accommodation as he thought we were a “no show”!  Easily resolved, but could have been an issue since the whole place was booked out.

The hotel owner went to great lengths to try and explain to us in his broken English how we should carry our valuables if walking along Las Ramblas at night.

Our room, like a lot of others we’ve had, has a shower you have to hold which is annoying.  Also like a few others the bathroom smells like a sewer.  Delicious.

Day Thirty-Four
Marseille
10 September 2007 23:08

Our plan to take a relatively early train this morning took a step back when the train we intended to take was delayed for two hours, longer than the whole trip!  The next train was not a fast train, so it took 5 hours to go from Lyon to Marseille.  We waited another 45 minutes to get a fast train which only took an hour-and-a-half.

Just before we boarded to get some lunch, I ran from the station across the road to a shopping centre which had plenty of food places, many with alcohol, as well as a fountain that shot water straight up for-and-a-half stories.  The lady at the shop spoke no English and was quite stubborn which made things tough.

The view from the fast train was not exactly impressive, as the fast line is separated from most others lines or the scenery by walls or trenches.

As we exited the Metro in Marseille we were greeted by beggars — mostly African-looking — as well as a large vegetable and fruit market.

With our bags in our hotel room we set out to explore the city.  As Marseille is a seaside city we headed to the “old port” which is at least 2600 years old.  There are two forts on either side of the port but neither can be accessed by tourists — at least the good bits.

We had dinner at a seafood restaurant; I had a bouillabaisse — Marseille is where it was invented — and Justine had sea bass.  Both were delicious.