Marseille

Another slow morning! I had not worked out anything I desperately wanted to see, so I knew I could take things easy. The bonus for this was that I was on hand as the crew practised a lifeboat drill, lowering the one just below my balcony. It was obvious that a new person was being trained in operating things from the lifeboat: ‘Pull!’, ‘Pull harder’, ‘Hold it with both hands’, and so on.

The port provided shuttle buses every half hour to take us to the old area of town, which was very useful. Unfortunately I arrived just 5 minutes after one had gone, and had to wait for the next one. We were not left in any distinguishing place in the town, so I had to take careful note of all the streets I walked along. It’s easy going one way, following signs to the Old Port, but there are no signs pointing back to the shuttle bus!

I had a choice of the little tourist trains or the Hoho (Hop-on, hop-off) bus, so chose the bus. Unfortunately it only goes every hour, and I had half an hour to wait. I felt as though the whole port area was lined with yachts on the water side and restaurants on the other side, with loads of construction signs inbetween. I chose a restaurant at random to buy a lemonade in order to use the toilet. I passed by a couple of young Frenchmen who spoke to me. Perhaps they got a shock when I turned around and they saw my age. All they said then was ‘Belle coiffeur’ (nice haircut) and smiled.

The Hoho bus was hot (as I was on top in order to see the sights). We drove around the bay, seeing the Chateau d’If in the distance – famous from Dumas’ novel. It looked very like an upmarket sandcastle, with the colour of the stone blending into the cliffs.

The drive along the coast road was lovely.

One thing I had hoped to see was Notre Dame de la Garde, high on the hill overlooking the bay, keeping watch over the people of Marseille. Unfortunately it would have meant a rather steep walk and a delay of 90 minutes until the next bus came along, or a ride down on the road train. That can wait for my next visit! (Hopefully on my next visit I’ll take more photos, as I only have 5 to show for today’s visit, none of them brilliant!)

I found my way back to the shuttle bus with no difficulty, and for once no waiting!