Adventures in Marseille

We spent a few days after our cruise in the city of Marseille. If it hadn't been the port for our cruise, we probably would have never traveled to the oldest and second largest city in France. As a port city, Marseille has been a melting pot for 26 centuries. Writer Alexander Dumas called it "the meeting place of the entire world."

La Canebiere, a prominent boulevard, got its name (cannabis walk) because it stretches from former hemp fields to the port where the hemp was made into rope. It is the heart and soul of the city.

La Canebiere ends at Vieux Port, the "main square" of the city along with a booming port that holds more than 3,000 boats. At the entrance to the port are two forts, St-Jean and St-Nicholas. Unlike most European cities, Marseille doesn't have a traditional main square, so the port acts as a square for many city functions and festivities.

After checking in to our hotel, we signed up for a walking tour of the city.

Opera House

Plaque describing the city's Greek origins

Overlooking the city is the Notre Dame Basilica.

St. Ferreol Church

When expanding the sidewalks around the port, the city didn't want to remove any of the trees growing in the area, so they simply just cemented around them.

Hotel de Ville

Because it takes 20-30 minutes to walk from one side of the port to the other, a ferry boat offers a 30 second boat ride across the port for convenience to locals.

We walked to an area known as Le Panier, Marseille's original old town. Funny story about these windows: Napoleon tried to tax citizens on the number of windows they had, so they quickly came up with a money-saving solution....close up the windows!

We ate at Trattoria Marco for lunch, enjoying some homemade Italian dishes.

After lunch, we took a little boat out to Chateau d'If, located on a little island off the coast of Marseille.

Fort St. Jean

The Cathedrale de la Major is one of the largest cathedrals built in Europe in the 19th century. It is built on top of the ruins of a temple of Diana.

Fort St. Nicholas

A fortress was built here in 1529 and then turned into a prison in 1540 and remained a prison until World War I.

We toured the inside of the former prison. We were allowed to walk through many of the jail cells.

Alexander Dumas used his real life travel experiences, actual events and the Chateau d'If to create the story of The Count of Monte Cristo. The book was published in 1844 and readers were so intrigued to see the famous island where Edmond Dantes was imprisoned that the monument opened to the public in 1880.

When we arrived back at the port, we took Le Petit Train around the city for another little tour.

The train ended at the base of the Basilique de Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. At the peak of the 500 foot church is a golden statue of Mary.

The ceiling of the church

From outside the church, you can see all of Marseille. What fantastic views!

We ate dinner in a bustling square and enjoyed seafood pasta and mussels with fries.

After dinner, we found an Irish pub and watched another Euro Cup game, this time it was Germany vs. Italy.

We were excited when we found out that the all the museums in the city were free on the first Sunday of the month. So we decided to visit several of the most important museums. The first was the Musee d'Histoire Marseille.

The highlight of the museum are the remains of Greek and Roman ships.

We ate lunch at Au Lamparo. Chris ordered a burger, and I ordered fresh calamari.

After lunch we visited the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. The museum showcased all of the different cultures and practices that led the Mediterranean cities to where they are now.

The museum connects to Fort St-Jean by a concrete bridge suspended 19 meters up in the air.

Fort St. Jean probably had the best views of Vieux Port.

We walked to the Roman Docks Museum, a tiny exhibit showcasing the ruins that were discovered During rebuilding after WWII.

The remains of the Roman docks

Roman coins discovered in the remains

Then we took a metro to the Palais Longchamp, which holds both the natural history museum and a fine arts museum.

We visited the Natural History Museum. Everything was in French, but luckily since it was mostly animals and fossils, a lot of it was pretty self-explanatory!

Local crustaceans 

Marseille was one of the cities hosting games for the Euro Cup 2016, Europe's largest soccer tournament. France was playing Iceland that night, so we knew that watching the game among thousands of French fans would be an exciting night.

France scored 5 times during the game, and every time they did, the crowd went wild. We were packed in like sardines, but it was such a fun and lively atmosphere that we didn't mind.

After France won, the fans went nuts leaving the Fan Zone. Drivers were honking their horns non-stop, people were waving huge French flags and everyone was congratulating each other.

The next day we took a bus to the small beach-side town of Cassis. Tucked into limestone hills, it's a favorite summer getaway for many Europeans.

We stopped by a local bakery to pick up some fresh sandwiches to eat by the water. They were simple sandwiches, but nothing beats fresh baked French bread!

We visited 2 different coves and enjoyed some relaxing time in the water.

Families enjoying the shallow water

No hot summer day would be complete with a little gelato.

After making our way back to Marseille, we picked out a nice French restaurant for our last dinner. It ironically was right next to the Hard Rock Cafe, which had a little Fourth of July celebration going on.

Paule et Kopa is known for a great variety of Marseille cooking.

Fried oyster appetizer

We both ordered cuttlefish, which was the #1 recommended dish on the menu. And it did not disappoint.

We finished off our meal with yet another delicious creme brulee.

We walked around Vieux Port after sunset to see all the boats and docks lit up.

One of the most famous sites in Marseille is the morning fish market on the quai des Belges. All of the fish sold here are the ingredients for the famed bouillabaisse soup.

We took a boat tour to the Calanques, a series of stunning limestone cliffs and fjords that stretch along the coast outside of Marseille.

Our boat for the day

Our tour included time to swim in the deep water. We knew the water would be very cold, so we thought jumping in might make it a little easier on ourselves!

The water was so clear and you could see dozens of fish swimming below our feet.

We ate our final meal at a pizzeria with great views of the port.

Chris' ham pizza

My salmon pizza

Then we sadly had to make our way to the airport to fly home. We had perfect weather for our entire trip and made countless memories along the way. We hope to make it back to the south of France someday!