Marseilles March 2014

We enjoyed our trip to France in October of 2013 and decided to go back to the south of France in March. We stayed in Marseilles. Most people don't think of staying there, but that is where the plane connections worked. We originally planned to go to Nice, but it was almost impossible to get there!

We stayed at an iBIS Hotel next to the train station. This is the view from our window towards the west. The train station is the large building on the right. A couple of times while we were there, they were shooting a French soap opera in the square.

This is one of the two forts that protected the entrance to Marseilles harbor. The forts were built of brick and would have collapsed very quickly. When you go to Europe, you have to see the forts, chateaux and castles.

This is the famous Chateau d'If. The Man in the Iron Mask was set here. There is, of course, no truth to the story, but tourists love it.

This is the cathedral which hangs over the entire city. This is what the Notre Dame de la Garde looks like from the square by the train station.

This is what Notre Dame de la Garde looks like from the port.

This is what Notre Dame de la Garde looks like from the bus on its way up the hill. 

You finally get to look back down on the city. From this perspective, you can see how visible the cathedral is from every point of the city.

This video pans around a bit from the cathedral. The view is really spectacular.

 We got out of Marseilles by riding the train down to Toulon. This is the cable car which went up the hill behind the city. The weather was far from the best and we had to sit around for an hour during the lunch hour before we could ride up.
 Looking back down into Toulon, you suddenly realize that 60 % of the French Navy is here.
 The cable car was not quite as beautiful and romantic as the advertising posters!

Another city we visited was Avignon. Very nice, friendly city with a beautiful castle across the river. The city was crawling with high school kids speaking very bad French. They were on exchange tours!

This is the Pope's Palace. During the time when there were two (or more) Popes at the same time, France and Italy were fighting over who had the "real" Pope.

This is the bridge to nowhere. Apparently, it was never meant to actually cross the river. We didn't get it at all.

Here are two more of the many cathedrals we didn't visit. There are a LOT of these things all over Europe.

The coffee was really good. Alonda did not expect that!

This was a little museum/store with "santons". Originally, these were always little Nativity Scene figurines. Today, they make just about anything.

The level of detail in these things is amazing. The most common size was less than about 6 inches high.

This stainless steel roof is exactly what it looks like. It is basically a mirror you can look up at next to the harbor. Tourists had a lot of fun taking their pictures of themselvesl

We are now back in the USA!!!

Alonda has retired from teaching. Jim is looking for a new position teaching English as a Second Language or German or Traffic Safety or something.