Marseille .......boats and more boats

Thursday 11th May

We farewelled Arles and headed for a Musee that we had been told was interesting: the Musee de Camargue. The Camargue is an area of delta that lies between the two branches of the Rhone river as they flow into the sea. The result is country that is compromised by the presence of salt and fresh water, and a lot of it. So it takes a special kind of person to live in the mud and desolation, and that's what the Musee was about. It is also famous for the flamingoes ( not that we saw any at the Musee as they had more sense than to stand around in the strong winds!) and white ponies which are short and stocky. There seems to be a bit of tension around the area between those who treasure the past and those wanting to progress, but clearly those involved in the Musee were for keeping the old ways..

The weather looked foul and Ewan looked at the forecast which said 20 degrees and scoffed at my jacket saying "We're going to a Museum, you'll be inside!" It's always challenging trying to anticipate how to dress and what you will be doing, I have to say. This visit was a very good example of that!

A reed boat for using on the canals

So we drove through flat water-soaked countryside and down a small country lane and found the Musee in an old-fashioned barn. The displays were all about the people of the past, their national dress and how they managed to survive given all of the challenges. Then there are dirt roads that you're directed to walk down to see the pumping station, the rice fields, the pastures and the fishing canal.

Pumping station for managing the water supply

The main produce here is rice, wine salt and fish. The rice fields were paddocks full f mud as there was none planted and we didn't see any vines growing but apparently they sit in water too.,The Musee 'experience' was to walk past desolate pastures as you can see in the photos. With the wind blowing a gale and black clouds gathering I left Ewan behind and headed off for a brisk walk, His knees don't allow him to walk fast and my legs hate going slowly, so I farewelled him and headed off for nearly an hour striding around the bleak landscape.A rather different Museum experience!

I managed to avoid the rain. but as soon as we headed for Marseille down it came. Ewan had worked out that a car ferry ride would take us to Marseille quicker than the highway,s so we headed for Port St Louis, The town was closed up for the two hour lunch break (!) but we eventually found a cafe decorated with very pink flamingoes and butterflies for lunch. Surprisingly there was lots of sushi on the menu which seemed very unlikely in this quiet town.

The car ferry ride took about 5 minutes and cost 6 Euros but saved hours of driving. Enroute to Marseille we spotted huge container gantries and oil storage buildings, and encountered lots of huge truck which wasn't fun in the rain. But by the time we reached Marseille only an hour away ( beautifully navigated by me: I only got yelled at once!) the sun was shining,

It's a HUGE city, second biggest in France, so we headed for the old port (Port Vieux) after finding our hotel and working out the metro and tram systems. It was full of people and felt very multicultural wiht people from everywhere and skins of every colour. In one short walk I heard Arabic, and Jewish conversations as well as languages spoken by a range of tourists. Every type of clothing from skimpy western clothing to fashionable French to a range of hijabs. It certainly is very vibrant and lively

Fantastic mirrored roof over a community space 

The Port is very picturesque with hundreds of boats moored and mountains framing it so we wandered around trying to get our bearings and find dinner.

I was determined to have bouillabaisse, as it is the signature dish of Marseille and Ewan had mussels, as seafood is a must here. The bouillabaisse was very rich brown fish stock - very tasty- with some mussels and three types of fish. Our meals were served with a bowl of grated cheese and some bright orange  mayonnaise. We were totally bewildered as to what to do with it! the waiter showed us how to spread some of the mayonnaise on a piece of toasted bread and float it in the soup before eating it: quite delicious!

Plenty to do on the morrow so home to bed!







Friday 12th May

Today was 'get to know Marseille' day and somehow I agreed to head for the Notre Dame Basilica  first. In all of the photos of the port you will see in the distance a church on the top of a very steep hill, so in Ewan's mind it was the equivalent of a citadel ( see previous posts about Ewan's obsession with citadels). We were hoping that there was a tram or a funicular or some form of transport that would get us there but as there were none we decided to walk. It was a very steep climb, notable because there were NO OTHER TOURISTS doing the same. That's always a bad sign.

 By the time we climbed the last set of stairs we were all but run over by a damn tourist train filled with happy smiling people (which I wasn't by this stage!). Let me just say - there were hundreds of tourists oohing and aaahing and not one of them had climbed the bloody hill as we did. We collapsed inside on a pew to meditate on the beauty of the church (as it really was beautiful) but, in truth, it was to recover from the climb and rest our already weary legs.

 Inside the church there were models of ships and boats hanging from the ceiling and some life saving rings attached to the wall, amongst all of the gilt and beautifully painted ceilings and domes. Clearly it has a special meaning to the sailors who depart the port. It was at one stage turned into a fort because of its location so that was an interesting combination.
The stripes and colours reminded me of the mesquite in Cordoba and apparently the architecture is neobyzantine

You can just see some of the boats hanging from the ceiling

The old and the very new!

On the way down we managed to catch the public bus and it took us all of the way around the port to a complex consisting of old fort buildings and ultra modern new buildings that were really stunning. Oh, and I almost forgot, another enormous Cathedral! Both of the churches had been built in the 18th Century predominantly so obviously that was a wealthy period for Marseille.
This complex is called the Musee of European and Mediterranean Civilisation - a very grand title indeed. I was expecting some sort of history but there are temporary exhibitions  and the history is actually the old buildings that guarded the entrance to the port, which was very small and very well-defended.

I loved this effect in the casual seating area

One of the exhibitions was a photographic exhibition created by a woman who had spent time in some of the local war 'hotspots' for the past couple of decades. They were bleak photos of the Gaza, Palestine, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Eritrea and Yemen all along the theme of the destruction war causes. Very moving.
The other exhibition was about recycling but very interesting and well-presented. They even had a machine that demonstrated how rubbish is sorted so it can be recycled, and some interesting stories from rubbish collectors around the world. Some interesting diagrams showed the countries who take particular types of materials eg iron, aluminium, paper etc and China featured very strongly.

Desperate for lunch we had a quick look at the Cathedral and headed for La Panier, the local sailors district, now filled with cafes, art studios and narrow streets.

Revived we headed for our last visit : a Musee called Musee Cantina, which features glass, they have a group of 17 glassblowers who experiment and produce fabulous pieces of glasswork which we enjoyed (but our legs didn't as they were worn out with all of the walking!) We decided to beat a hasty retreat home to rest, although I did manage a very quick peruse in Galeries Lafayette.

These orange discs had intricate drawings in them that you could only see in the right light so they took some work to appreciate! 

My favourite colour!

Too tired to go out for dinner I bought a warm baguette and some cheese and ham and we happily devoured that before an early night.

your recuperating correspondent

Dianne