Marseille

Day 20: Saturday 5 July 2014

So, a bit of an excursion - we went to Marseille during our week in Lyon. We thought it would be a good day trip, because there wasn't a lot we wanted to see in Marseille - I just wanted to go to the beach! We also found a really great deal on train fare - I think we paid 20 euros for round trip. Can't remember if that was total or per person, but it was a good deal regardless!

The one downside to getting the good ticket price was that we had to wake up SUPER early to get to the station on time.  We had to be checked in by 5:30 am to be allowed on to the train. We also walked to the station - so I think we left a little before 5:00 am to make it on time. Then coming back the train didn't leave until 9:45pm - so we had to wake up extra early, then get back pretty late.  But, it was all good, because all we did was sit on the beach relaxing...we got a few good naps in on the sand!

The first thing we did was buy a metro pass that would get us on any bus or train for the day, that way we wouldn't have to stress too much about getting from point A to B - the whole premise of our day in Marseille was to further relax. We took a bus up the hill to see the basilica, Notre-Dame de la Garde. You get an awesome view of the city from there and you get to see a beautiful church, always great to kill two birds with one stone! 

View of the basilica from the gare.

This picture would be perfect if it weren't for the darned light post!

After ooh-ing and awe-ing the beautiful sights of the basilica and the view, we made our way back down the hill.  We picked out a beach and arrived around 11:00am.  It wasn't too crowded to our surprise, especially since it was a Saturday! We lounged, caught up on some sleep, and I wrote a few post cards that we would send Monday from Paris.  The only inconvenience we experienced was having a lack of sunscreen.  We packed a tiny 1 oz. tube with us to wear on our face and such during all our other touring, but did not want to pack a large tube since we knew we would only need a larger amount for 1 day out of our 30-something day trip. So, we went to a small grocery store and found a 2 oz. tube for a whopping  9 euros, which is like $12 U.S. - we couldn't afford a bigger tube so we just used it very conservatively through out the day - and it was a sunny day! Perfect beach weather. We managed to survive without getting too sunburned.  My only casualties were my bum cheeks - ladies, y'all know how our suits ride up where the sun don't shine...FYI, my right cheek is still slightly tan from this day and it's been 6 months! Oh well, at least I know my body is capable of tanning.

Pictures from the first beach we visited.

These guys are everywhere - "you want a scarf, very nice scarf" - dude, it's 100 degrees, I don't think I need a scarf, non merci.

Proudly displaying our French flag beach towels we bought at Carrefour for 4 euros a piece. We washed them and now they're red, pink, and blue! :)

I love my beach bum!

Revealing my pasty-American self to all the leather skinned Europeans.

We stayed at the first beach until about 2pm then decided we were hungry.  So we found a small bakery and got some savory treats then headed for a bigger beach.  This one was much more busy and was obviously a "hot spot."  Funny story.  Before we even arrived in Marseille I asked Michael how many topless women we would witness and he DIDN'T believe me, he was like "nah, that's for nude beaches." Heh. Let's just say we saw more than we'd like to recall. Some things you can't un-see.  I just know from my experience on a Greek beach what kind of sights you see - and some of them are not pretty, in fact, most of them aren't.

Rocking my chaco tan and pasty white legs....which left Marseille the same way they entered, pasty.

Michael swimming in the ocean.  As much as I love the sound and sight and atmosphere of the ocean, I am too freaked out to swim in it.  All the creatures and currents freak me out, so I happily wade in it up to my knees.  I did swim with my sister, Leah, in the Greek Mediterranean, but that was a rare occasion!

We hung out on this beach until about 5:30pm and then decided we were ready to move on and eat some dinner.  Michael remembered a good Moroccan place he'd read about and we had some delicious couscous there! It was near the Vieux-Port.

After dinner we still had a couple of hours to kill before we needed to check in for our train, so we just mozied around the city and took it all in.  I don't mean this in a derogatory way, but Marseille seems like the San Fran of France. Just has a similar feel and culture.  A lot of immigrants and diversity, I like it. I actually said to Michael at one point during our day that it was one of my favorite days of our trip.  I think it was because I knew it was our only day there, so I didn't spend the day worry about what was going to happen the next day, I was completely present and laid back, I really enjoyed my time there.

This is a picture of the steps up to the gare.  We witnessed the funniest thing.  As we approached the stairs we could hear a young child throwing a tantrum, just wailing his heart out.  When we reached the top we saw the culprit, but only to see that his family was laughing and getting a hoot out of the whole thing.  I mean, it was really funny.  You had to see it.  We've all seen a child throw a tantrum and know when they're faking it, this kid was obviously looking for pity.  He had sort of slivered his way away from his family and was just looking and crying and screaming at strangers as they passed.  People were taking videos it was so funny! Wouldn't be surprised if y'all could find it on youtube. It really put a cherry on top of the day. We joked and said, oh boy, what if he's on our train, yep! You guessed it. Same car.  Luckily he seemed to be in a better mood. :) Thanks, Marseille, for a bon jour!