As this was our last proper day of tourism we decided to make a bit of an effort. The weather wasn’t quite on our side but stayed clement and dry, at least.
In the morning, we had a little walk around the 4th arrondissement where we were staying and took breakfast in a little café next to the Parc Longchamps called the Belleville sur Mer where we were reminded that outside the south-west, chocolatines are incorrectly referred to as pains au chocolat, but that didn’t let that detract from the quality and gave them a strong eight. The orange juice was very nice and freshly-squeezed, and the locals were happy to have a chat over their Sunday-morning coffee.
Sufficiently caffeinated, we headed back to the Airbnb via a supermarket to get provisions for tomorrow’s train picnic bonanza, did some cooking, and had a light lunch. A decision was made to open the Prosecco as it was probably “too heavy to take back with us” on the train; some of it got consumed with lunch and the rest was decanted into a bottle to take with us in case we got thirsty in the afternoon.
The 81 bus took us to Cinq Avenues where we were able to hop onto a tram to see the cathedral. Things distracted us along the way and so we had a little stop at Canebières to look in a soap shop, walked along the Cours Belsunce smelling yummy things, then hopped back onto a tram to Joliette, where we walked ten minutes or so to the Cathédrale de la Major. If daylight time hadn’t been against us we could’ve hopped on and off a lot more, but we were on a bit of a mission.
The cloudy weather didn’t really reveal the cathedral to us in all its glory and the west end was covered in scaffolding — it appears to be being cleaned — but I do love a good church and so some quiet exploration was in order. Some chamades aside, no grandes orgues were to be seen. Bit of a shame.
After a little walk around the MuCem area and a look at the “art”, we hopped onto a number 60 bus to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, the city’s main landmark, which is perched atop the highest point in Marselile above the old fort. La Bonne Mère looks out to sea and is the protector of sailors, fishermen, and the people of Marseille. There is a tourist bus that will take you there but it has no sides and looked as if it was also devoid of heating, so the journey on our normal bus was much more fun. Our driver played chicken with people in cars who dared to get in our way as we wound our way up the narrow streets. It was really rather fun.
Sadly, there was a mass in progress when we got there and we weren’t able to visit the interior, so we contented ourselves with sitting on a bench looking out to the Château d’If with a packet of crisps and the remaining Prosecco.
Once companion had determined there was no chance of seeing the sun break through the clouds — and that she was cold — we had hot drink and an eclair in the café before the roller-coaster ride down to the Vieux Port. As luck would have it, the sun was just setting as we arrived and it was a fitting end to the day and a great souvenir to take home with us.
We took the opportunity to have one last walk around the port as night fell and the lights came on, then decided it was time for some liquid refreshment and some food. A Guinness and a gin and tonic later, we were surprised to find that the majority of places we had hoped would afford opportunities to eat on the Cours Honoré-d’Estienne-d’Orves were closed, so we decided on a kebab-fest at Tombiq Döner on the rue Saint-Saëns (companion had poules et coqs) before taking our 81 bus home.
