Misled in Marseille

Our last port of call was Marseille, France, a beautiful port city.  Our tour bus picked us up from the modern cruise port and drove us around the old port (currently used for smaller boats).

We also passed several painted cows, though I can find no indication that the Cow Parade was in Marseille at the time, and our guide did not mention it.

We also drove past Chateau d'If the island prison that was made famous in the Count of Monte Cristo (and takes credit as the blueprint for our Alcatraz).

We finally made it to the top of the hill to the Basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde.  This is a beautiful church.  Our guide told us it was the church in which Catherine de Medici and King Henry II wed.  I struggled up the 140 stairs, and Chrissy hustled me into the sanctuary.  It felt odd visiting the church and taking photographs while mass was being said, but apparently, the congregation and pastor are accustomed to this.  Those of us who were visiting were very quiet, some genuflecting upon entry.

As I struggled back down the stairs to the tour bus, I asked Chrissy to go to the gift shop and find something that signifies the royal wedding that took place there in 1533, but they had nothing of any historical significance.   Upon writing this blog, I learned why.  The royal wedding did not take place in this church.  This church's claim to fame is not the wedding of Catherine and Henry.  Instead, this is the only known church to be used both as a military fort and a sanctuary open to the public at the same time.  In fact, the fortress of Notre-Dame, which incorporated the small chapel on La Garde wasn't even completed until 1536, three years after Catherine married the Duke d'Orleans.  I knew they married in Marseille, so I kept searching until I could find out where.  Maybe the church and its historians just wanted to downplay that event for some reason.  Nope.  Catherine and Henry married in the Eglise Saint-Ferreol les Augustins.  In fact, if Google Maps, Wikipedia, trip advisor, the church's website, and various other sites are to be believed, we walked right past the church where Catherine and Henry were married by her uncle Pope Clement II.  It's the third prominent building from the left.  The white one that looks like a church with a bell tower.  You may have to blow it up to see it because I wasn't focused on it. We had time.  Had I known this was the actual church, I would have visited it on my own during our free time!  I tend to like Catherine de Medici.  She managed to do a lot for a girl who was basically used to purchase stature and ignored by her own husband.  She had her flaws, but thrived even after being thrust into a no-win situation at the age of 14.  I guess I have to go back to Marseille now.  Poor me (hehe).

Our next stop was back down the hill to the port and the Cathedrale de Marseille Notre-Dame de la Major.  Our guide explained (and I have confirmed) that there are multiple Notre-Dame churches worldwide with over 18 of them in France alone.  This one is the main cathedral in Marseille and is commonly referred to as "La Major" or just "The Cathedral."  The new part of the cathedral was built in the 1800s, after demolishing portions of the original cathedral.  It's a lovely church, as are most all Byzantine cathedrals and basilicas.

The choir and one bay of the nave of the original church is still standing next door.

After The Cathedral, we started our walking tour of Marseille.  Our first stop was La Vielle Charite, originally the poor house of Marseille.  Later, it was used as a hospital, and it currently functions as a museum.  We did not visit the interior.

We strolled along parts of La Panier, the historic district with narrow, cobbled streets.  It's the area in which new immigrants have historically settled, currently inhabited by a mix of mostly Corsican, North African, and French families.  While strolling this district, we stopped and had sorbets or ice cream topped with navettes, little cookies shaped like historical fishing boats.  As we walked along La Panier, I was too busy trying to successfully navigate the cobbled, worn, dipping, and cracked steps in my CAM boot to really get many pictures, but here are a couple that I did get.

When we got back down to the port, I took some more pictures of the general area, including the accidental picture of the church Catherine de Medici actually got married in, and this shot with the ferry and the Notre-Dame de la Garde.

The port is not very wide in this section.  In fact, to get from the cafe that is almost in front of this dock of the ferry to a cafe almost in front of the dock on the other side is a distance of 800 meters that takes approximately 10 minutes to walk, according to Google Maps.  On the other hand, taking the ferry from point to point is a distance of 350 meters, and it takes approximately 10 minutes from embarkation to disembarkation.  It seemed like a very busy ferry.

Chrissy and I were looking forward to some of the savory crepes I remember from visiting France when I lived in West Germany in the 1980s.  Unfortunately, they only had sweet crepes on the waterfront, so we settled for a grilled duck with salad and fries.  After getting back to the ship, Chrissy went to the cabin for a nap, and I spent another afternoon enjoying the lido deck on the bow of the ship.  I got a few nice shots of the port and took some pix of the seagulls.

I went back to get Chrissy for dinner, and as we were heading to our restaurant, I started feeling a little warm and nauseous.  By the time the waiter got there, I was ready to order crackers and other bland foods, and I ended up leaving the table and going back to the room before the first course arrived.  It couldn't be food poisoning because I didn't eat anything Chrissy didn't also eat, and she wasn't sick.  I was miserable all night, though.  I did toss my things in my suitcase before falling into bed, but I couldn't finish getting luggage ready to put out overnight, as required to disembark.  Thankfully, Chrissy was able to get our luggage and everything taken care of for us to disembark in Barcelona the next day.