Ah, the white ship, the azure wave ... part four
MSC Splendida - self cruise - Barcelona
5 Marseilles / France
The morning in Marseille is gloomy, the sky is covered with clouds. And Costs Pacifica is already on the pier.
Parking in Marseille is one hour shorter than in Genoa, i. e. from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. It was originally planned that we would walk to the free bus. I looked at the photos on the Internet, what this track looks like, read the reviews, everything was clear. But the night before, my husband suddenly decided that it would be better to take a shuttle bus from the company in order to be sure that they would take us and pick us up without overlays, well, to be honest, I didn’t want to stomp into the “unknown” either, and the weather was not happy . . In the evening I booked this shuttle bus, 15.90 euros / round trip / person. , the cost, as always, was recorded on the ship's account without a 15% service charge. In fact, of course, the service is good, albeit expensive. At the exit from the terminal there are signs where to go, and there it’s not far to go, the shuttle bus is literally nearby.
The bus just left in front of us, we thought that we would wait a very long time until ours was full. But no, literally 15 minutes later we set off.
What did we expect from Marseille? Yes, nothing bad! ! ! In my youth, I was very fond of history books, fortunately? There were no computers then, and our generation read a lot. I loved historical novels about France ...well, of course, the novel "Monte Cristo" did not pass me by either. From the books, Marseille seemed to me to be a very lively city, with the seething life of the port, at the same time it was somehow mysteriously festive.
Sometimes I look into the French branch on the wrong sites like that, well, what passions you can’t read about this city: they take away bags in broad daylight, and turn out pockets, and they open the doors of cars standing at traffic lights, take away ladies’ handbags, etc.
It is clear, of course, that there are enough storytellers, but nevertheless, somehow you start to think a little about it, is it really so bad?
And so we come to the old city of Marseille. The bus stops not far from the port, everyone disperses in all directions. Our plan was simple: first we take the Petits trains de Marseille to the Basilica of Our Lady of Notre Dame de la Garde. The ticket costs 8.00 EUR/person. It was cold in Marseille, +5, +7, strong cold wind. They knew about the weather in advance from the daily newspaper, so they dressed warmly, but it was still cold in these trailers. The port seemed to us hospitable and lively, with numerous boats, it smells of the sea, it smells of fish.
A white mini-locomotive goes up to the mountain by the sea, quite beautiful landscapes, it’s a pity that it doesn’t stop anywhere, and it’s problematic to take pictures on the go, then along very narrow streets with a strong slope. The area around the Basilica is considered one of the most prestigious in Marseille. And now we are on the mountain.
Everyone gets off, the others get on, and the train leaves. So we arrive on one, walk as long as necessary, and then leave on any nearest one.
There is a reception/information desk, toilets, an elevator, a gift shop, and the L'Eau Vive restaurant. We didn’t know about the elevator, so we went up the stairs and then went down the elevator.
The temple is located on the highest hill of Marseille "La Garde", therefore it is visible from everywhere, it is rightfully considered a symbol of Marseille. On the bell tower of the cathedral there is a monumental gilded statue of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of sailors, more than 11 meters high. The bell tower itself is over 40 meters high. We climb the stairs and take pictures of the views of the city and the sea at each level.
We go to the church, and again AH! Not because its decoration is very beautiful or rich, although the frescoes depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, mosaics and colored marble decoration are very impressive.
I have seen churches in Italy made of black and white marble, but have not yet seen colored ones.
The Cathedral is preparing for the service, it is almost full. The strong smell of incense, it feels life, warmth, everything is so real, and there is no feeling that you go into the temple, as if into a museum. The clergyman, all in white clothes, drinks something from a mug, then wipes it with a wide ribbon, puts it on the table and covers it with this ribbon. He sits down at the table on some kind of bench / sofa, sits silently for a while, then takes the microphone and the service begins. Well, it was so solemn ...I look for my husband's eyes, I find him waving with both hands so that I come up.
It was my birthday that day and the phone calls started. Well, of course, we left the church and never went back there, to my great regret.
After listening to all the congratulations / wishes, of course, we wanted to return inside again, but the tourist entrance is already closed.
We and many others were no longer allowed there - a service is going on, of which we saw one small piece.
We go around the Basilica again, what fascinating views: the old port with a Ferris wheel, the Saint Jean fortress - Fort Saint Jean, the Frioul Islands Les? les du Frioul and the famous Châ teau d'If Ch? teau d'If.
We didn’t go to the If castle or the Friuli Islands nature reserve, I think it’s better to do it in the summer.
The train goes back on a completely different road, a very short one, down through the city along steep streets, and now we are already in the port. We pass from the stop a little forward to the fortress of Saint Jean - Fort Saint Jean, which was built by Louis XIV. You can spend half a day to inspect Saint-Jean with all its towers and museums, but, as I have repeatedly noted, we are not big fans of such ruins, so we look superficially and head to the Cathedral of Marseille Die Cath? drale de la Major. Nevertheless, we were there for 2 hours, then up, then down, then go around ...
We must pay tribute to the walls of the fort offering excellent views. On the way to the cathedral, construction is still going on, but I really liked the view of the embankment. I would love to go there in the summer.
The cathedral took its name from the Roman Catholic Church in 1896 and is currently the seat of the Archbishop of Marseille. The cathedral is very large, about 470 meters long, it took a lot of time to get around it inside and out and see everything. In the Cathedral there are a lot of statues of saints and ascetics of the church, installed in niches. And this is the first Cathedral in which we saw flags.
We passed through narrow, almost deserted streets and again went down to the old port. They wanted to move to the other side and back on the free Ferry Boat, but there was a feeling that she did not go that day. We waited for 15 minutes, but she was nowhere to be seen.
We went further to the Ferris Wheel, probably, awesome views open from its top, but there was such a strong wind that no one rode it. Again no luck. And time was running out, it's time to return to the ship.
Marseille did not disappoint, did not disappoint. Of all the cities I saw, and these were Tunisia, Palermo, Genoa and Marseille, I liked Marseille the most. I would like to visit it in the summer with its famous calanques.
Disembarkation from the ship in Barcelona.
Last evening on the ship, the cruise is almost over. There were 6 full days, this was not enough for us, 9-10 would have been better.
During the cruise filled out the forms to become a member of the MSC Club. As recently as yesterday, we received these cards with the same logo as the ship's cards, only much simpler: no barcode, no magnetic tape. There is only FI and card number.
The very first card is the ClassicCard, a 5% discount on the next cruise (if it is not on offer) and other small benefits that are described in the cover letter.
And now, the suitcases are packed, you need to leave the cabin before 08:30, our departure from Splendida is at 09:30, the collection was at the theater. Calmly, slowly, we had breakfast ...by the way, in the restaurant / buffet, I did not see people with suitcases, with bags, like we were, yes, but so that with suitcases ...Everything is clearly organized, downstairs in the terminal on the tape we got our suitcases and goodbye, Splendida. By the way, we did not hand over our ship charts, we were told that they could be left as a keepsake.
We took a taxi, I showed the driver the address and the name of the hotel, and we drove to the center of Barcelona.
Three days in Barcelona, will be the next and last review from this trip.
