Marseille

27 November - 1 December 2015

Marseilles is one of my favourite cities in France. It's vibrant and colourful, with amazing architecture, street art and history. The coast around it is absolutely stunning.

Any theories on why she's blindfolded?

The port in the afternoon sun

Can't imagine driving up and down these narrow streets - even walking, I feared for my life as cars drove past!

Walking up the hill

Beautiful church

As we climbed, Notre Dame de la Garde came into view. There were plenty of other tourists too - by the time we'd walked all the way there from town, it was just shy of sunset

The architecture pales in comparison to the setting. The highest point in Marseille, it's surrounded by white rock and green bush, which all glows as the sun goes down

You can see the whole city from here

The church

The hills

I fought to the death with other camera-happy tourists to find the best vantage point

(or, I obligingly took their picture for them, then took their spot when they vacated)

Getting ready for Christmas!

The first double decker train I've ever been on

Take back the night!

The calanques (coves) round the coast from Marseille are incredible

The white rocks glow in the sunshine

The cliffs drop sharply to the bright blue sea

The stone railway bridge blends in perfectly

One of the islands out there was used to quarantine sailors suspected of carrying the plague in the 18th C. From French quarantaine, which refers to the 40 days they were held on the island.

Picnic with our wonderful host family

Another picnic photo

Waves crashing around the rocks

I think the guy on the right only went in the water long enough to say he'd done it. It was hot work walking around the hills, but not hot enough to want to swim at the end of November!

The railway winds right around the coast.

Le Panier is a historic quarter, full of art. Apéro is a pre-dinner drink, normally served with nibbles (basically a late afternoon tea with alcohol)

Going fishing

Art and posters take the place of signage

The town was still waking up - vibrantly colourful, but not so lively yet

So many different styles

I believe this place is a gallery for local art exhibitions, but unfortunately it wasn't open. We got our art fix outside though, as you've seen!

More art

Dad talks about the ABC tour of Europe (another bloody cathedral)

Scary armed police patrolled around all the tourist sites. We saw them outside the cathedral, the museum, and another church we walked past.

The police Land Rovers...

...parked in the taxi stand. Full-service police force, obviously.

The nativity scene inside the cathedral was an entire town!

Also, there were many flags inside the cathedral. Not entirely sure why

We wandered down a street, and suddenly Notre Dame de la Garde appeared between the buildings

Although not pictured here, I highly recommend MUCEM, the museum of European and Mediterranean civilisations. Its exhibitions are engaging and informative (we learnt about trade, religion, the Great Wonders and so much more) and its staff are friendly and helpful. There were security guards at the perimeters though - Finn's picnic knife and bottle opener were both confiscated on the way in, to everyone's amusement.