Today is Saturday and a day "off" for the students. Since I leave tomorrow to Nice, I decided to see a couple more things in this city. Forts St. Nicolas and St. Jean flank the opening of the bay. These fortifications from 1450 - later 1500's are enormous in scale. They provided a mountain's perspective to the sea to guard against invaders. Interestingly, Louis XVI had the guns point towards the city to warn Marseille of his power as the citizens have historically been anti-establishment. From the last vantage point at this site, you can see the area in the Old Port that Hitler razed with its distinctively new 1950s housing in comparison to the other sides of the bay.
Notre Dame de la Garde is literally the highest point in the city. You climb San Francisco-like streets (in the steepest areas of San Francisco) to the base and then climb (I counted) 240 steps more to the church. I am glad I routinely go to spin class to prepare for this exercise and it justified my whole baguette I subsequently ate for lunch and dinner. This church was built during the reign of Napoleon III (mid-1800s) and prays for the safety of people who use the sea (which makes sense in a port town). Inside the basilica hang small boats from the ceiling, the alcoves filled with pilgrims' paintings of boats on the sea. Above the altar is a mosaic of a boat. The golden statue of Mary holding baby Jesus at the top of the church is 227m (or around 75 feet) high.
One more old church, this one from the 1100s, was visited on the way down called the Abbaye St. Victor. Very dark and different from the first church, it had the first relic I have ever seen. I have read about churches having a saint relic (like a finger or other bone), but I have never seen one in person. There were two picture windows housing saint relics, though except for St. Victor's half skull, I wasn't sure what anything else was....I'll have to ask my brother or sister who are in the medical profession.
One question from Maureen Heffernan was "is the seafood in Marseille as good as they claim?" Yes, based on the restaurant I visited. Two others joined me and we tasted all three of each others' meals. Starters included a garlicky hummus with lox on top, tuna mousse and a ham and vegetable dip, all served on tiny toasted bread. I had shrimp with an asparagus ragout in a brown base; the other seafood dish was sole and scallops on vegetables with a light broth (chicken or fish). Both were extraordinary, and the size of what you've heard about French food (very small servings). However, with the starters, entree and dessert, we were satisfied and not overly full when we left.
One other thing of note is the French have a thing about dogs. However, they don't have a thing about picking up after their dogs. Beware as you travel here that there may be some Medieval aspects still left in the city (pre-sanitation days). I didn't want to include a photo here to illustrate....
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