The echo of a distant time
Mary and I went to Marseille yesterday, Gus was supposed to come with us, but he worked a very long night and was too tired to function, so we left him to sleep, and went on our little adventure.
The best part was that we had a car, so we didn't have to worry about getting lost changing buses, and walking in bad areas. There are areas of Marseille that are not nice areas to walk through, there is a lot of poverty with immigrants in the city, and there are stories of some bad things happening. I really didn't want to have bad stuff happen to us, so having a car made life better.
We started late because of waiting for Gus to come along, but we made good time into the city (it is only about 20-30 minutes away), and after a bit of a search and driving through some very narrow streets, we found parking. Or first stop was to le Abbaye Saint-Victor, which is a very ancient church near the Vieux Port (Old Port). This church has it history dating back about 1200 years, to when it was a rock quarry that they started to bury the dead in. Over the years, it was a crypt, a basilica, and finally a church. Other than the amazingly old architecture, the cool part was going down into the crypt, where you can see some of the old tombs, and how before it was Christian, it was a Pagan burial area. There are parts where you can see that the ancient structure was buried and built upon by the newer structures. It is very hard to feel as overwhelmed by history as I was back home in Vancouver.
Our next place to visit was a boat ride out to Chateau d'If, the island Fort/Prison made famous by the book, and movies, of the Count of Monte Cristo. The fort is undergoing restoration, so a lot of the old stone has been repaired, and the lower cells are not open for the tourists, but all the upper, "nicer" cells are available to visit. It was interesting to find that if you had a bit of money, you could "rent" a nicer cell, the had some extra room, a window and even a fire place. Something else I found fascinating was the carvings completed by the prisoners in the sandstone walls the prison was made of. In the main court yard and in some the cells, an individual stone would be carved with words, or pictures by one of the prisoners, and in the end there were quite a few of them making for some very historic art in the prison walls.
After the boat ride back, we were going to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, which is the basilica at the highest point in Marseille, but we were getting tired and needed to get back to Aix to meet Gus for dinner. So we wandered around a bit more, found another church to look into, another amazing fountain in the middle of a round-about, a bunch of very narrow little streets outside the tourist area, and finally our car.
After we drove home through rush hour traffic (I did very well, sort of missed most of it by finding a tunnel out of the city), we each had a quick shower and went to one of the restaurants at the local casino. This is a little seafood place that Gus and Mary go to often, and have gotten to know the staff really well. The food was amazing, and I blew my entire perdiem for the day on dinner. I got to practice my French with the waiter (he was a lot of fun), and we even got a free bottle of ice wine for dessert (wine is cheap over here, drink it like water hehe).
So, I had a busy day, came home and spent hours trying to get my photos uploaded, then went to bed and tried to get a bit of sleep with the noisy Austrians partying all night.
Today is my last day off of this weekend, then off to work again for four days. I am trying to get my photos online as fast as the slow wi-fi will let me. Keep checking, they will probably keep updating.
The best part was that we had a car, so we didn't have to worry about getting lost changing buses, and walking in bad areas. There are areas of Marseille that are not nice areas to walk through, there is a lot of poverty with immigrants in the city, and there are stories of some bad things happening. I really didn't want to have bad stuff happen to us, so having a car made life better.
We started late because of waiting for Gus to come along, but we made good time into the city (it is only about 20-30 minutes away), and after a bit of a search and driving through some very narrow streets, we found parking. Or first stop was to le Abbaye Saint-Victor, which is a very ancient church near the Vieux Port (Old Port). This church has it history dating back about 1200 years, to when it was a rock quarry that they started to bury the dead in. Over the years, it was a crypt, a basilica, and finally a church. Other than the amazingly old architecture, the cool part was going down into the crypt, where you can see some of the old tombs, and how before it was Christian, it was a Pagan burial area. There are parts where you can see that the ancient structure was buried and built upon by the newer structures. It is very hard to feel as overwhelmed by history as I was back home in Vancouver.
Our next place to visit was a boat ride out to Chateau d'If, the island Fort/Prison made famous by the book, and movies, of the Count of Monte Cristo. The fort is undergoing restoration, so a lot of the old stone has been repaired, and the lower cells are not open for the tourists, but all the upper, "nicer" cells are available to visit. It was interesting to find that if you had a bit of money, you could "rent" a nicer cell, the had some extra room, a window and even a fire place. Something else I found fascinating was the carvings completed by the prisoners in the sandstone walls the prison was made of. In the main court yard and in some the cells, an individual stone would be carved with words, or pictures by one of the prisoners, and in the end there were quite a few of them making for some very historic art in the prison walls.
After the boat ride back, we were going to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, which is the basilica at the highest point in Marseille, but we were getting tired and needed to get back to Aix to meet Gus for dinner. So we wandered around a bit more, found another church to look into, another amazing fountain in the middle of a round-about, a bunch of very narrow little streets outside the tourist area, and finally our car.
After we drove home through rush hour traffic (I did very well, sort of missed most of it by finding a tunnel out of the city), we each had a quick shower and went to one of the restaurants at the local casino. This is a little seafood place that Gus and Mary go to often, and have gotten to know the staff really well. The food was amazing, and I blew my entire perdiem for the day on dinner. I got to practice my French with the waiter (he was a lot of fun), and we even got a free bottle of ice wine for dessert (wine is cheap over here, drink it like water hehe).
So, I had a busy day, came home and spent hours trying to get my photos uploaded, then went to bed and tried to get a bit of sleep with the noisy Austrians partying all night.
Today is my last day off of this weekend, then off to work again for four days. I am trying to get my photos online as fast as the slow wi-fi will let me. Keep checking, they will probably keep updating.
posted by Travelcedric at 02:53
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