Today was a good day.
These are the views that greeted us as our ship pulled into the port at Marseille.
It was a beautiful morning.
I liked this feature of the ship. For those long cruises, where the days probably seem to run together, the elevators (there were at least 24 public ones) had the days labeled in the cabs.
Our first view of Marseille. The ship docked in the industrial port.
Once again we took a bus from the cruise terminal to the main city center. This one was €18 for each of us.
We were dropped off near Fort Saint-Jean right on the coast and the entry to the harbor.
We walked around the fancy Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations to get some views of the water.
We took some pictures of the huge Cathedrale La Major nearby. Be on the lookout for Ada, she was in a bad mood and didn't want to be in any pictures.
Alison and Kate.
Alison, Kate & Lyla.
Aha! I found her.
You can just make out the Chateau d'If (the prison from the Count of Monte Cristo) in the left middle of the picture (between the two hills in the water and the coast on the left).
A better view. PS. If you haven't read The Count of Monte Cristo, it is an excellent book. You can read my review here.
Me and Lyla. Ada on the run.
One last view of the Cathedral with Kate and Alison.
We didn't have any set plans in Marseille, so we were just wandering through the city looking for anything interesting. The old, narrow streets were always worth a picture.
I let Ada take a few pictures to get her out of her funk. This one has a lot of pavement, but we can work on the composition later.
And this picture she took is of the bird lady.
We found a small cafe for some snacks.
Fresh squeezed juice.
I can't remember, but it was probably strawberry and pineapple juice.
Narrow streets of Marseille.
In every direction.
We have a tradition of bringing random woot shirts along our trips. We never know what will be on them, and you can't look at them before the day that we open them to wear them. Sometimes we get duplicate happy marshmallow/campfire shirts.
We made our way back down to the harbor.
Fish fountain.
We decided that our next stop would be to that beautiful church on the mountaintop in the distance.
Another view of the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde.
Ada and the lion on stilts.
3 of the girls.
All 4 of the girls.
There was a small little marionette show in the Vieux Port Square.
Ferris wheels and carousels. All over Europe.
This is our reflection in the mirrored ceiling above the Vieux Port subway entrance. Notice my hairy chin...
I found a bus that would take us right up to the Basilica.
Lyla and Ada on the bus.
Kate and Alison on the bus.
It would be very difficult to be a bus driver on these narrow streets.
The view of the city was pretty amazing. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris.
The basilica is topped by a gold statue of the Madonna and Child.
We toured the crypt (it was so hot and stuffy), then sat for a few minutes in the church to relax and reflect.
The interior of the church was very pretty.
More views of the waterfront, including the Chateau d'If.
We caught the city bus back down to the city center and did some shopping for souvenirs (we bought soap and the girls bought poop emoji keychains. Go figure), then a quick stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for restrooms and photos on the throne.
Ice cream.
We started walking back to where we could catch the bus back to our floating hotel.
Our ship. You can see The Abyss slides off the back of the ship.
Dessert. I'm not sure what Ada was doing.
Much better.
Back on the ship. Time for more miniature golfing.
Look closely in the photo above, you can see a Marseille sign similar to the Hollywood sign.
Look closely in this photo and you can see lots of Roman arches for either an aqueduct or road along the coast.
Superhero night at Kids Camp.
We caught a photo with some of the characters from Madagascar. We didn't like them well enough to wait in line for real pictures, so this will have to do.
Tomorrow we make our first of 3 stops in Italy.
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