Marseille, France, Friday 5/1/26 Day 5
We docked in the lovely city of Marseille today, located on the beautiful Côte d’Azur. It is France’s second largest city after Paris, and its oldest city, established by the Greeks in 600 BCE. Sadly, it was heavily damaged during WW II and nearly fully destroyed. According to our guide, in August, 1945, Marseille was the last city liberated by Allied forced during Operation Dragoon, which was the southern counterpart of the more famous Normandy invasion knows as D-Day or Operation Overlord.
We took the included tour through the city to see some of the highlights. Marseille is known for its beautiful churches, forts, architecture, beaches, museums, art galleries, and culture. The heart of the city is the Old Port area, where there are tons of high end shops, hotels, and restaurants. Marseille has a tree lined avenue similar to the Champs-Élysées in Paris known as La Canebière, as well as its own Notre-Dame de la Garde and Arc de Triomphe. You really do feel like you are walking through the streets of Paris here. The spectacular Baroque water fountain known as the Palais Longchamp was constructed in the 1800’s to celebrate the completion of the Canal de Marseille, which brought fresh water to the city. It’s located in the complex that also houses the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts.
We broke off from the tour to stroll along the Old Port area, found a restaurant and had some tapas and delicious Côtes de Provence Rosé wine, which is the famous wine from the local region. Had we more time, we would have loved to visit some of the museums and the Notre Dame cathedral, but with a cruise, you are only afforded a limited amount of time, and drinking wine won out over the other options.
Back on the ship, we had drinks in the Explorer’s Lounge, attended the lecture on Salvador Dali, had sushi in the World Cafe, and ended the night in Torshavn with live music by Michael, the resident guitarist and singer. He’s fabulous and we enjoyed chatting with him about his family and his career.
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