Marseille, France
Friday, April 5, 2024
Our day began in Marseille, France — the 8th day of our Sun Princess cruise.
Marseille is the oldest and second largest city in France. It is known as the gateway to the French Riviera, though with only one day in the city, we obviously didn’t have the time to drive the coastline to explore surrounding towns.
As large and historic Marseille is, I had a hard time finding things to do there. There looked to be several neighborhoods to explore, the beautiful Notre Dame de la Garde, and a museum to visit. Otherwise, I came up lacking.
Andi and I decided we’d take our time getting off the ship this morning as nothing in Marseille sounded all that interesting. He and I worked out in the cruise ship gym around 7:00am, and then joined Tory and Aden for breakfast at The Eatery.
We discovered a huge seating area outside this ship’s restaurant, The Eatery, this morning with heated overhead lamps. Sitting here was much better than fighting for a table in the dining room. There was also a pizza station, grill station, a bar, and a hot tub that we’d never seen before. This ship is so large that we’re continually finding new areas and amenities.
Around 10:30am, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I made our way off the ship and into Marseille. Once again, disembarking was simple; we scanned our Princess medallions at the door and walked right into the port terminal.
A line of taxis were waiting outside the port terminal to take cruise ship passengers wherever they wanted to go. We approached the first one in line, but were unsure if we should get into the taxi or not. The taxi driver stood near his car in a heated conversation with two other people.
Finally, the man in charge of running the taxi line signaled to us that this was the taxi we were assigned. As we drove away, Andi asked the taxi driver, “Were you mad at that guy?” Our taxi driver mumbled something in half English / half French, basically saying he was angry because he had to put out his cigarette and take our ride. He wanted to stay there until he finished it.
We asked the taxi driver to take us to Notre Dame de la Garde, and cruised through the old, curvy streets to the highest natural part of the city. The view was beautiful from this vantage point overlooking the old port.
Not a cheap taxi ride though! A trip from the port terminal to Notre Dame de la Garde cost a flat €40 rate.
Given that this is the number one thing to do in Marseille, there were lots of tourists here and even a Sun Princess tour bus. The cathedral is free to enter, so we queued in line and entered inside the church. Wow, it really was so beautiful and completely different than all the other churches we’d visited in Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
My favorite part were the sailboats hanging like mobiles from the ceiling; a nod to the city’s connection to the Mediterranean Sea. Andi commented how old and worn the pews looked after many years of use.
Tory wondered why there was more than one Notre Dame. “Isn’t Notre Dame in Paris?” she said. I looked it up, and the words “notre dame” means “our lady” in French. There are, in fact, many Notre Dame cathedrals throughout the country, though Notre Dame of Paris steals all the international notariety.
No matter your religious affiliation, there’s something so spiritually powerful about these massive cathedrals. The four of us wandered through the main sanctuary, admiring the details and artwork, before making our way outside again.
The second-best thing to do in Marseille is to get lost wandering through its unique neighborhoods. I found a self-guided walking tour online, and Andi navigated our way following the helpful Place Castellane signs posted along the streets.
Fortunately, the taxi had done the had work climbing to the top of the hill so all we had to do was walk down. There was nothing particular special about the streets we wandered through as they were just narrow, everyday streets where regular people live, work, and shop. Really though, that’s what made this walk so great because it wasn’t at all toursity.
This was Tory and Aden’s first time in France, and Aden’s one request was to eat a baguette. Easy enough to do. We stopped into a local cafe & picked out a few treats. Andi bought cans of Orangina for us to drink, along with two desserts for he and Tory. Aden and I split the fresh baguette between the two of us.
We continued walking until we found a little square with cafe tables set out and a few people having coffee. We weren’t particularly hungry, so the four of us decided to hop into a taxi to go to the popular Le Panier neighborhood.
The name, “le panier” means “the basket,” which is exactly what this neighborhood was in the early days of the city. Migrant fisherman, merchants, sailors, and locals gathered in the heart of the port for commerce.
Today, Le Panier neighborhood is more of a touristy hangout more than anything, with trendy shops, cafes, and restaurants. It was definitely more of a prettier area than we’d walked before. Still a lot of graffiti on the buildings and streets though.
I had to use the restroom so badly, and we couldn’t find a public WC toilet anywhere. Finally, Andi and I decided to grab a coffee at a restaurant called NUA that looked like a large enough place to have a toilet for customer use.
While Aden and I waited in line to use the restroom, Andi ordered an espresso and a plate of french fries for us to share. Our order came to the table just as Aden and I returned. The french fries turned out to be sweet potato fries, so neither Tory or Aden would eat them. Andi and I couldn’t let them go to waste though — things were not priced cheaply in Marseille.
The four of us continued wandering through the Le Panier neighborhood, taking a few photos and admiring the contrast in architecture comparative to where we’ve traveled the past two months. After a while, we decided we’d had enough of this city and wanted to return to the ship.
Andi called an Uber to take us back to the port terminal. I don’t think the driver really knew where to take us because he ended up dropping us off in a parking lot next to the terminal. It wasn’t a huge issue; we just had to walk a little bit to make our way back to the ship.
We scanned our Princess medallions at the door, and breezed back onto the ship. There was still some sunlight left in the afternoon, so Aden, Tory, and I threw on our swimming suits and made our way to the pool on Deck 17.
Aden found his buddies already swimming in the pool, and Tory and I laid on the lounge chairs nearby. I love the fact that I’ve never once had to fight to get a chair by the pool. Andi joined us there after taking a few work calls.
For dinner tonight, Andi made our family reservations at the teppanyaki restaurant on the ship. Aden was so excited for this! The restaurant was intimate and entertaining. The teppanyaki chef sensed Aden’s excitement, and really played into his interest. He even invited Aden to come behind the grill after our meal to take a picture.
After dinner, we decided to watch the Movie Under the Stars together from the hot tub on Deck 17. All four of us put our swimming suits again, as well as the cozy Sun Princess robes, and made our way to the hot tub. Brrr! It was really windy and cold as the ship was underway.
Andi and I met another passenger named Bob from Chicago while we sat in the hot tub. He was such a friendly guy, and it was fun to swap travel stories with him.
Around 9:00pm, we quickly ran back to our rooms and everyone showered before bed. I couldn’t believe how cold and windy it was outside, and really hoped it wouldn’t be that chilly tomorrow in Italy.
It’s hard to believe we only have two more stops left before our cruise is over. This past week has flown by so quickly. Tomorrow, we’ll be in Genoa, Italy!
