Jump to content

Apology of Marseille


FroggyFlo

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone!

Somebody on this forum (I cannot find the thread anymore, it was one about whether ships should do more or fewer days at sea vs ports of call) wrote that RCCL should not stay in Marseille anymore because it is a port of call with few to no interest. 

As a French woman who married in Provence a guy having been brought up in this very city, I disagree. Marseillians (???) are very passionate about their city and its soccer team! As an "insider tip", these are a few places we consider worth seeing in Marseille or surroundings, that you may give a try to. I do not know if RCCL provides such excursions or not, most of them can be done all by yourselves for a small fee.

Take the little train from Old Port to NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE, the cathedral on top of the hill overlooking the city. It is a famous place of faith and you catch a gorgeous sight.

Take a boat to LE CHATEAU D'IF and LE FRIOUL, 2 little islands in the bay. The first one is a former prison full of history, you catch good sight of the Calanques.

Take an excursion to LES CALANQUES. This is a stunning landscape. You have some in Cassis too.

Rent a car and go to CASSIS (13 miles from Marseille), a charming and typical fishing port that holds all the flavours of southern France. I highly recommand it.

Visit the MUCEM (Museum of Mediteranean civilizations), it's brand new and hudge.

If you're a soccer fan, take the subway from La Canebière and go to see the VELODROME STADIUM. Olympique de Marseille is the only French team to have won the European soccer cup. They have a museum there, with trophies, etc. The stadium itself is beautiful.

Watch on the Old Port the sale of fresh fish just caught on the early morning… Or just go to the beach...

If you're foodies, eat a BOUILLABAISSE, or seafood (Toinou's is my favourite, within a short walk from the Old Port.)

I hope you may see Marseille with a little bit of the loving Maseillan eye!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember the post you were talking about, I took it from a different perspective, I took it that the ports did not want the cruise ships to visit, I specifically remember Barcelona and Venice. Not that we didn't want to visit the ports.

We went to most of the Western Mediterranean in 2016 on Harmony and loved all of them, Marseille being one of them, from a historical perspective Marseille was one of the best to visit, we didn't make it out of the city to visit any of the areas you mentioned but it was beautiful, there was even a transit strike demonstration/march going on the day we were there that we had to dodge around but did not have any issues seeing the sites we wanted to see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We went to  NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE by local bus and don't know they have a little train take you there until we already up and down.  NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE was beautiful and the view up there was amazing. One thing I dislike is the port is so far away from the town. Really expensive transfer from the port to town with cruise ship. I suggest to take a taxi instead. Travel alone the transfer would be cheaper but if you have more than one person in you group then taxi will be better choice. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...