We only get a few hours in a particular place on a cruise. We arrived in Marseille, France around 8:30 a.m. and we were back on the ship around 5 p.m. There were several tours available and we elected to do the Marseille City Tour. We boarded a bus with a tour guide and drove around Marseille to see some of the city highlights. We stopped at the Notre Dame Basilica for a short visit and then had about a half-hour for souvenier shopping. The result was an overview of the city and not much more.<\/p>\n
There wasn’t much about the city that would cause me to go back there on purpose. It is a huge seaport and consequently a very important commercial place. I was surprised to learn that Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris. I knew that Marseille was the gateway to France’s African colonies, Algeria in particular, and that a lot of goods passed through the port. The book The Bourne Identity<\/em> had it’s beginning in Marseille. I didn’t know much more than that and, even after visiting the city, I still don’t know much more than that. The downtown area is pretty run down. The city is putting in a new tram system so there was construction everywhere and that probably contributed to the run down look of the city.<\/p>\n Tourism, particularly French tourism is important to the city. The beaches are an important draw and lots of French take their summer holiday in this part of the country. I didn’t see much that would draw American tourists — particularly with Monaco so close. I did take several pictures in Marseille and have put them up on the website. I was happy that we stopped here at the beginning of the cruise since each successive port of call was better than the previous. As I said in a previous post, I’m glad we weren’t doing things in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We only get a few hours in a particular place on a cruise. We arrived in Marseille, France around 8:30 a.m. and we were back on the ship around 5 p.m. There were several tours available and we elected to do the Marseille City Tour. We boarded a bus with a tour guide and drove … Continue reading Marseille, France<\/span>