Trifter

Marseilles, the Grand Dame of the Mediterranean. Any time of year’s good there, but Spring and Autumn are best. Night time of course is spent in café’s, bars and restaurants, but the long afternoons can be a bit hard to fill unless you go out of town to the beaches. Staying in the city though, especially if you’re weary, there is one excellent way of having interesting things pass before your eyes without putting in too much effort – the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. Most big cities have them and the clue is in the title.

Buy a ticket that lasts 24 hours and you can ride the bus as often as you want. There are about 14 stops along the route and you can get off at any of them and join the bus the next time it comes by that way. Excellent value. The problem with the tour round Marseilles is that there aren’t very many interesting places to stop, but the ride itself is worthwhile.

The ride begins at the Old Port. It’s worth taking time to sit in a café for a while here, reading a book, watching the life around the waterside. The bus sticks to the road along the coast for the first while with good views from the upper deck. Then it heads inland heading up a very steep hill on top of which a Church, Notre Dame de la Garde, supports a statue of Mary and Jesus who are supposed to keep watch over the city below. Unfortunately the statues didn’t make a very good job of it during the war.

The Church is probably the only stop worth getting out at, not for the sake of the edifice itself, but for the amazing view out over the city and the bay. The golden baby Jesus is of quite improbable dimensions. The representation of him and his mother is fairly repugnant and the Church rather tacky, but all the technical details can be had from the various notice boards, and visitors have ample opportunity of donating as many Euros as they please.

But the view. Out in the bay are the islands that can be visited by boat from the Old Port, but maybe it’s worth getting a look at them from the hill top first. One of them is home to the prison made famous in Alexander Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo, or was it the Man in the Iron Mask. Whichever. All that you see from the vantage point is fair food for a lively imagination. Spend as much time as you wish here and get the bus on back to the Old Port when you’ve done.

It’s a lovely way to see Marseilles. One of the other advantages of this ride is that the passing traveler gets to be amazed at the oddness of so many strangely designed houses that have been squeezed onto the steep slope of the hill. You can fantasize about which one you’ll buy to retire to.

Then there’s the whole history of the place to get into as well. The running commentary brings the travelers up to speed on who held power and for how long right up to the present day. Loads of information on the war time Resistance, the destruction during the 39-45 war and the subsequent re-building.

It’s a trip worth taking, and the Old Port will still be there when you get back, with the cafes, bars and restaurants to take care of the evening itinerary.