Olympics – Marseille

Now that I’m retired, I can finally catch up on my photo editing and blog posts! Here’s the first from our adventures in France for the Olympics.

Ben and I are at the Paris Olympics. We’re visiting 3 places – Marseille, Paris, and Lille. It’s our first time in Marseille, and we have plenty of time to explore. The only match we planned on seeing was the women’s US soccer match vs. Germany. Turns out there were plenty of tickets available to the men’s soccer match vs. New Zealand, so we bought tickets to that match as well. The US men did well, they won 4-1. I found out that most men’s teams, if not all, select the top players under 23 to play in the Olympics. The up-and-comers if you will. That helps the US have a chance each match. 😉

We’re pretty sure there were more French spectators there than any from US or New Zealand. =)

There’s a lot to see in Marseille, much of it in a walkable area. I got to visit Cannes as a midn on a summer cruise with the Roosevelt. Marseille is much bigger than Cannes with different architecture. Our first day exploring, we walked down a few streets Google Maps told us were “notable.” I don’t know what that means exactly, but I’m guessing it means they’re ones maps tracks more people. The streets were full of cafes and shops. We started with the Escaliers du Cours Julien which took us to a market area.

From there, we saw the spires of a gothic-style church, so we headed in that direction. The St. Vincent de Paul church was built between 1855 and 1886.

The church sits adjacent to La Canebiere, another “notable” street. We headed down Canebiere towards Old Port.

The port area is a busy tourist area. There are hundreds of boats in the marinas. How were so many boats not out on the beautiful summer Friday!?! I saw 2 boats underway that weren’t cruise ships or tourist boats. We passed several older wooden boats moored on display along the seawall. There wasn’t much information about them, only signs with their names and a few design characteristics.

I learn so much from those around us. Pat Clark – you keyed me into HDR and bracketing on my camera. It has opened up landscape photography so much more for me. Thank you! Here’s a panoramic HDR of the old port. I like that I can take photos in a more natural perspective and remove distortion created with wide angle lenses when I’m trying to capture a larger area.

On the southern shore of the harbor entrance is the Marseille Citadel, or Saint-Nicolas Fort. King Louis XIV had it built in 1660 to expand the fort Saint-Jean, which sits on the northern shore. It has beautiful views of the city. These views were part of the reason it was sited there – it allowed the king’s army to watch over the rebellious city and guard against any attacks. (This may be the first fort I’ve visited that was built to protect against the city!) The citadel was surrendered to the people during the French Revolution in 1790.

We headed to the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde on our 2nd day exploring. We took a bus as it sits on top of a big hill. It took 9 years to build, construction finishing in 1864, though the site has been home to a small chapel and sanctuary since 1214. The Basilica is known as the “Good Mother” in Marseille and watches over sailors, fishermen, and the people of Marseille.

The next day we headed back toward the Old Port to check out the other side of the harbor. There is an arch in Marseille, Porte d’Aix, a smaller version of the ones in Paris and NYC.

From there, we walked back towards the Old Port. We came across some ruins roped off, surrounded by buildings. It’s a portion of the aqueduct from Roman times.

As we continued down that street, we came upon the Marseille History Museum which had ruins in the front and what looked like an archaeological dig. We couldn’t explore outside, they didn’t let you wander. I took photos from the path into the museum. The ruins there dated back to the 2nd century BCE. The Romans attacked in 49 BCE, taking over the city.

If I understood the info panel correctly, this ship dated back to 600-300 BCE from the Greeks.

We walked along the other side of the Old Port around Fort Saint-Jean. I walked around taking photos while Ben checked out the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean. It’s a beautiful building and has a walkway to the Fort.

We had the women’s game that evening, against Germany. It was a good game; the ladies played well. These were the first tickets we bought for the Olympics. We knew these would be popular matches that could sell out quickly. I guess they released “box” seats first. It was a separate area, but no free food. It was nice to have comfy seats, but the bathrooms and snack areas weren’t enough for the number of people.