Day 2 in Marseille

As forecast, a bank holiday in Marseille means that there are lots of people out and about, a limited number of shops open and little opportunity for sorting the problem of finding accommodation for tomorrow night. At this point I was only aware of potential hotel rooms at €80+ for the night in the city, although by the end of the day I had the names of some cheaper hotels to look for. All the cheaper hotel and hostel accommodation had gone for the Friday night long before I arrived in Marseille. Anyway this morning I put this thorny problem to the back of my mind for a while and concentrated on exploring Marseille.

Notre Dame Cathedral

I had a couple of initial plans. I wanted a dictionary, ideally I wanted a map (other than the pocket leaflet from the hostel), and I fancied getting up to highest point around and looking at the whole city from Notre Dame cathedral. I also started to explore the whereabouts of doctor’s surgeries as I need a medical for the new job – vis they don’t exist, you call on the doctor’s residence with an appointment…

Anyway after refreshing my mind with a couple of Pain-au-chocolate from a Boulangerie and a bottle of water from a corner shop I wandered through the main shopping streets and found my way into a Virgin Megastore. They may have fallen under the radar back home, but this was alive and kicking with a choice of multiple dictionaries for sale. A ‘pocket’ –sized model made its way into my pocket for a worthwhile €8.50. Over the course of the day it got multiple usage as I wandered the streets assimilating words via osmosis and looking up how to say phrases that came into my mind. For instance alleyways labelled Monte ____ mean to go up (vis. Stairs!).

View over the 7th Arrondisement to the Ile Frioud

The narrow streets, packed with cars, tall buildings and many shutters reminded my of previous visits to Brussels. Maybe it is a continental style, although I can see the reasoning for the shutters in the summer in terms of keeping the properties cool (see photos). The view from the top of the hill beside Notre Dame was well worth the climb up there, counting steps in French and avoiding being photographed and then having money demanded from me! ( I suspect). The importance of Marseille as a port came back to me as I saw ferries from both Algeria and Tunisia coming and going in the short period I was watching.

A compact boatyard, Marseille-style

Among my wanderings I was particularly taken by two bridges on the coastal road over inlets or valleys. In this built up area the natural contours of the landscape are not so obvious, but here they were and every small corner of land was being used up. In this case beneath each of the bridges, or small viaducts, the ladn was being used for boatyards. Innovative slipways for dragging boats out of the water and separate winches for each mooring spot caught my attention (see photos again). The close-packed nature of the region is most apparent when you view it from above and make the prime residences with gardens stand out.

Back at the Vieux Port (a bigger version of Swansea’s marina only four times the size), it started raining heavily and I took cover alongside my first Bouledrome – pitches for boule – on which a pair of gentlemen continued to play despite the rain. They could see I was appreciative of their sport although no words were exchanged.

My French confidence took a slight battering today as I could make myself understood in a Boulangerie for my tasty lunchtime sandwich, but had no idea how much the lady was asking for. In the end I just held out my handful of change and she took what she wanted. I have a long way to go.

Finally I discovered a shop called Fnac (a cross between Virgin, Waterstones and HMV) and found the local climbing guide to the area. The hand-drawn diagrams look great and the routes seem to be graded from Fr4-6c so there will be plenty within my range. I’ll wait until I have someone to climb with and then buy a copy, dictionary in hand! Maps of the area however appear to vary between a 1:15,000 map of the Calanques and 1:200,000 or worse general maps. I think I’ve been spoilt by the UK series.