Greetings from Marseille

...where Paul and I arrived mid-morning after an overnight flight and connection through Frankfurt (which was quite turbulent for a while and then we were flying with a perfectly clear view of the Irish coast, Cardiff, Bristol, London, and parts of Belgium and Germany, so we got almost no sleep). So this will be a short-on-comments picture post, whereas other days in Provence it may be hard to post photos so it will be all talky! In general we had stunning sunny weather, were well fed on both flights, and were able either to make ourselves understood in bad French or to find people who speak English, so it's all been great!


Here is a lovely if slightly hazy view of the Basilica above the ancient port area of Marseille.


We visited the Musée des Docks Romains, the archaeological site of an ancient Roman shipping warehouse.


Then, after a wonderful waterside lunch at Le Souk, we took les petits trains de Marseille through the historic shopping district and past the island prison...


...to the neo-Byzantine Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, which sits high above the city and celebrates its mariners as well as locally born saints.


It's a great place to take a photo of the whole city.


Here it is through the spokes of the Marina Ferris Wheel.


We were going to have crepes for dinner, not being ravenous after lunch, but all the streetside places were closed by early evening, so we wound up at Rafael having excellent wine and cheese...


...while this was the view at the Plage de la Pointe Rouge across the street!