Marseilles, Notre Dame de la Gardes, and more home cooking

We woke up to more noise than we have had on weekdays.  It seemed that everyone was up and visiting or strolling around the square in our little town.  There was a little boy on a 3-wheeled contraption sort of a cross between a tricycle and a big wheel who was going up and down the cobblestone street making the happiest racket.  We looked out and there were two guys leading two donkeys down the middle of the street.  The old guys were sitting out drinking beer and pastis at 9:00 in the morning, then there was the well-dressed couple walking their dog.  People were walking by carrying a baguette from the little market up the street.  We loved just watching the neighborhood.

After breakfast, we drove down to Marseilles.  We had been warned to take the train, but decided to drive anyway.  Marseilles has been designated as the European City of Culture for 2013, so they have all sorts of exhibits down by the port and have done lots of sprucing up of the city.  Marseilles is France’s second largest city with a population of over 850,000.  Its inhabitants are a very multicultural blend of North Africans, Algerians, French, Italians, and just about every other nationality around. The majority of residents are Catholic with the Muslim and Jewish religions coming in second and third.

It is only a little over an hour to Marseilles, so we set out.  We drove down by the port, saw the exhibition buildings, but could not find a parking place anywhere.  We even drove side streets several blocks away.  As usual, the French are creative in how they park, and cars were parked on sidewalks, frontwards, backwards, and sideways in any spot that even looked like a car could get there.  We finally decided that we would just go up to the big basilica on the tallest mountain in the city.

The Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde can be seen from all over the city.  It has a tall spire with a golden statue of the Madonna and child that is 27 feet tall.  It was built in 1864 on the site of a church built in the 1200s.  There is a Romanesque lower church called the crypt built into the rock itself, and then the newer church was built on top of that.  

The church itself is built of French limestone and is in a pattern of horizontal stripes much like Italian churches we have seen.  There are actually two churches in Marseilles with this striped pattern.  We drove by the lower one, but did not go in.

The road leading up to the top of the mountain is narrow, one way, and steep.  It makes San Francisco hills look like baby slopes. 

 We saw parking lots half way down with people walking up toward the top.  I knew I could not walk that far, so we decided to just drive up as far as we could go and take photos and leave.  As it turns out, there are more parking lots near the top that had parking places…we think that people just didn’t know about them and stopped lower down.  Anyway, we parked the car and then realized that there are steps like those at Sacre Coeur leading on to the top.  This was just the first set.

Once at the top, there are more steps to get into the sanctuary of the church.  There was a service going on when we got inside, so we stood and listened to the singing and to one of the prayers.  Leon said he understood one word and that was Amen.  I took some photos of the ceiling and front that we could see from the back of the church, we lit a candle, and went outside. 

 The golden mosaics on the ceiling were fabulous.  There were  model ships hanging all over.  This is the church that sailors give offerings to for safe travels.  The striped arches reminded us of the Mezquita in Cordoba, Spain.

The tile floor wasn't bad either.

There is a wide walkway all the way around the church that has fabulous views of the city.  We had a much better view than we had when we were driving right down at the port. 

There were sailboats in the harbor, but they were right in line with the sun.  I tried to get some photos, but they did not turn out too well.  Sometimes I wish I had a camera that just took a photo of what I was seeing instead of trying to adjust the light the way it thinks it ought to be.

We walked completely around the church and took photos of the city on every side. 

 It is really beautiful down by the port and in the areas they have worked on, but we drove through some pretty gritty parts of town to get there.  I didn’t take any photos, but it reminded me of Harlem in New York with potholes, broken sidewalks, and people who looked down on their luck…mostly North Africans and Arabs.

We programmed Helen to take us back home and made it out of town with only a few minor glitches.  We came back to the apartment, went up to put a load of laundry in, and started supper.  Tonight I roasted some chicken, made some sliced potatoes baked with butter, our wonderful mache/tomato salad, and the good bread.  We even got out some of our strawberry jam to put on the bread.  We sure don’t want to leave any of that good jam behind!

Another bottle of the new wine tonight.  Yum!