Sight Seeing in Marseille
After my morning blog session, after brekkie with my host, Sandra, I was off to hire a bike again and ride into the city. It's a great cycle ride, most of it right by the coast, which makes most of it very flat.
Coastal Bike Ride
The impression I got from second hand accounts before coming here was that Marseille was not one of the most attractive cities in France, but I disagree. For all Paris' grandeur, Lyon's river confluence and old town and Bordeaux's magnificent embankment on the Garonne, none of them has such a spectacular coast line etching out the city's border. After today, my vote would be with Marseille as the most beautiful of France's big cities.
On my way I stopped for a bag of apricots. Best in der verld, lele jane!
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| The apricots here are so juicy |
There's also some pretty impressive monuments on the corniche too.
After about an hour, taking in nice and slowly, I dropped the bike off near the old port and walked down to a brasserie where I'd arranged to meet Keith a Scottish football fan I'd met the first time I was in Marseille, and his friend Chris.
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| Bike dropped off - beep beep |
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| At the Old Port |
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| Never seen so many boats |
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| The magnificent Bascilica de Notre Damme de Garde - next destination |
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| Rendez-vous avec les ecosses |
Bascilica de Notre Damme de Garde
The Bascillica de Notre Damme de Garde is literally the stand-out sight to see in Marseille. It's quite a trek to walk there even if, from the Vieux Port, you can see that it is clearly not far away. The problem is the steep incline you have to walk up to get to it.The views though, as they say, are worth it. Magnificient 360 degree views of all of Marseille, like a 3D map stretched out before you.
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| Almost heart-attack material, this! |
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| Views well worth it once you get to the top |
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| Fantastic Velodrome - where I'll be tomorrow night |
The bascillica itself is incredibly beautiful on the inside too.
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| Beautiful alter and roof |
The walk down was much easier. I headed for a restaurant that TripAdvisor assured me would be open, but wasn't. I'll never trust them on that ever again. So, anticipating a night of Carlsberg at the Fan Park later, I went back to the craft beer shop I'd visited four weeks ago to buy a sample of local nectar.
I caught the metro and bus back here and did a bit of internetting whilst supping a few beers and eating a pizza Sandra had kindly made for me.
Then, it was match time.
My AirBnB location was carefully chosen for proximity to the Parc des Calanques, the Fan Park and the Velodrome, as well as being next to the beach. So it was just a 35 minutes slow walk for me to get there. I stopped off for a Quick Burger on the way - again, because couldn't face eating the boring rubbish they serve at UEFA events.
The hot dogs are of the lowest quality imaginable and there is almost no choice. 6 Euros 50 cents for 300 cl of Carlsberg 0.5% has to be the biggest rip off ever foisted on gullible football fans. No thanks!
The timing of my walk to the fanzone was perfect. Literally as I approached the corner of the park I say Keith and Chris, my kilted Scottish friends, approaching from the right.
We went in and (against my will, they forced me, honest!) bought some of the ridiculous plastic tokens you have to exchange for beers.
Portugal 2 Wales 0
This was by far the biggest night in Welsh football history. The Semi Finals of the Euros - who would have thought it? Not me. And, as they were playing Portugal, undoubtedly the weakest of the other three teams left, there was the distinct possibility they could make it to the final.
The match was billed as Gareth Bale v Cristiano Ronaldo, the two Real Madrid stars. Unfortunately for Wales, Aaron Ramsey missed the game through suspension but in the first half they more than held their own. If anything, Wales looked more likely to score.
For much of the half time break and into the second half I chatted to another Scott, Andy. He told me he's had middle ear problems for four years now. Blimey, I remember having a spell of vertigo for about three days after an some water got in there after snorkelling. It was horrible. A constant feeling of sea sickness, head spinning and dizzyness. I remember thinking that if this doesn't end soon, I'd go mad. Luckily a visit to the doctors sorted it out - just by orientating one's head in different positions and then moving to another position. The ????? maneuver. So to think poor Andy's had that for four years doesn't bear thinking about.
Andy, like the two other Scots I was with, knows his football. I was particularly impressed, for instance, that he not only had heard of Perth Glory's star Diego Costa, but knew he'd played for Getafe in La Liga in Spain. Talking of football in Spain, the news had broken earlier that world super star, Leonel Messi was going to be jailed for 21 months for tax evasion. Honestly, how greedy can someone be? Messi has earned millions in his long career, does he (and his father) not think they owe it to the people who support him to pay his fair share of taxes. Keith thinks he'll get away with it and, knowing this corrupt world we live in, he's probably right.
There seemed to me more Scots then Welsh in the fanzone and I didn't see anyone else wearing a Wales shirt other than me.
And just after half time, when Cristiano Ronaldo put Portugal in front with a powerful header (you have to feel sorry for the Welsh defence given the task of trying to mark him) much of the crowd went crazy. There was a lot of support for Portugal there. Tragically for Wales, the lead was doubled just two minutes later when a deflection sent the Welsh goalkeeper struggling.
Wales never really threatened to come back after that and Bale was, to be honest, disappointing. There was no doubt which of the Real Madrid stars had a better game.
For much of the half time break and into the second half I chatted to another Scott, Andy. He told me he's had middle ear problems for four years now. Blimey, I remember having a spell of vertigo for about three days after an some water got in there after snorkelling. It was horrible. A constant feeling of sea sickness, head spinning and dizzyness. I remember thinking that if this doesn't end soon, I'd go mad. Luckily a visit to the doctors sorted it out - just by orientating one's head in different positions and then moving to another position. The ????? maneuver. So to think poor Andy's had that for four years doesn't bear thinking about.
Andy, like the two other Scots I was with, knows his football. I was particularly impressed, for instance, that he not only had heard of Perth Glory's star Diego Costa, but knew he'd played for Getafe in La Liga in Spain. Talking of football in Spain, the news had broken earlier that world super star, Leonel Messi was going to be jailed for 21 months for tax evasion. Honestly, how greedy can someone be? Messi has earned millions in his long career, does he (and his father) not think they owe it to the people who support him to pay his fair share of taxes. Keith thinks he'll get away with it and, knowing this corrupt world we live in, he's probably right.
There seemed to me more Scots then Welsh in the fanzone and I didn't see anyone else wearing a Wales shirt other than me.
And just after half time, when Cristiano Ronaldo put Portugal in front with a powerful header (you have to feel sorry for the Welsh defence given the task of trying to mark him) much of the crowd went crazy. There was a lot of support for Portugal there. Tragically for Wales, the lead was doubled just two minutes later when a deflection sent the Welsh goalkeeper struggling.
Wales never really threatened to come back after that and Bale was, to be honest, disappointing. There was no doubt which of the Real Madrid stars had a better game.
So it's all over for brave Wales. Still, what a performance to reach the semis. I can't help feeling jealous. If only England hadn't let themselves down again...
After the match I walked through a sea of happy Portuguese fans and headed to the Red Lion bar for a pint. I ended up sitting with a table of local French people and, after discussing the match just gone and the one to follow, you'll never guess what subject came up... yep. Brexit!
The one who spoke best English had spent a year working in England and she has many English friends so she told me how sad and shocked she was when the news of the referendum came in. What are you supposed to say to that, "Leave" voters?
"We wanted control back" ?
"We are sick of bloody foreigners" ?
I went through a period, after the England exit to Iceland, of thinking that maybe I had over-reacted a little to the news but I must say I am now back to square one in thinking that it is a shameful disgrace and a disaster.
The one who spoke best English had spent a year working in England and she has many English friends so she told me how sad and shocked she was when the news of the referendum came in. What are you supposed to say to that, "Leave" voters?
"We wanted control back" ?
"We are sick of bloody foreigners" ?
I went through a period, after the England exit to Iceland, of thinking that maybe I had over-reacted a little to the news but I must say I am now back to square one in thinking that it is a shameful disgrace and a disaster.
Aljice
Marseille
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