We opted to take an earlier, but slower train, instead of braving the rain here in Marseille. But overall, we had a great first vacation — after having only worked a couple of weeks! God bless the French! This was our first stop en route to Corsica. After taking a breather Becks took a quick nap, while I did my blogging for Salon , we headed out to visit the city. But Marseille, to me, remained a big urban unknown.
Heck, you can take ferrys from here to Algeria! We headed out for the Vieux Port, which I assume was, at one time, the central location for maritime activity in Marseille, with ferrys and fisherman navigating around one another.
The ferry terminal has since moved out of the bay, perhaps a minute walk away. The Algeria, Corsica and Italy-bound ferries loom large poised to head over the horizon. The functioning commercial port has moved north, and the dock cranes all well out of view of the tourists like us. After tiptoeing around fancy seafood restaurants, we settled for lunch at a decent Lebanese restaurant for a quick bite, and made our way up into the hills south of the Vieux Port — walking around, of all things, a mini-festival sponsored by the Pages Jaunes, the French yellow pages.
After passing by a Corsican restaurant, we stopped for a quick coffee served on a plate of slate only one euro per coffee before 16h00! A short walk further down the Vieux Port, we climbed up the hill atop which Fort St. Nicolas sits, one of two forts that used to guard the city against all invaders. After the fort, we hit the waterside park nearby where we took it easy, overlooking the Mediterranean. It was here that I actually bothered to read about Corsica, courtesy of our Lonely Planet book.
Well, you can learn a lot simply by looking at the Corsican flag: the head of a black man a Moor , to be specific in profile, with a white headband looking longingly to the sea, or possibly to the future. The story goes that the headband used to be covering his eyes, but with Corsican enlightenment and independence, he now can see. The Moors, of course, at one point, were neighbors to the Corsicans, and at some point, likely tried to raid or invade this mountainous island that only houses , people today.
