Marseille

We arrived at the bus terminal in Marseille around noon. The plan was to take the metro and then take a bus to the top of the hill to see Notre Dame de la Garde.

We did take the metro, but we did not take the bus. What we thought was a bus route, was the walking route, or rather, the hiking route. It took us about an hour to reach the top, but we did stop off for small cakes and coffee (and to catch our breath).

Here is a view of Marseille from Notre Dame de la Garde. It was worth the hike.

Here is the dome, but the cathedral was too big to get a picture of it in its entirety once we were at the top of the hill. It is one of the better cathedrals we've seen. Similar in style (though not scale) to the Florence Duomo. I really liked it. 

Another view of Marseille. The cathedral is surrounded by rocky cliffs with trails zigzagging through them. If it hadn't been so hot, I'm sure we would have explored the trails. Another day. 

We did take the bus down the hill, but the bus stopped prematurely. This was the second time a bus driver told us he couldn't take us to the old port (vieux port). If we understood French better, we would have realized this was due to a huge pride parade going on that day. A similar thing happened to us in Paris.

Kyri rocked out to the parade music -Bruno Mars' "I feel like I've been locked out of Heaven."

There are sculptures throughout the old port. 

Rivi felt it necessary to plug Picasso's ears from the city noise.

Wire dress inside a very welcome air conditioned gallery.

The a/c was to keep the candle statue from melting. 

Crayon de couleur

Dauphin

View of vieux port with Notre Dame de la Garde in the background.

Refreshing Fish fountain. 

You can always count on a fountain around the corner to cool off.

We will definitely go back to Marseille for further exploration. 

It's a big city and we only skimmed the surface.