Marseille, France

After saying farewell to Italy for the final time on this trip, our next port of call was Marseille, France. Mum came down with a fever and sore throat courtesy of our rain-drenched trip on the open-top bus in Rome. As she was really looking forward to our tour in the next port of call and because she had been to Marseille before she opted to remain on the ship to try and recover quickly. This left me to set off on our tour by myself which I must admit was okay after more than 4 months of constant togetherness! The traffic in Marseille was horrendous and we spent much of our tour at a stand-still. The city is very pretty though and it was interesting just to watch the passing scene. From across the harbour we could see the Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica perched high on the hill and we slowly made our way in that direction. When we arrived we were told it was 120 steps to the basilica, but it actually turned out to be 240 – somebody needs to learn how to count! Still, it was worth every step as the basilica was quite spectacular and there was a 360 degree view of the city below and out over the famous Chateau d'If, the setting for Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo. After being given ample time to wander on our own it was back down the stairs and onto the bus where we slowly made our way back to the old port, passing the beautiful Palais Longchamp along the way. Once back at the old port we were given 30 minutes to shop for souvenirs. I took a little walk up to the opera house and poked around some of the side streets while enjoying the lovely weather. It's a shame the traffic prevented us from seeing a little more of the city, but it was a pleasant enough way to spend a few hours!