What to do in Marseille

[travbee]

Our cruise stops in Marseille. Any suggestion on which tour to do there? Also if we don't do a tour does the ship dock close to town or is there a shuttle to take into the city? Thanks,

 

Barbara

[rich_cathybrock]

When in Marseille last October, we engaged the services of a private tour operator to take us to Avignon, which is the city that the Papacy relocated to in the 1300's. It was a fascinating segue since we saw so much Chritsian Heritage (Western Europe trip wtih stops at Florence, Rome, etc). If you'd like the name of the tour operator, email me at rich_cathybrock@msn.com and I will pass the information on to you. Alternatively, Marseille can be explored through a ship's tour (you will nto be able to walk to the main part of the city from the ship). Enjoy!

[tom_uk]

We visited Marseilles last May on MSC Sinfonia. We had an excellent day.

 

In the morning we took an excursion to Cassis, a small port/harbour village some miles east of Marseilles. We really liked this place: beautiful sea, harbour, small village/town around the harbour, harbour-side cafes, etc. No great 'attraction' there, just very beautiful & quite peaceful. A place to have a lazy couple of hours.

 

Then after getting back to the ship, we went back into Marseilles on the shuttle bus (the cruise port is some kilometres from the centre), and had lunch at a cafe alongside the Vieux Port. Then a short stoll around that vieux port, followed by a drink in another cafe.... an excellent lazy day.

[English Jane]

The centre harbour area is quite sweet and worth an hour to wander around the stalls of fresh fish and local produce. As soon as you go back into the side streets it is a run down and quite disadvantaged place. It is sad that it is the areas with the large numbers of people of North African origin that are so poor. We saw what seemed to be a market in the distance - when we walked closer, we realised that the people were selling items that I wouldn't even consider giving to a charity shop. I found it quite a useful reminder of how lucky reminder of how lucky we were to be taking this fantastic cruise. If I were to visit this port again, I would take a tour of the areas of countryside behind Marseille.

Jane

x

[doctrd]

I have not been yet, but I looked at where Princess excursions seemed to go. The first tour listed is tour of Avignon. Did a little research, and looks like a nice place to visit.

Here is a website with some informaion. If you have a highspeed connection, click on the 'video' tab. I'ts a video of a small train than goes thru the town...looks good for those tired feet.

 

http://www.petittrainavignon.com/10fotos.html

 

We are using a recommended guide from Providence Tours. Less expensive for our group than Princess excursion.

 

http://www.provence-travel.com/provence/fichiers/aboutus.html

[Hlitner]

There are two basic possibilites with this port. For a relatively simple inexpensive day you can simply take the shuttle bus into town (the ship will dock a few miles outside of town in the commercial port) and walk around, have lunch somewhere near the Vieux Port (old port), possibly take a boat out to a nearby island (used for the Count of Monte Cristo), and just soak up the local atmosphere. However, most look at Marseille as the gateway to nearby Provence. It is possible to go to Avignon, Arles or Aix en Provence by train or tour. You could also just rent a car and explore the region on your own. Which option is best really is one of those personal decisions. We have spent many weeks exploring Provence (by car) and the problem is that you are really limited in what you can see on a short day trip. Avignon is a great city to spend on an overnight trip (it comes alive after dark), but during the day you are limited to shopping and looking at the old pope palace. Arles has an interesting Roman theater (still used today( and Aix has a beautiful tree-lined avenue. My only advice is that if you do go off into Provence, try to slow down, see a little less, and give yourself enough time to truly soak-up the wonderful southern France atmosphere.

 

Hank

[atlanta99]

Interesting thing to watch out for in Marseilles. They have strikes ("greves" or "manifestations" in French) very frequently. When we were there last October, we wanted to go up to Avignon (beautiful town and interesting Palais des Papes) and Les Baux (charming, but slightly touristy hilltop castle town with great shopping, interesting medieval castle and rather unique caves with medieval music and paintings displayed on the walls and floors of the caves).

 

Anyway, we were debating renting our own car or hiring a taxi for the day. If we had rented our own car we would have needed to return it back to the main train station in the center of town. Fortunately, we decided at the last minute to just hire a taxi. On our way back from Provence, about 30 minutes outside of Marseilles, the driver heard on the radio that there was a massive transit strike taking place in the city center--the buses had stopped running and the bus drivers had actually blocked off the roads in town by turning their buses sideways across the roads. Our driver was able to take us directly to the ship (fortunately docked just outside Marseilles instead of in the city center) instead of the Old Port area where we had picked him up and where the shuttle from the ship dropped us off.

 

Later that night we heard literal horror stories from people who were just wandering around the Old Port area all morning and then found out that the shuttle buses would not be running back from the Old Port to the ship after 2pm because of the strike. Apparently there was plenty of pushing and shoving as people scrambled to get on the "last bus out of town" or to grab taxis before there was no way out of town except a very very long walk.

 

Moral: When in Marseilles, confirm whether or not a strike is planned that day. Otherwise, enjoy!