Thursday 19th October 2017

Armed with the tickets we sourced the previous day we set off to Istres station to get the train down to Marseille, the second largest city in France. On arrival at the station, the door was firmly locked and notices posted that it was due to the strike. Luckily we noticed a local gent squeezing through a side gate onto the platform and we followed with minutes to spare for our train arrival. The train ride was smooth and, in places, had some excellent views over small towns next to the Mediterranean Sea. We arrived at Marseille-Saint-Charles station and made our way down to the Old Port, one of the things we had decided to see on our short visit.

Marseille Old Port

Within minutes of leaving the station we witnessed a fist fight between a shop worker and an irate chap outside a phone shop. Making our way to the port we passed piles of rubbish in the streets. Very soon after about four or five police vehicles streamed past and surrounded another store. Not a good start to our big city visit. On reaching the Old Port the atmosphere changed and we stopped for a lovely lunch and a beer before wandering past the Town Hall to find the Petit Train.

The Town Hall

We boarded the Petit Train to travel up to the Notre-Dame de la Garde, the city’s best-known symbol.

Petit Train

Notre-Dame de la Garde

Notre-Dame de la Garde is a Roman Catholic basilica, completed in 1864. It towers over the city and can be seen for miles at around. The interior is stunning.

Notre-Dame de la Garde Basilica Interior

Impressive Ceiling

There are views of all the city from outside the basilica including the old & new ports.

New Port

Old Port

After a brief 25 minute tour we hurried back to join the fun train back down to the city.

Le Petit Train

We made our way back to the station for the return rail trip to Istres. As the ride progressed it grew steadily darker and we watched a large cruise liner slowly drift off into the Mediterranean as night fell.

Marseille brought home to us that we are not really big city fans. You can only ever brush the surface of what there is to see, and quite often you get to see and feel the darker side of the city in the surrounding streets. I don’t think we’ll be rushing back.

Wednesday 18th October 2017

We needed to check out the locality of the train station, to take Le Train Côte Bleue into Marseille, as well as parking facilities. Our host at the camp had suggested we use Istres station, which was just a little north of our site.

We had read that there was a train strike on 18th & 19th October with limited journey times, so thought best to check out our options.

French rail network is very susceptible to strikes, delays and cancellations, so always check your travel arrangements prior to departure.

Using our Franglais we managed to purchase our tickets for Thursday. (Timed tickets for each journey).

Tickets sorted, we made our way to Martigues. We had read that due to the charm of its canals, bridges and islands, it is also known as the Venise Provençale.

Martigues

Using our trusty Google map app, we found a car park and started to walk towards one of the quays. We hadn’t gone far, when two fire tenders, with sirens blaring, pulled up at one of the buildings.

The traffic wasn’t going anywhere, especially as a large coach now had no possible way of passing the emergency vehicles and was holding up all the lunch time traffic! The noise of car horns was deafening and the lengthy queue of traffic just appeared to mushroom in all directions. Axe in hand, a fireman made his way up one of the ladders and began hacking at the window shutters. Time to make a hasty retreat.

Fireman to the rescue

Boy, were we glad we had made it into the car park when we did!

We began by walking along the Quai des Girondins. In the distance we could make out the rather towering sight of the Viaduc de Martigues. It is the autoroute A55.

Viaduc Martigues

Along the quay side were numerous restaurants which made choosing one for lunch challenging. Each was advertising a wonderful ‘menu du jour’, on typical chalkboards.

We had taken to using Trip Advisor to help with our decision making, and went with  Les Terrasses. A nice table for two in the sun. Perfect!

Stuffed ravioli to start and entrecôte steak with Roquefort sauce & frites for Ray. Squid in aioli & mussels for me. Yum! We were not disappointed.

Lunch!

Our only plan following lunch was to take a stroll in the late autumn sun,  along the quays and waterways, through the cobbled streets and squares.

Martigues l’Iles

Leaving the quay on the north of the island known as  Ferrières we made our way onto the central island (L’Île). We wandered down the Rue de la Republique pausing briefly to peek inside the large open L’Eglise de Sainte Madeleine. Neither of us are religious, but we are always in awe of the interiors and exteriors of the many churches we encounter.

L’Eglise de Sainte Madeleine.

Leaving the church we passed over the Canal Saint Sebastien and spotted a most picturesque quarter, known as Le  Miroir aux oiseaux.

Miroir aux oiseaux

Here were quaint pastel coloured dwellings, former houses of the local fishermen, with a variety of pavement cafés, bars and restaurants. Truly a peaceful and picturesque spot.

We then followed the quai des Anglais, where many anglers were hoping for a catch and the large palms graced the pavements. We watched the local shuttle boat pass by and head towards the south of the town, Jonquiéres.

We then looped back around L’Île, admiring even more boats and imagined dining at one of the quayside restaurants in the evening.

Quai des Anglais

Whilst we were walking we spotted an incredibly large jellyfish in the clear waters near the bank and were thankful we were not bathing at the time.

Impressive Jellyfish

Later we made our way over the drawbridge towards Jonquiéres as we were here. There was a very large car park and lots of markets and shops in a maze of streets and pedestrian zones, if you enjoy that sort of thing.