Marseille - the city of bouillabaisse, boats and bureaucracy

Marseille. I had never actually been to the city itself, only had been in the airport before these past two days. At first glance, Marseille is a huge city, with numerous arrondisements and windy, narrow alleys. In fact, it is the third largest city outside of Paris and Lyon, in terms of population size. It is also a very dirty city, quite industrialized with loads of graffiti and saying that the people are friendly is putting it nicely - lurking might be a more accurate statement.

We arrived into Marseille St. Charles TGV at 10:30am Wednesday morning. After getting a bit lost and thankfully using Amy's phone to recover a map, we found the hotel. Upon asking when we could check in, they said not until 2:00pm in the afternoon. Quoi?! We didn't want to carry our bags around town with us, so we asked if they could keep them here. We placed them in the breakfast room, noticing that the door was unlocked, so we gladly took our valuables with us.

Then, we walked down to the Vieux Port. This area of the city is not dirty at all, it’s actually quite nice. You can see boat after boat in the harbor lined with café after café, perfect for wasting the day away by basking in the sun and people watching. We chose to eat at one of these cafés for lunch, as one of the plats du jour was mussels, one of my favorites. It came with some deliciously seasoned fries and I topped it off, of course, with an Orangina.

Vieux Port

View from lunch, you can Notre Dame de la Garde on the top of the hill in the background.

MUSSELS. (Yes that warrants all caps)

Then we headed back to the hotel to check in, drop off some stuff and head back to the harbor. We were SO happy to see that we had free Wifi in the hotel for the stay - as we ran out of internet at our apartment back in Apt. That is one problem that has remained persistent in the small town we live in - lack of Wifi and internet connection. I have spent more in internet this month then in rent!

Once we reached the Vieux Port again, we decided to take a boat ride to see the calanques, these wonderful cliff valleys that are partially submerged underwater and can be found on the coast of Marseille. When buying our tickets, both the woman working at the desk and the ticket taker warned us that it was a little venteux, or windy, asking us if we still wanted to go. We said sure, I mean, how bad can it be?

It was pretty bad. I mean I have only got seasick one other time in my life and, although I didn't get sick today, it was pretty close. I have to say that even though it was rocky, the boat was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. With the beautiful sun, constant breeze, crisp blue water (with copious splashes thanks to the harsh wake), and stunning views of the calanques, it was hard not to smile while being thrown around by the waves a little bit.

 

View of Old Port from the boat

Calanques

Amy enjoying the sun!

It is difficult to see but there is a little village of about 15 houses in that valley. Or should I say vacation shacks.

After soaking up the sun, we got a quick scoop at the Haagen-Dazs shop in port before our next adventure. We decided to climb to the highest point in Marseille - Notre Dame de la Garde - which promised stunning panoramic views of Marseille. After a steep hike up several steps, the view we were promised did not disappoint.*

Marseille

It is actually a quite massive city. But look at that hill/mountain in the background!

View of Notre Dame de la Garde on our trek up.

We took a bus back to Old Port (too tired from walking) and decided to sit at a cafe and have the delicacy of Marseille: bouillabaisse. It is kind of like a fish soup, which included mussels, fish, potatoes and a broth. The broth was delicious, and Amy and I agreed that the rest was sub-par compared to the amazing mussels for lunch.

Sub-par fish soup.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, to recover as we were up the next morning for orientation at 7am. Orientation was a long day. In the morning, they took documents for salaire and securité sociale and just explained all of the things we needed to do administratively as assistants getting settled in. This is where I say again: the French have a form for EVERYTHING. Then, we had lunch, made a visit to the Maison de la Region and the American assistants went to the U.S. embassy in Marseille. Which was kind of a big deal. I mean it took a half hour to get through security. And we got to each personally meet the Consulate General. Pretty cool. Something else that was pretty cool: all the amazing assistants I met from my academie. So great to have some new friends close by in many different cities!

However, I noticed firsthand what I have only come to observe from the outside - French bureaucracy is time consuming. They like for everything to be incredibly specific to their standards (in terms of required documents, to filling out a form exactly to a certain tee, to signing your name in the specific format that the French sign it). I don't mind this so much - I am a very detail oriented person. But the thing that really gets me is that they are specific but still take their time to get anything accomplished. I can count numerous times during my orientation day in Marseille where I was standing waiting around for at least 30 minutes waiting for the next presentation, for someone to arrive, or to walk together somewhere as a group. Coming from my "time is precious" mentality, it is really hard for me to get used to this laid back nature of the French's "ça prend du temps" way of thinking. French bureaucracy, nous ne sommes pas les amis!**

After rushing back to Apt by train and bus, Amy and I got in with just enough time to look up things for our pedagogical orientation in Avignon the following morning and to set our clocks for an early 5:30am wake-up. On the way back on the train we decided - we did not like Marseille, and we would never return***. Although it was nice to say we had visited and to tick that city off our lists, it honestly was a city that made me feel quite uneasy - maybe I am a country girl after all!

*There was a little disappointment when we reached the top - the church was closed so we couldn't get panoramic views of the sea, just the city. But still, did you see that view?!

**Translation: we are not friends.

***Only exception is a connection at the train station or to fly out of the airport.