We only get a few hours in a particular place on a cruise. We arrived in Marseille, France around 8:30 a.m. and we were back on the ship around 5 p.m. There were several tours available and we elected to do the Marseille City Tour. We boarded a bus with a tour guide and drove around Marseille to see some of the city highlights. We stopped at the Notre Dame Basilica for a short visit and then had about a half-hour for souvenier shopping. The result was an overview of the city and not much more.

There wasn’t much about the city that would cause me to go back there on purpose. It is a huge seaport and consequently a very important commercial place. I was surprised to learn that Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris. I knew that Marseille was the gateway to France’s African colonies, Algeria in particular, and that a lot of goods passed through the port. The book The Bourne Identity had it’s beginning in Marseille. I didn’t know much more than that and, even after visiting the city, I still don’t know much more than that. The downtown area is pretty run down. The city is putting in a new tram system so there was construction everywhere and that probably contributed to the run down look of the city.

Tourism, particularly French tourism is important to the city. The beaches are an important draw and lots of French take their summer holiday in this part of the country. I didn’t see much that would draw American tourists — particularly with Monaco so close. I did take several pictures in Marseille and have put them up on the website. I was happy that we stopped here at the beginning of the cruise since each successive port of call was better than the previous. As I said in a previous post, I’m glad we weren’t doing things in the opposite direction.