Marceille Day 1

Marseille is France’s second largest cities next to Paris but it also the oldest city in France.  It was founded in 600BC by the Greeks form Phocaea as a trading port.  However, humans have inhabited Marseille for about 30,000 years.  There are Paleolithic cave paintings near calanque which are now underwater because the sea level has risen.  There are also remains of neolithic brick habitations excavated near the railway station dating back to 6000BC.  Following the Greeks, Marseille was occupied by the romans until they retreated back to Italy.  In 1348 Marseille suffered terribly from the bubonic plague which continued up until 1361 and some 15,000 of its 25,000 inhabitants died.  The cities fortunes suffered further when it was sacked and pillaged by the Aragonese in 1423.  The cities population recovered and they built some new city defenses between 1447 and 1453.  Marseille was united with Provence in 1481 and then incorporated in France the following year.  Towards the end of the 16th century Marseille suffered yet another outbreak of plague so the hospital of Hotel-Diew was founded.  In 1720, the last great plague of Marseille killed another 100,000 people.

During the Second World War, Marseille was bombed and occupied by Germans between November 1942 and August 1944.  The old port was bombed in 1944 by the allies to prepare for the liberation of France.  During the 1950’s onwards the port served as an entrance for over 1 million immigrants to France.  They also had a huge influx of Algerians in 1962 and now the city has a French-African quarter with a large market where you can buy sunglasses.  Today, the economy of the city is dominated by a new port, which lies north of the Old Port where 100 million tons of freight pass annually through the port, 60% of which is petroleum.  There is also a refinery plant in Marseille which is France’s leading city of refining oil.  The petroleum is shipped northwards to Paris by pipeline.  Marseille is the most dynamic of France’s large cities with over 72000 companies having been created since 2000.  Marseille is also the melting pot of France where over 40% of young people under 18 are of Magherebis origin (at least one immigrant person).

Marseille has been designated as European Capital of Culture for 2013.  As Jim and Shirley had upgraded to have all inclusive drinks on their cruise, with great success, as we drink more than them I decided to get a price.  It was a total cost of €99 each which I thought was a real bargain as long as we can get served.  I also popped a bottle of vodka and a 3 litre box of red wine in the main case for emergencies.

So far so good, off to a flying start.  Our Flight was full but on time. One hitch that we anticipated was tat Our plane arrived in Marseille about  12.05 but we were supposed to be met by a representative of Costa; none to be seen.  Claire read through the information again and our bus was not due to pick us up until 3.15 leaving us 3 hours hanging around the airport with luggage.  Claire spotted another couple that she thought were in the same position and when she spoke to them they were.  By then we had found that we could follow the signs to halls 1 to 4 and get either a bus or train to the port at a cost of €8.50 each and we still needed a taxi at the other end.  The other couple suggested that we cut out the bus and share a taxi which we did and worked great.  We were first on to the boat at 2pm.

I said to Claire that I could tell by the way that Andy spoke and looked like he was a software engineer.  Claire asked me how on earth I could tell that by looking.  I said, “Did you not watch Jurassic Park?

Anyway, Andy and Jemima had received the same £199 teletext offer that we had but they did not upgrade to a balcony.  When they rang to book the all inclusive package they were told that they had been given an upgrade.  They thought great, a balcony; they were wrong, they had an upgrade to a suite with their very own butler.  We were surprised to have champagne and fruit waiting for us in our room and a really nice cabin with a large balcony.  Were happy, whatever happens.  We went to check in our credit card and register our Costa cars that we found in our room but he had no record of us upgrading to all inclusive.  I showed him our confirmation of payment which I arranged in January but asked me to come back in an hour to see if the system had upgraded itself.

We had a drink in a bar nearby and I was charged €11.55 for a beer and glass of wine.  The lady next to me asked to pay for all inclusive which the waiter did and stuck a sticky onto their Costa card.  I told the barman that we had all inclusive and showed him our confirmation so he stuck some stickies on our cards.  Sorted.  Why couldn’t the first guy have done that?

We had time for a quick shower and another couple of drinks than off to dinner.  Really nice dinner and absolutely no trouble getting wine on our all inclusive package.  We had a great table with a nice waiter and a fabulous meal.  You could have about 5 courses, appetizer, soup, pasta, starter, main and sweet.  Thats 6, well I did say about 5.  I was so impressed with the quality that I tipped our waiter €5 at the end of the meal telling thanking him for looking after us and that we really appreciated it.  Whats the point of tipping at the end of your holiday, they can’t respond to that.  We met our new friends for a few cocktails while Claire had a few dances with random people then it was off to bed for a cuddle.  Our first day couldn’t really have been better and because our cabin is right at the back, we cant see were we are going.  But we can see where we have been.  Tomorrow, Barcelona and a walk up La Ramblas.  I just hope I can get on this wi-fi.