Marseille, another charming town of Côte D'Azur

Marseille is the first city in the French region known as Côte D'Azur, that goes to the border with Italy in the city of Menton, passing through cities like Saint Tropez, Cannes, Nice and other cities, to a country is in this area the Monaco. We were there on a trip we made car leaving Barcelona, Based in Marseille, Nice and Saint-Tropez.

In Marseille we 4 days and 3 nights, that chart also visited the cities of Aix en Provence, Cassis and the wonderful National Park Calanques where are the most beautiful beaches in the area in our opinion.

We were staying in a hotel with a great location, O Aparthotel Adagio Access Marseille Saint Charles, it is next to the train station and bus Marseille and very close to the city harbor, where the main attractions, also we chose this hotel because it had parking for the car we had rented, in addition to be a apartment we had kitchen in the room, which helps to reduce the expenses of the trip with food, because we can do and have breakfast there, plus dining can too if you want.

A very important tip for those who are visiting various attractions of Marseille is buy Marsellha City Pass, out a cheaper price than buy tickets one by one.

Things to Do in Marseille and what are its tourist attractions?

On the first day, We arrived in the afternoon for the trip to Barcelona Marseille are each 550km, We stopped the car at the hotel and went to meet a part of town that is above the port of Marseille, we passed the beautiful train station Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles, which has a lovely view of Notre-Dame de La Garde.

After the station we went to Church St Vincent de Paul (St. Vincent de Paul Church), which is close to the station, a beautiful church inside and out, constructed from 1611 with a chapel (St. Nicholas of Tolentino), in 1868 It was demolished to build the current church in the Gothic style.

On this first day we wanted to meet the Longchamp park, which houses the Longchamp Palace and within it is the Museum Marseille natural history, pity that it was raining that day, the palace was under renovation and by the time we arrived the park was starting to close, but he has to know the beautiful palace and garden that is in front.

As the rain increased and it was almost dark, we went to the hotel early.

In the second day, It was still raining in Marseille, but we have seen that in Aix en Provence the weather was better, so we decided early in the morning after breakfast go to Aix, which is about 40 km from Marseille, good to be car are these things, you can change all the time you want to take advantage of attractions, We spent the morning and early afternoon in Aix, see the post about the city.

We returned in the early afternoon to Marseille, we know the part of the port where the main attractions in Marseille, on the road between the hotel and the port we passed other attractions, one of them was Arch of Triumph in Marseilles, almost as impressive as the one in Paris, just think a little bad because the place was a little dirty, to comment on the France It is not so perfect as Spain for dirt in some cities.

Continuing the tour, we arrived at a beautiful building o La Vieille Charite, a building of the seventeenth century this site was planned to host the poor and beggars city, in the center of the building has a beautiful Baroque chapel.

After a few years the place became a hospital, but many poor people, beggars and lepers were thrown there by police who hunted these people, years later became an asylum.

Finally in the twentieth century it became a museum with several galleries, It does not pay to enter the site, only in some galleries you need a ticket you can pick up at the entrance for free.

In the port of Marseille as we commented, are various sights, a Marseille Cathedral It is a very large cathedral in a square a few meters above the shores of Porto, she is also known as Cathedral de la Major or Sainte-Marie-Majeure Cathedral, built in Byzantine style in the nineteenth century neo, in that same place there was another twelfth-century Cathedral which was in Roman style, some parts of the church are of that time for reasons of protests.

Next to the Cathedral is the Mediterranean village, a very new building that houses a museum on the Mediterranean people, along also is the Mucem Museum of Civilizations European Mediterranean.

The Mucem have access to Fort St. Jean (Fort St John), a walkway linking the museum Strong, but as it rained again we fail to see the place the next morning, and we went to a bar as it had nothing to do with the rain.

On the third day, luckily the weather was beautiful, blue sky and heat, that's why we left this day to discover the paradise National Park Calanques which is between Marseille and Cassis, which are one of the most beautiful beaches in the area, a Vau creek D'en, the park is so nice we did another post just about it.

On the way back we stopped to know beach du prado, the most beautiful city, and I thought that there was no legal beach, this is well beautiful, of course the beaches of the Calanques National Park are the most beautiful, but the beach du Prado has its charm.

On the beach avenue du Prado is where the city buzzes, with many bars and parties, not only we stood there for a few beers, as we were by car and you can not drink and drive, but have city buses there, almost back to the hotel and took the bus but it was already too late.

In the fourth and final day, as in the first and second day we got rain in Marseille, We decided to stretch a bit to stay and stay in the city during the morning of the fourth day, our schedule was to wake up and go Nice in the morning, but we decided to stay the morning in Marseille, and go to late to Nice.

We returned to the port to see again Marseille Cathedral, now with the sun, which makes them even more beautiful photos.

Also we strolled in again MuCEM and no high St. Jean, but both were closed for all Tuesdays two close, only we know out, the Museum and the Fort are beautiful, We took several pictures of the surroundings of the facades from various angles.

There also has a beautiful church, a Saint-Laurent Church, an entire church in stone on top of a mountain, with a beautiful view of the harbor, pity that the church was also closed.

We arrived at the port of Marseille where are many hotels, Restaurants and bars, there also leave boats to various walks by the sea, what stands out is the tour that goes to the ilhas If there has If Castelo, that inspired the film Count of Monte Cristo. The ride there, out next to the Ferris Wheel.

The port has a view of the Notre-Dame de La Garde, that is on top of a mountain.

We did the whole back in port, we walked through the church of Eglise Saint-Ferreol the Augustinians, through the Opera Marseille which is next to the harbor, fur Teatro The Auction, and found a building where the Navy Museum you can enter without paying, within the building is beautiful, Normal out, but inside it is amazing.

Across the harbor has another Strong, the San Nicolas, that next to St Jean fort defended the city and the harbor entrance.

Another beautiful place to meet is the Palace of Congress and Émile Duclaux Park, all this side of the harbor.

On that day we wanted to visit the cathedral Our Lady of La Garde and the views from there, as we were with car came back to pick up in the harbor car and went straight there, did well, it is a big hill to get there, those without a car and did not want to make the long walk, It has a train that leaves the port and makes all the way.

At Our Lady of La Garde, It is on top of a limestone mountain 149 meters above sea level, It was built in the Romanesque-Byzantine style 1864, replacing a former chapel of the thirteenth century, the basilica is very beautiful and you can get it without paying, It is also quite beautiful inside.

Being on the mountain, It has the best panoramic city views, You can see there the Islands If standing in front of Marseille, We stayed there taking several photos of the church and the city, we think there and the harbor are the most beautiful places in Marseille.

This was our last stop, before we go to Nice. Now you know what to do in Marseille.