Winter road trip part V - Marseille part 1.

Pauline's reputation at getting us good accommodation at a good price and location were put to the test on the Marseille leg of our winter rod trip. Above is the view from the window of our hotel room,we knew were close to the railway station and handy for the city centre but...anyway a chat with a slightly irate receptionist got us moved to the back of the hotel with a different view from the window.

Once we settled in, it was straight back out to take advantage of what was left of the day. The lady in the photo below,from Tunisia, had helped me by showing exactly where to enter the station and the direction to take to get to the Old Port but in talking she said it is actually only two stops on the metro,which with only two lines was easy to use. She actually helped us buy the tickets took us to the correct platform came off with us at our destination before going back down underground to finish her journey - how kind was she!

The metro exit brought us out at the Old Port from where it was a short walk up 'La Canebière' to the tourist office where we picked up our guide to the city before returning down to the port. 

Grand Carrousel de la Canebière Marseille

Could not resist stopping for a wee refreshment here - and it happened to be 'happy hour'.

We got talking to a couple of locals about the walk up to the Basilica Notre Dame which sits on the highest point of the city, they said it should take around half an hour but it is a steep climb. They did point out that we could use our metro/travel card and catch a bus tonight just by where we were sitting but it may be the last one of the night so we would have to walk back down. They did say looking over the city at night would be worth it!

We decided it might be an opportunity not to be missed so caught the bus up and we are glad we did! We got to the gates of the basilica just as they were locking up but we knew we would be coming back tomorrow for a daytime visit.

After taking in the views we headed back downhill to the Old Port to find a restaurant to have dinner.

We eventually choose 'La ferme , terre & mer'  Place Thiars we enjoyed a lovely meal and a nice bottle of red.

After dinner as were walking back to the metro station we went along Rue de la Paix Marcel Paul which felt like a Dublin street 

The Old Port at night.

Then it was two stops on the metro back the train station then a little walk to our hotel.  Although we had only arrived at 4.00pm we had managed 5.7km of walking and had a very pleasant evening.