Marseille, France - City Tour

Marseille is under construction in preparation for "Marseille Provence 2013 - European Capital of Culture".  Click here to go to the event website.   What is the event?  A brief explanation from the website.

Marseille-Provence has been selected to be the European Capital of Culture in 2013. All year long, hundreds of cultural and artistic events will take place throughout the Provence region: in Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Aubagne, Gardanne, Istres, La Ciotat, Martigues, Salon-de-Provence and, of course, Marseille.All audiences will be invited to take part in the programme, which includes dance, music, visual arts, theatre, exhibitions, street art, literature, digital art, gastronomy and cinema. Marseille-Provence 2013 will celebrate the region’s historical ties to the Mediterranean region.

Sounds like fun, but for now, it is road block after road block.  The driver did the best that he could to work around the area.  I'm glad that we took the tour of Aix and actually got out of Marseille. I talked to some people onboard ship and they said that the Marseille tour was slow and mostly stuck in traffic.

This seems to be the biggest high rise building in the city. You will see it stand out when I post the photos of the Crown Princess leaving port.

The CMA CGM Tower is a 147m tall skyscraper in Euroméditerranée, the central business district of Marseille, France. Designed by Zaha Hadid, it will be the headquarters for CMA CGM, a major shipping firm, consolidating 2,000 employees currently spread over seven sites.
Zaha Hadid was selected to design the building in November 2004. It is intended to interact with other landmarks of the city including the Château d'If and the basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde, which stands taller than the tower on a rocky outcrop. Built by Vinci subsidiary GTM Construction, the building has 20 lifts to service its 33 floors. (Source: Wikipedia)

Here are some city scenes: old buildings mixed with new buildings.

The official sign for the upcoming event.

Cranes are everywhere!

A cute little church. I don't know the name of it.  I think that the facade is interesting and looks like it is  "attached" to the building.

The street near the old port, with cafes and character.

The bus pulled over so that we could take photos (through the chain link fence) of Monument aux morts de l'armée d'Orient et aux héros des terres lointaine.  Monument to the dead of the army of the East and to the heroes of the distant lands)

As we headed ever so slightly inland, the land became hilly.  We had to wind our way through narrow streets to continue the tour to see the basilica high on the hill.

I was delighted to see a green "Wallace Fountain" in Marseille, as I thought that they were only found in Paris.

Wallace fountains are public drinking fountains designed by Charles-Auguste Lebourg that appear in the form of small cast-iron sculptures scattered throughout the city of Paris, France, mainly along the most-frequented sidewalks. They are named after the Englishman Richard Wallace, who financed their construction. A great aesthetic success, they are recognized worldwide as one of the symbols of Paris. (wikipedia)

The ones that I see in Paris are painted solid green.  The figures on this one are gold, and the dome is a light color.  Compare this one to the one shown here on wikipedia or the one two pictures below with Kalen in Paris 2007.  In the enlarged photo, you can see the water coming out of the center.  You can put your water bottle here and get fresh and safe drinking water. I don't know what was tied to the string but it is annoying to have it in the photo!

This photo shows Kalen filling a water bottle at one of the two fountains. This was in the summer of 2007. We found the fountains on Ile de la Cite.  They are painted solid green and are still in use, which is great!

Nice view of flowers growing in a small shady area.

Our target spot: the basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde.  More on this site in the next post.