Holidays in Provence IV: Marseille

For Jin and Angus' last day in France, we went on a half-day trip to Marseille (intended to be a full-day trip but I bummed around in bed for too long).
We took the Aix-Marseille bus into the city and walked along one of the main streets looking inside shops and marveling at the fact that Marseille is so much more visibly and culturally diverse than Aix, although the small town where I live is only 30 minutes away by bus from this bustling port city. We had a list of things that we wanted to do for sure:
- a little present shopping
- a visit to the Fort Entrecasteaux right at the mouth of the Marseille harbor
- walk all the way up to the basilica that overlooks the city of Marseille
- eat North African or Middle Eastern food for lunch
- possibly fit in a museum visit ( we didn't end up doing this one )
The first thing we ended up doing was stop for schawarmas at a seemingly very popular local Middle Eastern restaurant. They were DELICIOUS. However, we ended up having a very bizarre experience with a young beggar girl who came up to our table asking, in French, for some money, then some of Jin's Coca-Cola, then some of my schawarma. I tried to pull the "I don't understand French" card but she persisted, picking up Jin's soda bottle, pointing at my food, continuing to mumble, barely even in coherent French at this point, until finally, she beckoned to her mother to come over who then also attempted to convince us to give them money and food. The bizarre thing was that these people did not seem homeless and had plenty of nice clothing and seemed quite well fed and clean. We ignored them while they continued to hassle us for food and money until the girl reached out and grabbed the remainder of my food and began trying to pull it away at which point Angus yelled "HEY" and the girl got startled, started giggling and shrank back, and walked away, taking her mother with her. Very strange and rather unsettling.
No matter, we continued on to our next stop: Fort Entrecasteaux, which, as I discovered in my own trip to Marseille with Carmel and Claire, would give us a great view of the harbor and the city. We also took some goofy pictures.

Then, we began our long walk up to the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Garde, a beautiful and very unique basilica that sits 528 feet above the city of Marseille. The massive gold statue of the Virgin and Child that sits on top of the basilica's belfry has become a trademark of Marseille, and the unique green and white-striped outer walls of the basilica (made of white marble and green porphyry from Italy) set it apart from other religious structures within the city. The interior of the basilica is filled with all sorts of ex votos, or charms and trinkets in thanks for protection on the sea, the rehabilitation of a loved one, even a win for the Olympique de Marseille, the soccer team of Marseille which has tons of loyal followers.
The view of the city, the harbor, and the islands off the coast of France, including one that houses the Chateau d'If, was BREATHTAKING and well worth the 20-30 minutes of up-hill walking and stairs that took us there. If we had had more time, I think we would've taken a boat trip to the islands, but not enough time. It seems that there's never enough time :)

After this, we walked around some more, checked the Musée Cantini, found it was closed, and sat somewhere for some nice tartines and coffee and hot chocolate, and then took the bus home. A lovely afternoon in Marseille!