Marseille, our last port visit prior to pulling into Barcelona and ending our 23-day cruise. If you have ever read the book or seen the movie “The Count of Monte Cristo”, the city of Marseille was a primary setting for the early part of this fictional story. Of particular interest to us was the Chateau D’If, an island off the coast where the innocent (and naive) protagonist, Edmond Dantes, spent 14 years imprisoned and planning his revenge.
We walked along the promenade before buying tickets for a boat that would take us to the Chateau D’If. The isle is only about 1 mile off the coast, however like Alcatraz, the currents of the surrounding waters apparently made it an “unescapable” prison. We spent a couple hours exploring the fortress and the grounds before returning to shore. Interestingly, once Alexander Dumas published “The Count of Monte Cristo” in the mid-19th century, it became a tourist attraction and visitors would come to the island although it was still an active prison. The guards provided tours that would show the visitors the cells of Edmond and Abbe Faria, two prisoners whom in reality did not exist. We subsequently learned that prisoner accommodations were directly related to their wealth. The poor were packed into the lower level cells with no windows, while the wealthy would be housed in the upper cells with windows, and in some cases, fireplaces.
Going off the beaten path has always been attractive to us and Julie found a gratitude garden, where people placed flowers and notes of encouragement along a very narrow pedestrian street amongst a quiet neighborhood. It was very simple and serene and included beautiful graffiti along the walkway. Even though we could not read the notes, it was very comforting nonetheless knowing that people are sending positive thoughts to the world. Cool and unique visit.
We finished our time in Marseille visiting another immense church, the Cathedral La Major. The amount of detail put into every nook and cranny is truly impressive, however when you consider the abject poverty of most of the people living during those times it makes you wonder if that was the best use of money for the benefit of society. I guess at a minimum it was a very long term work program and we area able to enjoy the fruits of their labor centuries later.
As stated in the previous post, we were both ready to start the next phase of our travels. The cruise was a very pleasant experience and allowed us the time to decompress from the hectic pace of selling and moving out of our home in Fairfax. Next up is Spain and Portugal.