Marseille, France and Avignon, France

"Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow".

Anita Desai

Our first impression of Marseille was it looked like a busy port city that is densely populated.  The yachts and sailboats looked peaceful and lovely in the harbor with the bustling people and city behind it.  Off in the distance you could see Notre Dame de la Garde perched in all its grandeur on top of the highest natural point in Marseille at 489 feet above sea level.  The economy of this city is dependent on the port and is the second most visited city in France.

We got up early and had a nice breakfast on the Queen Victoria ship with Cunard Cruise line before heading to the staging area to meet up with our tour group to Avignon.   There were  many buses heading to Avignon and we got in the last bus.   Our tour guide was great and was very knowledgeable and made the ride fun to Avignon    It was an hour and fifteen drive to go about 55 miles through pretty country heading  north east of the city.   

We entered the city of Avignon and our bus pulled up next to the city wall.    The size of this wall was impressive.  We strolled alongside the wall under shade of the Beech trees as we headed to the Palace.  This was a pretty area.

When we got into the palace, we entered a long hall with curved arches that overlooked the garden square.   The palace was built not just as a palace but also  a fortress with thick walls to protect the popes and did have a fortress feel to it.   This palace was built in 1334, took 30 years to build, and was the home of seven popes.





 

This palace  had many bare rooms.   There were headless statues of saints that stood watch destroyed by soldiers that took over the palace.   The soldiers also took and sold many of the artifacts for supplies .   There also was a fire in the 14th century that also destroyed many valuable pieces.

The pope during that time was the wealthiest man in the world.   You ask how he got his money?   Besides people donating to the church, many people paid large amounts of money to him to absolve them of their sins.   The pope was a connoisseur of the arts, feasts,  and paid for art and entertainment to fill the castle.  During the first 1000 years, the pope had the power of a king  unlike the last 1500 years where he is the Bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church.

There were forty years when there were two acting popes.   One was in Avignon and was considered an Anti pope and the one who was in Rome was the real pope.   There were two anti popes who served in Avignon, Clement VII and Benedict XIII.    The popes held court in Avignon for some 300 years and was under Papal control for 350 years.   

We enjoyed seeing this huge palace which is considered to be the largest Gothic building from the middle ages in Europe having a square footage of 118,403.   This was well worth the visit.  

After leaving the castle, we strolled over to the Palace Square.  It was lovely with the beautiful Opera House, Town Hall with a lovely Bell Tower,  Cafes scattered around with outside umbrella shaded tables, and a beautiful German Carousel playing Om pah pah melodies.   While walking around we saw a silver statue on a pedestal of a common man.   We stared and him and all of a sudden,  he bowed  at a pretty lady.   He surprised us all as he stood                                                        so still. 

We stopped and had a bite at one of the cafes and sat outside in the square and had a pizza and drinks.   It was lovely just watching the people pass by.   After we ate, we took a stroll down one of the many narrow medieval winding streets and looked at some of the shops.   What a lovely town.   I only wish we had more time to walk around and explore more.   

As we were leaving, we saw the famous medieval stone Avignon Bridge (Pont Saint-Benezet) which was built between 1177 and 1185 and was used to cross the Rhone River but after many floods  the arches started to collapse. There used to be 22 arches and 21 piers and now there are only four arches that have survived.   Our tour guide started singing the famous song about that famous bridge.   It goes like this:   "Chorus:  On the bridge of Avignon, We all dance there, we all dance there.  On the bridge of Avignon, We all dance there in a ring.   The handsome gentleman go like this, and then  like that.   The beautiful ladies go this way then like that.  The soldiers do like this, and then like that.  The musicians do like this and then like that.   She had a beautiful soothing voice and she sang the song in French.   How wonderful.

Our last stop was to go see Notre Dame de la Garde. What a beautiful impressive cathedral.   The groundbreaking for this cathedral was  in  1853 and  was completed in 1864 and was designed in the Byzantine Rival architectural style.   The construction took 21 years.   The beautiful bell tower stands 135 feet and was topped with a 41 foot belfry and a statue of Madonna holding her child on the top made with copper gilded and gold leaf standing 37 feet tall. 

We exited the bus and walked up the stairs to the land of the cathedral and before entering we looked at the views of Marseille.   The views were spectacular.   When we walked into the  cathedral we were taken back by all the color and details.   Looking up on the ceiling, the mosaic work was amazing and we were told it was recently restored from 2001 to 2008 to take care of the  damage that was done by the smoke from  church services.   

Due to the height of this cathedral and proximity to the coast the hill became a stronghold and look out  as well as a landmark for sailing.    The sailors who survived ship wrecks gave thanks to Mary, mother of Jesus by depositing  ex-votos  to Notre Dame.   You see model ships handing from the ceiling  which were replicas of the ships that were lost at sea but the seaman survived and came to give praise and thanks to Mary.   

This church was stunning to see with the incredible details.   We enjoyed our visit to this fine cathedral.