On day 2 of my cruise around the Mediterranean, I arrived in Marseille early in the morning aboard my cruise ship, the Costa Toscana. I had initially booked a short trip around Marseille, but Costa Cruises cancelled the trip so I took myself ashore to look around.
Marseille, France.
I woke at about 7 am, had a shower, took my tablets and then went for breakfast. The buffet breakfast is hectic, and getting a seat is difficult. I have cornflakes with strawberry yoghurt and raisins, but it's too busy and not a good experience, so I go for a walk. I encountered a different restaurant with a breakfast buffet and more seats on my walk. I get myself scrambled egg, bacon, sausages, beans and tomato. I washed it down with fresh fruit juice and am now ready for the day.
When we are docked in Marseille, I go to the disembarkation door from which I will leave the ship. I am 5 minutes early and told I must return to deck 6 and wait there. I sit there watching people go down in the lift, only to return a short time later. At about 1:15 pm, I can leave the ship. Security is easy. The only thing I have to take is my Costa Cruises door key, this is enough for me to leave the ship, pass through the port and go to Marseille. If only catching the coach into Marseille was as easy.
I got off the ship and found a Costa Cruise rep who pointed me to a building, telling me the coach was behind it. When I arrived, it was a free-for-all, with people pushing and shoving each other, trying to find and board the correct coach. I climbed on board a coach and hoped it was the correct one.
Luckily, the coach took me to Marseille, but I didn't see any of my new friends. I bought roasted cashews from a street vendor at the port and walked to the small tourist train that ran trips up to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Marseille that overlooked the port. I had just enough time to get the train to the Cathedral on the hilltop, stop for some photos and get back to catch a coach back to the ship.
The train journey wound through the different parts of Marseille, going past the port and many residential areas. I thought that Marseille was a magnificent city and parts of it I recognised. I may have stopped here for 1 night when driving my mum from Fareham to Los Alcazares for a stay with me years ago, but I can not remember anything about it.
When I got to the Cathedral, I took panoramic videos and photos before returning to the next tourist train. It was a lot quicker on the return trip.
Video of my ride through Marseille on the tourist train.
After being dropped off, I returned to the coach drop-off point and got the coach back to the ship. I had noticed the dress code was very casual, so I walked into the bar wearing the Arsenal shirt I had on, and sat down. I was immediately approached by one of the Indian staff who told me he was an Arsenal fan and that he used to play football back in India and when he lived in France and Italy. He had dreamt of playing in the Premier League but wasn't good enough. He hoped his son, who plays, would one day play for Arsenal. He got me a Bahama Mamma cocktail whilst I relaxed after my day ashore. I had another Bahama Mamma cocktail to check the consistency. It was also delicious. I then returned to my cabin to change clothes and prepare for tonight's show.
At around 7 pm, I walked down to the Colosseum showroom bar, found a good view of the stage area and ordered a beer from the waiter.
The acrobatic show 'Lava' was excellent. It was comparable to the Cirque du Soleil show I had seen in Orlando when I lived there, just on a smaller scale. I did notice how professional one of the beautiful girls performing in the show was. Almost at the show's start, she had a costume malfunction but didn't stop or even look like she had noticed. This meant continuing the entire show with her right butt cheek sticking out. It was beautiful to see such professionalism and such a well-rounded performance.
After the show, I sat in a quiet area of the ship, relaxing with another pint until some performers turned up, dressed as the Pirates of the Caribbean characters. They sat opposite me, and soon, there were loads of horrible little kids running around, bumping into everyone and everything, all unsupervised by their parents. As I got up to move myself and my beer to safety, Lynda and Michael walked past, so I joined them and walked to our allocated restaurant for dinner.
Dinner consisted of a beautiful four-course meal and was washed down by several glasses of white wine. At the end of the meal, we were joined by Susan and Bryan and we went to the Colosseum bar for some cocktails. My cocktail selection was a White Russian, and when I finished, I walked to the Leonardo Gran bar to listen to the group playing there finish their last few numbers. They were outstanding, as was the Bahama Mamma cocktail I had before bed.