Day 119 - Martigues - Another night in Marseille

I don’t often have the luxury of knowing what two days of my journey’s will be before I write the blog but as I had technology issues I am now performing a blog catch up.  The first thing I can say about the two days I missed any updates was that I couldn't have had two more contrasting days.

So back to Thursday and Day 119.  The plan was for the day to be a meeting day, both voice conferences and physical meetings.  This was not a problem as being without a working computer did not hamper me in those areas.  The difficulty was in getting email.  I'm lucky that I have a blackberry and it allows me to see my mails but of course not mail attachments, which a lot of my work involves viewing.  So I spent a lot of time tapping away on my phone like a seventeen year old with more friends than the average kid, but I was telling people the same thing sorry but my PC is broke and I will respond with that bit of work once my PC is fixed which will most likely to be on Friday night.  Even I was surprised come Friday night how much I was going to have lined up for me to do, but I digress. 

Sat in my room tapping a way on my phone was really starting to annoy me, I started to get a feel what prison could be like, sat in a small room, with no company or technology to pass the time, I felt like I had to get out.  So in a convenient break between meetings I seconded my French colleague who also had a bit of free time that coincided with mine and we had a walk into the town which by now I had found out was called Martigues.  We walked the hundred or so meters that we had already done the first night along the harbour and soon found ourselves in the new part of town, although I would guess it was called this because this bit had been built sometime in the 20^th century, as opposed to the old town which looked considerable older.  We walked along the lake front and then back toward the town center which in effect was a couple of squares with a small supermarket and a few shops with a multitude of items for sale.  It was pleasant and we spent about 20 minutes walking around the center before finding a different way back to the hotel, making sure I was in time for my next voice conference.

An hour later and our meeting done my French colleague and I were back out walking by the harbour and with the intention of looking at the old town area which was just across a waterway.  I would call it a river but as it came from the lake and don't know where it went I am not sure what you could call it.  The first thing we came across on this leg of the walk was a church, now earlier on in the new town part, we found another church and as the doors were open I had a walk in.  It was very simple, no fantastic decoration you normally find in churches, no stain glass windows, no ornate pictures hanging, pretty much nothing.  All it had was a large wooden cross near the alter at the far end.  It was no more than 30 meters in length and probably 5 meters wide, but it was marvelous, it had a feel of a real working church, a church put there for the local people and as we walked around the place, a couple of (I assume) locals were praying.  The atmosphere was calming and I would describe it as lovely.

When you consider the last two churches I had entered were the Notre Dame and the Sacra Cur in Paris which both have the feel of tourist churches.  I know they are not, but with so many people around and the churches obviously geared up to handle the large volumes of people then it does feel very commercial and misses that little bit of something that gives it the special quality.  The church we found on the old side of town was much bigger probably twice the size of the first and had the decoration you would expect to see.  Large paintings, large stain glass windows, candles you could light for a small donation, ornate and expensive looking decoration.  Again it was really nice and a place of calm but it lacked that little bit of intimacy that I like in a church and you only seem to find in the very small, simple places

After the church we continued around and took some nice photo’s which I will add to the bottom of the blog today.

With time ticking on and more calls beckoning I returned to my cell in the hotel and worked out the rest of the day.

The evening had been set aside for us all to meet up my Lithuanian colleague who was now staying in Marseilles for some months studying.  So at 5.45p.m. we set off into town and with my Nottingham colleague taking all of the driving this week, he negotiated the roads and streets of Marseilles well and found, with no real problem, some parking near the harbour and we promptly left the car to see what the town had in store tonight.

The first thing we noticed was that some very nice yachts had moored up in the harbour and I mean very nice boats.  I could imagine a few million pounds would be needed to take those boats off someone’s hands.  We soon met up with my Lithuanian colleague and had a nice meal sat outside a little restaurant of which there seem to be thousands around the area.  Following the meal we opted to take a walk to the sea front and walked around the old walls that follow the sea front area, this was really pleasant.  It was dark but the area was illuminated beautifully.  The only downside was seeing a rat about the size of a large rat run across in front of me as we walked near the sea, but I suppose being so near the water it is a natural habitat for them.  The final area we visited was the part that had been built especially for the city of culture award Marseilles has for 2013 and I had to admit it was really impressive.  New brightly lit buildings and museums that even at night are very popular with people who sit and look out at the Mediterranean on warm evenings as this one was.  The views both out to sea and back toward the city were really nice, I tried to take some night photos but I think I need to understand the night feature of my camera a little better as they all appeared blurred.

It was getting late and as the plan was to be up early for the flight home in the morning we bid farewell to our Lithuanian colleague and headed back to the hotel in Martigues.

With us safely back at the hotel my Nottingham colleague and I took a chance to catch up on some work and book our trips to Poland that we have due in a couple of weeks before we headed for some sleep.

Some explanation is required for these photo's

As we have seen there seems to be elephants both in Luxembourg and we saw some in Germany but now they even have one in Marseilles.

This was a bizarre sight, it was a floating restaurant that seems not to float anymore.  there is still a sign on the quay side advertising its wares.

Along with the elephants in Marseilles are other animals and here we see err, another one.

This was the view from the lake front looking back toward the hotel which is the brown building top right 

And now I have turned 180 degrees and taken a shot of the bridge just before the lake

Another little shot of the harbour area

And another harbour area which some small fishing type boats

One of the impressive yachts that arrived in Marseilles on Wednesday night

One of the few less blurry shots of the castle walls.  It is a shame as the night sights are quite staggering.