Back again, well after Seville, we will probably head back up to southern France. I have considered the idea of taking the ferry over to Morocco from the south of Spain as it is only $35 dollars and the cost to stay there would be fairly cheap, but I will worry about that when the time comes. I just want to move on now to other parts of Europe.
The south of France, home to the French Riviera those rich and beautiful vacation spots of the rich and famous, St.Tropez, Monaco, and Nice to name a few. I am sure it will be a beautiful place to visit, if not quite expensive.
Nimes
The first place I would definitely want to take a quick stop in is Nimes, home to one of the most famous Roman aqueducts and one of their most proud architectural feats reaching a height of 160 feet (seen below). The Pont du Gard aqueduct is a world heritage site and has been a tourist attraction for hundreds of years, and was used as a bridge up until the mid 1800's considering it was built less than a hundred years after the time Christ that is amazing. Nimes also has some other interesting Roman buildings, as it is so close to Italy and an area of early expansion for the Roman Empire.
Marseille
Marseille, just the name stirs thoughts of the rich and famous vacationing on the Mediterranean, but once you get past that it is actually an interesting spot. Marseille is Frances most important port, and oldest major cities and was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC and taken by the Romans in the time of Caesar. It has nice museums with many ancient and maritime artifacts, many of which were uncovered after WWII reconstruction.
What really interests me is the catacombs underneath the Abbaye de St-Victor, an old church with a crypt of a martyr killed by the Romans by being ground between two millstones, gruesome. The catacombs are a place where early Christians prayed to St.Lazarus and Mary Magdalene, said to have washed ashore at a near-by town. This being the reason boat shaped cookies are sold during the Candlemas procession in February, luckily they are sold year round to so I can have on (mmmm boat cookie). By the time this is over I am going to know a lot more about the Saints then I bargained for.
There are numerous other places to visit in Marseille, such as the Chateau d'if, where the Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned, the famous novel. There is also the beautiful Notre-Dame de la Garde, it is only 150 years old, and was built on top of the site of a 13th century chapel. It has some fine marble mosaics, and is topped by a statue of the Virgin and Child a landmark that can be seen for miles as it is the highest point in Marseille.
Anyway you get the picture Marseille is a pretty cool and historic place. It is also home to different culinary dishes, best known is Bouillabaisse, a fish stew flavoured with saffron. The local market is also supposed to be a nice place to go with many local spices available such as rosemary, fresh eggplant, pink garlic, and fresh seafood. On that note, the next place we will have to go is Lyon, the culinary capital of the world, a definite pilgrimage site for Melanie. Hope you like the pictures.
