Love Sun, Historic Buildings and Museums? Visit Marseille!

I booked a trip to Marseille solely on the basis of it being affordable, on the Med and I'd heard of it before.  This seemed like a good plan until I kept hearing "why not Nice?" or several other options from the French, so I was a little dubious before I arrived.  I was glad I knew ahead that the train stopped at a small secondary station just 2 Metro rides from my hotel as the conductor was deeply concerned because he thought I didn't understand where I was being dropped off, "Blancard.  You understand?"  The city was a ghost town at 6 AM, but I snapped a few shots.

  

The guy at the hotel tried to tell me the price quoted at booking was for 1 night, not 2 (which is true per the notice on my door, but was NOT what my reservation showed) and sent me to the wrong building 6 blocks away after I stuck to the reservation amount (it's possible it wasn't intentional).  My "garden view" is more like a roof and a couple trees, but it's cool.  I have a small studio flat rather than a hotel here too.  Most of the hotels have a great view, but aren't by the primary activities centered around the port or the Metro.  The flat is small, but in a great location!

 

Speaking of the Old (Vieux) Port, here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

After walking the area a bit, I bought a 48 hour pass from the tourist office and caught the tourist train to the top of the big hill to see Notre Dame de la Garde.  Below are a few shots showing it towering above the city - after all the walking for trains and in the morning, I just didn't feel like climbing to the top! 

While there is plenty more to share, I slept so poorly that my Fitbit didn't even register it as sleeping, so I had to manually enter the hours and this is what it came up with - pink being awake & light blue restless:

So, I will leave you with this lovely photo of the tourist train (included in the 31 Euro pass) and pick up with the views from Notre Dame and more tomorrow.