Next we headed to Marseille (a trip included in our program) The city is much larger than Aix which can be explained by the ports that surround its harbor. It was actually the first boarder in the Mediterainean and the second in Europe. It was built for the purpose of transporting tin from England to Greece. In the 17th century it was also used by the Levities for ship repariing purposes, but today the "Old Port" is used for recreation. There is a newer port that is used for commercial shiping, but all the activities take place around the old port (thus all my pictures are from there) The Marseille area once belonged to Italy and then was independent for a while before it became French in 1481. In the 20th century there was a huge movement to force the French language and the local, traditional "Provenca" language was lost. The general attitude in Marseille is much more relaxed then the rest of France, but this has definitly started to change and image is becoming more important.
It is interesting to note that Marseille is labeled as a "Melting Pot" it is extremely diverse with a huge North African population. There is a lot of discrimination especially towards Algerians.
On January 24-25 1944 the Germans attacked the city, arrested a bunch of Jews and bombed the port. Everything has been rebuilt but you can still see the old, medevial streets that remain crooked and unorganized. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of these streets, but i did take a picture of the area that was bombed (today it's the City Hall).
The beautiful Cathedral, which is located as you enter Marseille from the north was built with limestone and constructed from 1852 to the end of the 19th century. I didn't get to go inside but it is gorgeous.
We did get to go to the Notre Dame de la Garde which is a amazing church on a hill overlooking Marseille. The land it sits on was given to a monk in 1214. Throughout the 16th century it was a famous pilgramage spot. The construction of the Church was finished in 1899 and continues to be a huge tourist destination. The view over looking the city is incredible.
The next place we went was a water Palace. It is named "The Remarkable Garden" and was built in the 1860s as an attempt to bring running water to the city. The arctitecture is astonishing.
The absolute best part of our trip was our trip to Isle D'If It is where the book and film The Cont of the Monte Cristo is based off of. We got to take a boat to the island, so i guess you could say it was my first boat ride on the Mediterrean :) Anyways it was quite fun! My camera died so i could not get as many pictures as i would have liked. :(
We also visited the
Another intersting fact is that wine and olives were brouht to France from Greece. Just some fun information for you to woe your peers with.
Anyways that was our exciting weekend!
We also started School this week and we are all moved in to our new place. My walk to school is less than 2 minutes! This is a very good thing especially becasue classes start at 8:30 am and i am not a morning person. Being in class is good because my french is continuing to improve, but also challenging becasue my brain is in a state of information overload!!! Anyways i enjoy it and I have met some nice Japonaise students whom we take our coffee break with everyday. I also love my place! It is the party house:) Seriously people are always here! We have dinner together every night and it is so fun cooking. The fresh market is really close so i go everyday to buy what i need and then come home and cook! There are some pictures from our first dinner!
That is all for now, write again soon!
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