MARSEILLES

The north of France can be very grey this time of year, cloudy, rainy, and cooler; a trip to Marseilles on the Mediterranean with sunshine was very needed.  We took the train down at 6am Saturday and got there a little afternoon, checked into our hostel and explored the city.  Our first thing was to hike up the hill towards "The Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde", which is much smaller on the inside than one expects it to be.  From the top of this hill, we had a fantastic view of the city and the bay.  The sunshine was great to have, the second day we took a ferry to a few islands outside of the bay where we hiked around old military bases and enjoyed the ocean air.