Day 75: Marseille - Encore Plus - Grampies Go To England and France Fall 2022

November 20, 2022

Day 75: Marseille - Encore Plus

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We liked the fisherman's market on the Old Port a lot yesterday, but felt we had come rather late for all the exciting fish flinging action. So we resolved to show up early today. It was a little eerie as we got onto the L91 bus to town, as there was only one other passenger in the big vehicle.

Wouldn't you know it, that passenger was from Ontario. She had been sitting at the next table to us at the Ibis breakfast, but we had had no reason to talk then. As the only occupants of the bus, we said hello, and from there exchanged the Usual Questions. Usually UQs take the form of us explaining how really darn special we are, cycling around in yellow on circus bikes, and all. But we must say, Ruby Cler, our fellow passenger, was really darn special. It began when I assumed she was a lot younger than us, but no, she is our same age exactly. And in talking about us wearing our best yellow clothes, she said she only uses fancy clothes when accepting high level awards from royalty or mayors or such.

It turned out that right now Ruby is a world class Woodturner and advanced instructor. But she has also been a gymnast, skiier, underwater photographer, and school teacher. You can briefly read her story here.

Daughter Joni is going to get a real charge out of this next little bit of the story. The reason is that much more often than not, when we arrange to meet up with her, usually for lunch, we show up at what for her is a way early hour. She could be still asleep, or at best in the shower, and here we are, raring to go!

So today we showed up in Marseille, a city of one million people, and almost every last one of them was still asleep, or at best in the shower. Ok, to be fair, maybe a few thousand were sitting with their croissants and coffee. But they sure were not shovelling, or buying, fish, or anything else!

Just by the fish market there is a unique roof shelter, with a mirror finish underneath. It appeared in yesterday's blog when the acrobats were underneath it. So what do Grampie's do while the rest of the city sleeps? First off, they take their selfie in the roof:

Ok, that was a minute's fun. Now what? Ok, we'll walk out to the fort at the harbour entrance, on its south side.

Pretty much the only other person awake in Marseille was this street cleaner. He was using a pressure washer not so much to clean the pavement as to sweep it. He was also making a lot of misty spray. If you look hard you can see the light of an approaching cyclist. It was an old lady , out for no better reason than us. "La douche!", she exclaimed, as she passed by (through) the street cleaner.

Across the way, the Saint Lazarus church, that we visited yesterday.

In a very foreshortened view, the Notre Dame de la Garde church, actually high on its hill.

The fortress and site of the MUCEM museum, at the north entrance of the harbour.

Well, we reached the end and turned around, walking back toward the centre of the U shaped harbour. Every street off the harbour, on both sides, heads up. Marseille is in fact a hilly town.

Soap is a big deal in Marseille. There are several museums and many shops for it. There was a liquid form at one of our recent stays. Maybe it was also the water, but my hands felt super clean after using it.

We continued to notice the shutters on most buildings.

But wait, what is this? A fisherman is on the job?

They look as surprised as anyone to be here.

Back now at the very back of the harbour, remember this smallish white church? It's Eglise Saint Ferriol.

This Sunday morning, what could have been a youth group of some sort was offering coffee and croissants to everyone. A rather raggedy lady spotted us looking on, and came to usher us into the line. I hope it really was for everyone and not just the down and out, and that we did not qualify on the basis of appearances. The raggedy lady turned out to be one of two beggars who were working the church door, so that's why I am wondering if she felt we were ones of the tribe. Well, to some extent, as homeless people on bikes we at least temporarily are.

Other than the fish market we had a couple of other things to see planned for today. One of these was the Santon Market, which was just across the way, with a large number of huts in place. Santons, we had come to know, are elaborately painted clay figurines, normally used to people creches at Christmas. While they may have traditional Christmas themes, mstly they depict traditional Provencal people, in traditional dress. Although new to us, this is not only a "thing", but it is a two hundred year old tradition. In addition, as the French tend to do, they have taken an "artisanal" approach to this, and even define the profession of santonnier, for the creators of santons. The santons are very central to Provence culture, such that those who are part of, or working to preserve the traditional culture are one with, or part of the santon phenomenon.

That is why at the church today, after the poor had cleared off, a mass was held to celebrate the opening of the santon market. Participating in this were a large number of people dressed in traditional costume. More than that, a choir of provencal singers was installed in a side chapel on one side of the altar, and some musicians - on flute and traditional drum - were on the other side, all supported by the main organ.

All dresses are long, with heavy layered skirts. Women all wear patterned shawls and pleated white lace caps.

We began to learn what this was all about as I approached one lady with questions. But Dodie had a bit of a conversation. During this she learned that the mass would begin at 10:30 (in an hour) and that the church would fill completely. The lady urged Dodie to stay for the mass, a nice gesture. We did stay, though we took a place at the back. Later, the lady thanked Dodie for staying.

Dodie is invited to the party. (Sorry about the low light photo!)

Somewhere at home we have a CD called Christmas in Provence, and I tried to remember to what extent what we have there sounded like what we heard today. What we heard was of course authentic - could not have been more authentic! I avoided making a video or photos in the church, so it is only a memory now. But I did remark that the church had brought out four priests, which seemed like a good level of staffing. More so, because what seemed like half the service was not in French but rather in Provençal, which is a dialect of Occitan. It apparently has 350,000 native speakers, and among them at least one of those priests! It was strange for me, because usually listening to volumes of spoken French is a strain, but when the service switched out of Provençal and back to French, it was a relief.

After the mass, everyone paraded over to the Santon market, where there was an official opening ceremony.

We took a spin around the Santon market, wondering if there was room in our lives for more knick knacks, and deciding against it. But still, they were fabulous, and as you see from the several photos, created in many many variations.

We checked back at the fish market, and found the action a little more lively. We watched as the man in blue had a bunch of seemingly random small fish thrown into the yellow tote. There was a little discussion about whether one more or less fish was to be included, and then the tote was weighed. It came to four kilos, for which the man paid 28 euros. But what was he going to do with them? Bouillabaisse? Fish 'n' Chips? In one more mysterious move, the man then walked off, leaving what we presumed to be the wife to carry the 4 kilos of fish.

Our main objective today (what? this far down the page and we are just coming to the main objective?) was to visit the Cosquer exhibit. This is named for diver Henri Cosquer, who in 1985 was diving in the nearby Calanques National Park, and discovered the entrance to an underwater cave. Over a pereiod of time he progressed deeper into the cave, using a cord on a reel to unwind behind him and so find his way out.

Eventually Cosquer surfaced inside the cave, discovering the portion that was above the level of the surrounding water. Inside the revealed galleries Cosquer now found a huge number of cave art examples, not to mention fantastical limestone shapes and colours from the dripping ceiling water.

What created this was that the cave, 30,000 years ago, was not under water but on dry land some distance from the water. So the cave artists did not have to be divers as well!

Inside the cave there were eventually found more than 500 animal drawings, plus impressions of hands. The drawings were made with charcoal from fires which also lit the interior for the artists, and the hand impressions were either from charcoal blown over a placed hand or from scratching or pushing into a rime of softer limestone coating the walls.

The types of animals depicted in the drawings gave tremendous insight into what was around the artists at the time. As you read below, eleven species are represented in the drawings, with the horse accounting for almost half. Surprisingly, seals and penguins are included, showing that the people of 30,000 years earlier had some involvement with the sea. It is postulated that they made boats, using buffalo hides for a watertight outer skin.

The format of the display is firstly a reproduction of the cave interior. is quite large and detailed, but I believe is only a selection of some of the main features. Up to six people at a time are seated in a "Disney ride" or roller coaster type gondola, and a drawn through the cave replica. Earphones give an account of what you are seeing, and the gondola rotates this way the that so that you look directly at what is being described. It turned out to be an effective technique, though very very slow moving and restful. But like with an active teacher, you are swung around and instructed about stuff repeatedly.

Since the essence of the cave has to do with having been discovered underwater, since even now the water level has been rising and falling in the cave, but generally rising, the overall topic of recent global warming, glacial cover, long term climate variation, and suchlike receives a lot of attention in the set of displays that adjoin the cave simulation. For example, one is shown the effect of water level rise and fall in terms of what part of the cave interior is covered:

The horizontal blue moves up and down, showing the portion of the cave submerged at different levels.

Similarly, there are moving displays showing the salt water coverage of the Camargue at various points in time, or with the construction of the Digue a la Mere.

Very interesting indeed were full size representations of animals of the types represented in the cave. I was surprised, by the size, for example, of the bison, and posed Dodie beside it for scale. The thing is just huge:

Here are some of the other creatures as they are displayed:

There was no photography permitted inside the cave simulation, so we can not show what the paintings or hand stencils looked like. But this site has them, and more description about the cave. One little example of the paintings can be had in this illustration of the damaging effect of rising and falling water level. Here is a horse drawing, before and after being submerged for some period of time:

We trudged back to the Metro, looking around at Marseille and thinking how great it had been. Coming here sure was a dramatic way to cap our trip. Soon we will review the whole thing, thinking about England, and then the fact that day by day in France our enjoyment has increased. Overall, it has been a lollipop of a trip, which we can symbolize by an offering at the Christmas Market:

But don't forget to tune in to several fascinating pages of this blog still to come!

Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 3,423 km (2,126 miles)

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Keith AdamsThe variety of santons was impressive? Any idea whether they'll be coming out with a Lego edition anytime soon? ;)

(Note: your video shows as "Private" to me, and is therefore unavailable.)
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