After spending several days in Marseille exploring the old town and hiking through the calanques along the southern coast, I accomplished much of what I set out to do, but there was one landmark that continued to elude me - Chateau d’If. Touristy as it may be, I was determined to see it as long as the forceful mistral winds took a day off. Every morning for the past five days, I've walked down to the ferry dock in Vieux-Port to check if the boats were running, and five times I've returned disheartened. Finally my stubbornness paid off and on the sixth day the mistral took pity on me.
Of all the cities I've visited over the years, none has surprised me more than Marseille. I spent an incredible five days in this glorious city and every single one of them was filled with wondrous activities, many of which I didn't even know existed. Since my semester abroad in college five years ago, Paris held the title of my favorite city in all of Europe, but this week my rankings have officially changed. Marseille now occupies the number one slot and ranks up there with Lisbon as my favorite city so far on this trip.
