Maurice was helping his son do some work and I decided to tag along. It seems like I was just in Marseille, which isn’t a bad thing, and I decided to take a look at an area that I haven’t explored before. I started at the Vieux Port and instead of walking along the usual quai where all of the restaurants are and also the way up to the cathedral, I went to the other side where the Hotel de Ville is located and started up the hill-Marseille is very hilly-into what is called the Panier. It is full of stairs and narrow streets, interesting doors and windows and was a great place to explore while waiting for Maurice and his son to finish.

A view of just some of the stairs required.

I know it’s just a slot for letters but it just seems more classy when it’s made of brass and labeled in French.

A little mosaic decoration on the side of a house.

It’s always a good idea to have a dream.

Marseille is the setting for a very popular soap opera, Plus Belle a Vie, shown every week night in France, even though in reality most of it is filmed in Paris. It comes on at the same time as the news and more people watch the soap opera than listening to reality. I even read an article about the show in the New York Times about its popularity and the fact that the show has a website featuring the actors and telling where you can buy the clothes seen on the show. The site says over 15 million people have visited. Maurice likes this show and will watch it when we are home. I’ve tried to get into it but the French is very fast and I miss most of the conversations. It’s based on five families and their interactions. In my opinion-no one wrote to ask-they change the plots too quickly. I guess I am used to the American soap opera where a problem can go on for months but in this show show plots are over in weeks. I sort of got interested in one story in which a man connected with the mafia-apparantly there is a lot of mafia activity in Marseille-gets engaged to a girl. Then he meets her brother and they have a fling. I guess the mafia guy is bi. Anyway, the girl catches them kissing and tries to break off the engagement but he forces her-I’m not sure how, maybe threat of death?-to marry him anyway. I’m wondering how this all is going to play out when, whamo, there is gun fire and he disappears. It’s never made clear if he is dead or not. A week later the girl shows up at her work looking happy and as if none of this ever happened and is soon dating again. This month she is in love with a priest. They have a huge cast and I’m always getting confused about who is who, especially when there are three teenagers with long brown hair. Anyway, I took this photo because apparantly people are always in this area looking for places the soap opera is filmed but they won’t find the main bar-it’s not real. This is a store selling tourist items from the show.

Up above Nice lie the remains of a castle. You can trudge up to the top or take a handy elevator (for a fee). The view is spectacular.

We were blessed with fabulous weather. The weather always seems great there.

As seen from below before climbing.

The sun shining on the sea below.

The beautiful Bay of Angles far down below.

Not only did we visit Nice with my daughter, but we also went and met Maurice’s sisters there a couple of weeks later. They were there locating old houses where they once lived. Maurice was born in Nice, raised on a farm by his grandmother near Grasse and then went to school there until high school when he moved to Paris. We’re getting so we know the old section of Nice really well now. We were able to find a house they lived in way on top of a hill overlooking Nice. As children, they had to climb that hill twice a day, once for lunch and once after school. It was a real hike-we did it. I took photos but it is only interesting if you once lived there, believe me.

I liked the color and shapes on this building.

A typical street in Vieux Vielle, old Nice. Isn’t it lovely?

Olive oil for sale.

These water colors were for sale in a window. I didn’t go in the shop though.

Someone asked if I traveled a lot. The answer: not always but this summer we had quite a few guests and we always take them around to show our favorite areas of Provence. Plus, we are retired so can be free to hit the road pretty much whenever we want. Getting my French driver’s license pretty much wiped out a lot of an travel but once it was over, off we went.
When my daughter was here, after visiting the smaller villages near our home, we went to Marseille and then Nice before driving her to Lugano to stay with my son. This summer, and early fall, seemed to be full of many more trips here and there.
I think Nice has to have one of the loveliest settings of the cities and towns on the Cote d’Azur. It curves around the huge Bay of Angels and is full of fabulous architecture-especially in Old Nice.

A tin of fruit for sale-very colorful.

I wonder how many photos I have taken of the vivid buildings in Nice with laundry hanging out to dry?

It was hard to get a good angle for a photo of the carving on this building because the street was so narrow. It’s Adam and Eve for some reason.

A view of the beach. Notice the pebbles-there is no sand.

Overlooking the city of Marseille is a beautiful cathedral which must have been seen as sailors returned from their trips out into the sea. There are many paintings in the church telling of miracles as people prayed to Mary of this cathedral. It’s really worth the very uphill climb to see it. We took a little tourist train down by the harbor to get to the top.

Mary on top of the cathedral watching over the harbor below.

Incredible views up there.

The interior is fabulous.

I liked the angels under the dome.

There are models of ships hanging from the ceiling all over the church.

I love Ansouis. It’s almost always first on my list to show guests.

A turret on the chateau there.

There’s a lovely little chapel attached to the chateau and it has several chandeliers hanging inside.

The statue of a saint-unknown to me. Doesn’t it look like she is wearing blue eye shadow? I think it may just be the light coming in from the stained glass window.

I love it when leaves turn red. This was on a wall in Ansouis.