Three Months in France: June 9 Marseille

Because the weather looked a bit suspect, we decided some urban exploration would be better than a hike, so we went to Marseille, the second largest city in France and about 25 km from our doorstep. We figured that the suspect weather would also reduce the crowds of tourists. Wrong. We arrived to find several thousand people lining the streets around the vieux port as if in anticipation of a parade. We discovered that the finale of the "Trans Humance" traversée de Marseille was occurring that morning. A bit of background: in 2013, Marseille-Provence has been designated the European Centre of Culture with numerous events planned through the year as well as the opening of new museums etc. The Trans Humance is an artistic re-creation of the traditional transfer of livestock from the winter grazing grounds to the summer grazing grounds, which for the 2013 events was staged through several communities through the spring culminating in the event today. The Trans Humance was led by a woman with long black hair, dressed in black, standing astride three black horses - quite impressive. She was followed by no less than three thousand sheep, goats, long horned cattle, and many horses and donkeys, as well as horse and buggies from farmers in Provence and Italy. (After the procession, the street cleaners had a lot of work to do.)

We followed Rick Steve's advice and went to the Arabic section of the city and had some really tasty Egyptian food. We then strolled around the downtown and visited the Cathédral la Major and the Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde, both beautiful in their own right, walking through them, you can see the influence of the sea everywhere. Hint: If you go to Marseille and plan to visit the Basilica, take the No. 60 bus up to it and walk down afterward. Best decision we made there.