Day 22 - Marseille

We woke up, headed up to breakfast at 8:30pm and watched as the ship sailed into the port of Marseille, France. We had pre-arranged a tour, so we went down to the meeting point and waited until our number was called. Soon we were in the bus and on our way to the city's Basilica which was located at the top of a big hill. When we got there it was packed. There were 3 other cruise ships in port so the population increased by 10,000 people for the day and it seemed most of them were with us!

The views from the top of the Basilica were outstanding. There was a 360 degree view of Marseille and into the Mediterranean Sea. We spent 45mins there and took a heap of photos. We also went inside and saw the church and crypt. We left the church and headed back down the hill to the city centre. We left the tour and had good look around. There were markets, shops, restaurants and bars all surrounding an old harbour with 2500 boats and yachts.

We found a local eatery and ordered lunch. Steve ordered a local dish, raw steak, however it came out in the form of a mince patty with a raw egg on top. Bon Appetit! After lunch the girls hit the shops while the boys took some more photos and found a bar. At around 4pm, we found the shuttle and headed back to the ship.

We had a shower, got dressed and went up to the sunset bar for our last sail away. The captain addressed the ship (which he does twice per day) and advised that tomorrow would be facing 45knot winds so we thought we would take advantge of the nice weather and enjoyed a drink outside as we sailed out of Marseille. Around 6:30pm we went to the restaurant for dinner. Lobster was on the menu tonight and it was so nice, they gave us a second helping!

After dinner we headed to the Martini bar for a few drinks. We danced on the main dance floor and had great time. At 10:30 we headed to the Sky Lounge at the front of the ship for the silent disco. This involves putting on bluetooth headsets and choosing one of 3 channels to listen to. It was quite funny taking the headsets off and seeing people singing and dancing to different music. We had a great night and turned in sometime after midnight.

Tomorrow is a day at sea which will be interesting given the incoming weather.