Sun in Marseille and a wonderful lunch

Friday March 3 was sunny all day with a high of 13C.  It was a lovely day for wandering in the city.  We headed out late morning to pick up some provisions a few streets away.  

We decided to visit Le Bazar de Cesar, the soap store in our building.  There was a great selection, and we peered into the basement to see the soap maker at work.

Le Bazar de Cesar-- the soap store in our building.  Our living room window is above the store

Lovely selection

Soaps etc---- we bought a few to take home

Soap maker in a cave-like basement-- a bit hard to see

We walked by the restaurant where we had lunch at yesterday, just below the InterContinental Hotel which is housed in the former Hotel-Dieu, the city's primary hospital for over 800 years.  The replacement for the first hospital on the site took over 100 years to build and was opened by Napoléon III in 1866 and operated until 1993. The InterContinental Marseille Hotel Dieu opened in 2013.

Restaurant on the left-- one can see the right hand part of the Intercontinental Hotel

The former Hôtel Dieu - now the InterContinental (picture taken a few days ago)

We stopped at Les Navettes des Accoules to pick up some anise and orange cookies and small navettes.  

Picking up the biscuits/cookies from one of the best places in town

There was an area near the City Hall where there were a number of very large pots with trees and well as outdoor tables for two cafés/restaurants.

Nice spot for a drink

There are sculptures of two animals, a bull and a lion which stand on elevated stilts in front of one of the entrances to the City Hall.  These two animals are part of the coat of arms of the city of Marseille.  The sculptures by Stephan Muntaner were done in 2013, the year Marseille was the European Capital of Culture.

Bull

Lion

Bubbles at the Vieux Port

Such a magnet for people to see themselves reflected in the Norman Foster L'Ombrière

We met my cousin Anna at a wonderful restaurant called Ourea on the other side of the port from where we are staying.  It was about five minutes from the place we stayed at last year.   There was a set menu for either an entrée (appetizer), plat and dessert, or just a plat, or two entrées and a plat.  Alain and I just had a plat and Anna ordered the two entrées and a plat.  We shared the entrées; a wonderful scallop ceviche and some tempura vegetables.  The chef moved from Paris to Marseilles, though he is originally from Aix-en-Provence.  Apparently, he wanted to cook with all the fresh local produce.  His co-owner organizes the natural wine menu.  It was very busy.  We got there at 1:15 p.m. and managed to be one of the last tables to leave, just before 3:00 p.m.  It is always so nice to be able to sit as long as one wants in a European restaurant, without a server coming over numerous times to ask if everything is OK.

With the entrées (appetizers)

Gorgeous scallop, orange and turnip ceviche 

Happy diners

My cod with broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, grapefruit in a spicy sauce

Alain and Anna had the veal with squash, gnocchi and grapefruit

Delicious flavours 

Anna et moi - it's been great to be able to visit with the cousins

Anna suggested we walk up the street and visit the Jardin de la Colline Puget, which has a great panoramic view of the city.  The garden was established in 1801, and named after Marseille native Pierre Puget in 1872, a a way to honour the French architect, painter, sculptor and engineer.  It is the oldest public park in Marseille.  Pierre Puget designed La Vieille Charité, which we visited on Thursday.


There was a large sculpture of Pierre Puget, with a plaque below the statue.  The statue was made by French sculptor Henri Éduard Lombard in 1906. 

À Pierre Puget 1620-1694, sculpteur, architecte et peintre, enfant de Marseille, il a porté au loin les marques de son génie et la nom de sa ville.  Les Marseillais sont reconnaissants à celui "devant qui le marbre tremblait."

We walked to the top of the garden to get views of the city and Sea.

Lots of trees on the balconies of this apartment near the garden

View of the city and water in the distance

We saw a rather bizarre structure in the garden.

Le  Pigeonnier--- used to reduce the Pigeon population through the sterilization of pigeon eggs

There were a lot of large pigeons in the garden

Statue of Louis Braille (1809-1852)

Fabulous view of the mountains and sea

Looking up at the garden on the hill

There was a very wide street leading up to the garden, with some lovely apartments.

Wide street- will be beautiful with leaves

Phone call out on the decorated balcony

We wandered around a bit more.  It was too nice to go back to the apartment.  We walked down a few streets we hadn't visited before.

The Municipal Opera House

We then paid a return visit to La Chocolatière de Marseille to get some more pieces of chocolate bark. We got pistachio, orange, hazelnut and ginger.  

Chocolate please

We went back to the apartment for dinner.  Alain had a rest and then prepared dinner.  He cooked a piece of dorade along with potatoes, green beans, and a green salad.  A glass of red wine and chocolate and cookies for dessert.  On Saturday, we are taking a day trip to Aix-en-Provence.


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